Neige D’ete, Paris
Neige D’ete, or Summer Snow, is a one Michelin Star restaurant along the Rue de l’Amiral Roussin in Paris. In the field of science, it is said that the bigger the star, the brighter it shines due to its surface area and the energy it omits—this is the fundamental understanding of astronomy. Although, in the field of culinary, not everything grand and lavish result in being the best. There will always be an exception to the rule where sometimes, tiny stars do shine brighter compared to large ones. Neige D’ete is one of those tiny stars that shines just as bright or even brighter than any of the massive stars that I’ve seen. The passion behind its core is responsible for fueling such tremendous brilliance glowing out of its surface.
This is by far the best meal of my entire life.
I have always been fascinated by Japanese chefs who migrate to France and excel in french cuisine. The fact that they can speak the language with such fluency already impresses me. Then you incorporate the aspect of Japanese craftsmanship and their dedication to their craft combined with the elegance of the French and you get the what I would say, the crème de la crème of culinary prowess. This is what I experienced when I took part of the culinary journey at this tiny restaurant of big ambitions. Everything, from start to finish, was impeccable.
Led by the culinary master, Hideki Nishi, a native from Matsusaka, Japan, Neige D’ete continues to impress guests with the chef’s modern culinary approach, combining french and asian influences. In my own words, his food reflects that of clouds, strong enough in flavor that your taste buds acknowledges its presence (just like when you get turbulence while on an airplane), but light enough that it does not leave you regretting of the experience. And by strong in flavor, I mean bold flavors that are seasoned really well. It’s weird, because for some unknown reason, my body was just accepting all the things that I kept feeding it during our dinner.
When my wife booked our appointment for Neige D’ete, it was the restaurant that I had the most reservation with compared to the rest. I was worried because I was reading Google reviews (which you shouldn’t do) and there were a lot of complaints. Although, when I found out that a Japanese chef was running it, I thought to myself, It can’t be, there’s no way that a Japanese chef running a restaurant of this calibre can have all of these bad reviews. Lo and behold, when we got to the restaurant at 8:15pm, we were greeted by the staff warmly, one of the FOH staff, who I assume is Japanese as well, was so enthusiastic about our arrival. She carried a very contagious smile that carried on throughout the entire experience.
The place was small but had a lot of soul to it. It was clean, organized and very well thought of. It was a small restaurant and I saw the chef himself, staring at me, probably wondering if I’m Japanese or not. I took notice of the kitchen right away, the chef had four cooks and a dishwasher. The amount of food they put out from that tiny and pristine-looking kitchen befuddled me. Maybe that’s typical of Europe, which is why they are masters of what they do, to have such small real estate but still create something magnificent.
The Kitchen
We sat down, got comfortable and were turning our heads here and there- checking out every detail. I didn’t show any emotion nor flinched, kept a straight face pretending not be overly excited. As always, we asked the somm to recommend something nice and ultra local for our choice of wine. It was a decent red that had was a bit dry to my taste.
The menu, a very simple booklet.
We took the prestige menu without hesitation although we opted out of the cheese course since we are not really big fans of cheese. To start the night, we were presented with a wonderful array of amuse-bouche namely: pork and oyster bite, palamos shrimp on buckwheat tartelette, smoked fish cream and watercress puree and lastly, a crispy bite of something that I failed to write down.
Pork and Oyster Bite | Palamos Shrimp Tartelette
Smoked Fish Cream with Watercress Puree
They were all outstanding, the ones that stood out the most were the pork & oyster bite and the palamos tartelette, divine! Everything had the perfect seasoning and flavor and balance in textural contrast. During this time, I still didn’t show any emotion towards the food, pretending not to be impressed, because it is highly typical of restaurants to have wonderful appetizer bites and then disappoint you once the actual dishes start to come out. I have yet to taste and see.
