Yanasé – Paris (75015) en

A good restaurant, comfortable and authentic, to know in a pretty dodgy area, and welcomed on this rue Vasco de Gama that’s more used to la-bonne-cuisine  française than Japanese food.
But be careful of the details, the prices aren’t always what they seem.

It was recommended to me by a Japanese woman, who presented it as a solid Japanese restaurant in Paris. I went to see their menu and had seen their high prices,  so I decided to leave it out my selections. And then that day, I had to find something close to the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles, the menu at 19 and the short distance made it the ideal option.
The setting is pleasant, pretty quiet.

I was won over by how nice the person was over the phone.  When I arrived, the greeting was the same.
The down side was that a group of managers suddenly arrived, and the service took a negative turn, we were left a bit on our own at the end of our meal. It’s not that the waitresses weren’t professional, but there was a lack of organization. If all it takes is the restaurant to get full for the service to be bad, then it needs to be rectified, that’s all. Especially when you’re paying 28 euros per person ( the 19 euros menu+ one dessert+one coffee).

The first menu of the day costs 19 euros, after that one it goes up ( 20, 22, 24, 37, 35) so it’s not cheap, but normal for quality Japanese food.

Thinly sliced beef with yellow peppers as an amuse bouche, probably the best part of the meal.

Appetizer
Miso soup
Delicious, with a real taste, much better than the clarified sock water we’re usually served 🙂

Main
Grilled sea bream fillet
The fish is good, well cooked  and grilled as well, the sauce is also slightly sweet, but the presentation of it makes it look like a  menu of the day dish. Acceptable if it’s one of the first prices, but in this case not so much. I might be a little harsh, because the person with me thought it was perfectly fine.
It’s the salad on the side that I thought was a bit nonchalant.

Rice
The rice was delicious, it’s rare to see rice cooked so well.

Dessert
Japanese black sesame flan
Here as well, my feelings are two-sided : the flan is delicious, nice warm temperature.
But the cantaloupe doesn’t look very good, and let’s not even  mention the strawberries from Teknival.

Ok so I went a little hard on the negatives, because obviously for 28 euros at lunch, the details matter. The thing is, I decided to write a review on it, because everything else was very good. The greeting, the setting, the friendliness of the staff ( our two waitresses, the chef that helped us with our coffees) and even the care put into the food.
Some restaurants are worth it for their menu of the day, in this case, it’s more worth it to go à la carte or to stay strictly with the menu (no dessert or coffee)
If you have the money to spend, it’s worth a try.