Wakaba

Happy to have finally found a truly excellent Japanese restaurant in the 7^th. An occasion to celebrate, we ordered the 80 € 10 plate menu — wonderful diversity of flavor, texture, and expert presentation. Restaurant is small, but serene and absolutely spotless. Highly recommended, and we will return to enjoy other items on their carte.

Ce restaurant n’a franchement rien à voir avec les autres restaurants dits japonais qui fleurissent partout.
J’ai pris un menu Wakaba avec un poulet terryaki, et tout avait excessivement plus de saveurs que tout ce que j’avais goûter dans les restaurants standards. Ça a été une vraie découverte pour les papilles, et parfois surprenant.
Le seul plat ou j’ai pu avoir un élément de comparaison, ce sont les sashimi. C’est le jour et la nuit: la chair était un peu ferme, les morceaux bien calibrés, et le sashimi de saumon né partait pas en plein de petits morceaux comme on peut souvent le voir.
Bref, ce restaurant est a découvrir si les restaurants japonais standards vous semblent fades.
De plus, l’accueil est très sobre et cordial, et le personnel souriant.

I went for lunch with my brother who was visiting Paris. The Wakaba lunch menu costs 20 EUR per person and it is unbelievable — 5 dishes, one of which is the main dish. My brother had the salmon teriyaki and I had the sashimi. The other main courses are beef and chicken teriyaki, tempura, sushi. My sashimi was very fresh and they gave me a lot of fish! My brother’s salmon consisted of large pieces of freshly grilled salmon with a delicate teriyaki sauce. The other small dishes were a plate of amuses-​bouches, a bowl of thick clear broth with a ball of pureed green peas, a large slice of grilled eggplant with an amazing flavor (we are still trying to dissect what it is they did to that eggplant), seaweed salad with finely sliced cucumber in a rice vinegar sauce, the main course, rice and miso soup. It’s unheard of to get this kind of food in Paris for 20 EUR. They were not served together either, but one after the other, spaced appropriately.