Wanted to try a three star in Paris and Alleno fit the bill, especially being open on a Monday evening.
The place is a compound containing three restaurants. When you arrive the valet asks you if you'll be dining at the three star, two star, or one star. The dining room is pretty formal and I'd say riding the fine line of stuffy. Each table is separated by a partition and we were both seated facing the window. A little isolated and personally would prefer to have an open dining room for people watching
Service was amazing. Pretty formal but also friendly. No flaws. We opted for the shorter "Discovery of Our Collection" menu vs the longer "Complete Menu." It was more than enough food and we were stuffed by the end. I'm also a strong eater.
We received a few appetizers, a mushroom cream type of thing which was good and tempura mushrooms with a chile powder which was awesome.
The "seasonal ballad" was really fun. So many vegetables and fruits and different items from the garden. Fun to pick through it and make different combos. A real highlight.
Bread service was amazing. Hard to not keep eating.
Turnip came out looking like a piece of lobster. Super meaty. One of the better dishes.
Uni jelly was the only thing we didn't like. I love uni, but this was SO much HOT uni. It was tough to eat but the little crispies helped. Intense.
Seabass w clams was good, but at this point we started wanting to save room for things we really loved.
Duck – presentation before coming out was really cool. Haven't seen a presentation like this before with the skin laid out like that. Duck was very good. Crispy skin added a lot. Came with a super bitter vegetable.
Really great cheese cart. Lots of varieties and highly recommend.
Desserts – quarts clementine was refreshing, the pear was definitely the favorite. We didn't really enjoy the chocolate with the lemon.
$415 which feels a little steep until you remember you're at a three star institution and also leaving stuffed. Went for a few individual glasses of champagne/wine vs the $190 or $450 pairing.
EDIT – As someone points out below, it does appear that we indeed had the "complete collection," as the menu stated. Whoops. That's what I get for not reading the menu. Had asked the day before to switch to the shorter menu and they replied no problem. Oh well!
by Imaginary_Stop_2121
5 Comments
Based on the menu you’ve posted (which says “The Complete Collection” at the bottom), what you said it cost, and double checking their website I’m pretty sure you did in fact have the full menu not the shorter menu.
The shorter menu is €330.
I kind of thought the same thing when I got the bill but it was probably the wine and the fatigue that just made me shrug and assume it was just a super expensive meal. We kept on saying “wow can you imagine if we got the full menu? We’d be tapped out already.”
I loved my meal here so much but it was the richest meal I’ve ever eaten and I felt like I was going to die by the end of it.
The salad looks amazing, but tbh some of the other dishes (just visually) don’t look like 3* dishes. They are a bit messy and not super precise. But as long as the taste is there.
I’ve been to Pavyllon (1 star) and Abyss (the 2 star) but still need to try the 3 star, that duck looks amazing!