Chef Sho Miyashita and his sidekick Jérémy Mégaly abandoned their food truck Munchies to set up shop in Chambre Noire’s old wine hotspot (which is now popping open more than just bottles on Rue Saint-Maur)! The pitch? An izakaya with a radical look (a bar made of wooden planks, red faux leather benches, spotted mirrors), where Japanese small plates get fused with junk food…. Served à la carte the other night: glistening tonkatsu pork breaded with Doritos and covered in a sharp Pitbull sauce; an incredible XXL gyoza stuffed with juicy steak; 24-carat karaage chicken drizzled in an ultra-gooey mayo; lovely fatty tuna and sea bream sushi sourced from the Ebisu fishmongers; sizzling mackerel doused in soy sauce on the smoking hot plancha; before a dessert combining whipped cream, tapioca pearls and apricots. It’s worth noting that there are donburi lunches – eg.: eggplant-zucchini-tomato, marinated chicken and soy sauce, etc. // A.A.
FEELING THIRSTY? A tiny selection of nomadic natural wines (a German Riesling at €7 a glass, a Maori Pinot noir at €30 a bottle) or an iconic highball, Japan’s most famous cocktail – whiskey, soda and lime, €7.
PRICE: Plates €4-14.
