JJII

Nothing is wasted, everything is eaten…. Talented chef Hur Jay Wood (the former sous-chef at Brasserie Thoumieux) knows this idiom well, and he didn’t waste any time taking over the reins of Katsu Okiyama’s former Japanese-inspired restaurant Abri. Comfortably installed behind the kitchen bar of this tiny restaurant (rough stone walls, timeworn hardwood floors, school furniture), the Korean chef stitches together dishes that live up to his illustrious predecessor’s reputation. The proof came in the form of a five-course tasting menu the night we went: a warm oyster swimming in some addictive homemade ponzu sauce; an incredibly light cuttlefish and white asparagus tempura duo, served with an umami-rich pecorino-miso dipping sauce; marvelous flame-charred umbrina cooked under the broiler, even better with the sea beans and pickled mussels served alongside it; heavenly flash-seared veal sweetbreads, paired with fairy ring mushrooms and potatoes slow-cooked in jus de viande; before a sacred union between dark chocolate mousse and yuzu mousse, which had us practically licking the bowl clean… // Alain Cop

FEELING THIRSTY? : A barrage of artifice-free natural wines (a Montlouis-sur-Loire produced by Lise and Bertrand Jousset at €11 a glass, a Côtes-du-Rhône from La Réméjeanne at €35 a bottle) and a yuzu infusion before the final curtain.
PRICE: : Set tasting menu €56.