It’s hard to find a bad meal in Paris (although we did the first time we were here), but we have never been blown away by any meal we have had. Until last night. And it was right across the street from our apartment.
You can read all about the menu and service at Ciasa Mia on the usual web sites, so there is no point repeating it here. But what the reviews don’t tell you is that our 55 eu tasting menu included seven–we counted–different amuse bouches ranging from pin-sized parfaits to chocolate wafers and fried pea pods.
But one stood out. Our table was situated directly across from the kitchen, so we could watch the entire event. Chef Samuel separated an egg yolk by hand, placed each yolk in its own dish and drew out all extraneous white with a syringe. Then he extracted most of the inside of the yolk with another syringe and filled what was left of the yolk with smoked octopus paste, drizzling truffle oil around the entire creation.
This results in a taste the likes of which we had never experienced.
And the wine list included some very reasonable selections. The first two, of course, were out. I have a knack for finding the wines everyone else loved first. We settled on a very nice Primativo for only 33 eu. In the States, it would be a $60 bottle.
We had arrived at the very American hour of 7:30 p.m. but did not leave until nearly 10 p.m. Now I can say that we have been blown away by a meal in Paris, an incredible Italian experience that included no pasta.