It was on a rather gloomy autumn evening that I discovered the Claude Colliot restaurant. I pushed open the door to this address located in the Marais, which some connoisseurs whisper about and which is also the secret hideaway for many international celebrities passing through Paris (but shh, keep it under wraps).
Claude Colliot is a chef with integrity; people come to his place to enjoy his healthy, seasonal cuisine. His goal isn’t to please everyone (and some might not subscribe to his culinary approach), but rather to showcase the uniqueness of each vegetable, each piece of meat, or each fish fillet.
On the plates, every ingredient is prepared in a raw and almost minimalist way to ensure its original flavor is never distorted.
The restaurant, with decor designed by architect Patrick Bouchain, reflects Claude‘s cuisine: sober and warm, with a clever mix of wood, iron, and glass.
The goal of this dinner at the restaurant’s lovely host table was to give pride of place to seasonal vegetables, coming from the Colliot family’s vegetable garden in the Loire Valley, by enhancing them and playing with textures and colors to create unique combinations.
On the menu for our tasting dinner:
- A delicious vegetable broth to cleanse the palate before starting the meal.
- A pumpkin velouté, served in a hollowed-out squash.
- Salsify with coconut, bergamot, and basil, an original blend that made me rediscover salsify in a whole new way.
- Grilled leeks, with yuzu and sesame.
- Roasted beets (in the oven for over 48 hours if I recall correctly), with a blackcurrant and black garlic condiment.
- A parsnip mousseline (a forgotten vegetable that I’m a huge fan of), egg yolk, and fresh walnuts, an extremely successful combination—perhaps my favorite dish of this tasty evening.
- Vegetable omelet, straight from the vegetable patch (the chef’s great tip that I’ll tell you about at the end of the article).
- Sweet potato, sheep’s milk curd, and Cabasse honey.
- A few turnips, saffron, and kumquat.
- Pak Choi, with burrata juice and black cardamom.
- The All White dessert, with fromage blanc, pear sorbet, and Italian meringue (€12).
You’ll have to excuse the poor photos in this article, but taking pictures of dishes in a dimly lit atmosphere doesn’t really look great on screen… Well, I did the best I could…
The great tip: Chef Claude Colliot has decided to launch a series of omelets on the lunch menu to make fresh, seasonal produce accessible to as many people as possible. The gourmet omelet, which follows the rhythm of seasonal products, starts at just €9, so it would be a shame to miss out!
The extra touch: a very nice selection in the establishment’s wine cellar with a great emphasis on natural wines.
Price: “Carte Blanche” menus €62 for 4 courses chosen by the chef or €79 for 7 courses on the same principle.
Claude Colliot Restaurant 40, rue des Blancs Manteaux 75005 Paris open from Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner
Find all my restaurant reviews in Paris below:
⇒ All my restaurant reviews in Paris
MAP OF MY FAVORITE FOOD SPOTS IN PARIS AND THE ILE-DE-FRANCE REGION
Restaurant 
Bar 
Pastry Shop / Bakery 
Tea Room / Coffee Shop
Brunch 
Ice Cream Parlor
Photo credits: Mademoiselle Bon Plan Photos are not royalty-free, photographer's authorization is mandatory before any use