First item on the menu, this magnificent piece of toro or tuna belly with japanese eggplant. I want to be honest that the moment I took a bite, I was yelling foul and nasty words in my head. What a good dish with so much well-balanced flavors. It was sweet, sour and salty. The tuna tartare with caviar on the side of the photo had a soy-based flavor that delivered an explosive in-your-face umami adrenaline. I was humbled by the delicate japanese eggplant and how it complimented the toro.
Next stop, the dish made me question my existence and culinary knowledge, panko-breaded scallop with tartare sauce plus scallop with truffles and kombu cream. Mind you, when we got to Paris, scallops were in season. They were plump, huge, subtle and really sweet. Hideki really did a wonderful contrast of frying the scallops and pairing it with tartare sauce because despite the tartare being fatty and rich, the scallop and the way it was cooked really balanced out everything.
Over here, we have half-cooked scallops with truffles, kombu cream and caviar. The flavor is similar to the other one without the acidity. This was a really straight forward approach and very classical french, caviar in cream sauce and truffles.
As a chef, I get access to really good quality (cherry) tomatoes in America, but it comes with a hefty price. For the average joe, you can’t get good tomatoes in supermarkets not unless you go to a really good farmer’s market. Now, what I mean by good tomatoes, is when they are really, really, really sweet and juicy. Most of the tomatoes you get in American supermarkets don’t have any flavor at all, the skin is too thick and just taste like red balls of water. I’m not familiar with the availability in Europe but I’m guessing that they more access to wonderful produce compared to the US. Hideki satueéd the sweet tomatoes along with other aromatics. The long white pieces that resemble that of teeth are actually fish beard. They had like a snow crab texture to them that was really fantastic. The tomato condiment lent a very sweet and herby flavor that complimented the grilled turbot. The turbot was cooked really well. If you follow Neige D’ete’s instagram page, you will always see how Hideki cooks the turbot, amazing.
Up next, the weakest but still phenomenal dish, Spanish pork with zucchini ravioli and porcini. The reason why I gave this one the weakest remark is because the pig was a bit tough, that’s it. That’s all the issue it had, if it were tender, then I wouldn’t have any problem about it. Flavors and pairing were on point, nothing really to criticize aside from the tenderness. I really loved the tiny raviolis, they added a very pretty detail to the overall presentation.
Finally, the Kobe beef. Exceptional pairing, the “oyster sauce” that actually has oysters in it, the black garlic puree that gave a slight sweetness to the dish and the grated daikon that I thought was the most unnecessary component-was actually the thing that brought everything all together. It was so easy to eat, meaning, you didn’t even have to think about what you’re consuming because the flavors really do work. The daikon had a funk to it that balanced out the sweetness, saltiness and brininess. Wow, just wow.
The desserts of Neige D’ete, out of our entire European trip, were the best that we had. They were well composed, light and just hits the spot. Under, you have a dessert made out of comice pear and quince with pear brandy. Seems very simple but the flavors were complex. It takes you to different dimensions that leaves you asking, how?
Lastly, the main dessert that caught my wife’s attention, yellow plum, genoise and dill ice cream. Just wow, that’s it. The dill ice cream was out of bounds, the whole dessert took me to flavortown. What a treat and a wonderful way to end the night.
It was when my wife and I were enjoying our mignardises that I spoke up and said that, this is the best meal of my life. There are chefs who just really do a wonderful job that you don’t even have to question what they do or what they decide to offer their guests. You just open your arms and let the flow take you. When we finished our dinner, I wanted so badly to come up to the chef and just tell him that I was so grateful to have tried his food. I have no words for his passion and ingenuity. His team did a really good job.
Will I come back to Neige D’ete and sample Hideki’s cuisine again? YES, by all means possible. Ever since our trip, I have been dreaming about coming back to Paris and just head straight to this unpretentious and soulful restaurant. The people who work here are doing something really wonderful, they probably don’t see or feel it, but it means a lot to the people who have tried and experienced what Neige D'ete is.
Merci chef. Keep on shining.