Onor, Michelin-starred Thierry Marx's committed gourmet restaurant

In place of La Marée, a restaurant that has seen great chefs such as Yannick Alléno pass through its doors, Onor, the restaurant of the multi-restaurant Michelin-starred chef, has opened its doors. After Madame Brasserie, Thierry Marx embarked on a social and solidarity project, in partnership with his"Cuisines Mode d'Emploi" schools. And, by golly, it's working, since the company now boasts a Michelin star.

As a reminder, these schools offer a free training program with courses in cooking, baking, restaurant service, seafood and, more recently, patisserie, aimed at people who have missed out on employment. These 11-week courses enable students to obtain a diploma recognized by the State and the professional sector. It has to be said that this chef, who dropped out of school at the age of 14, could have gone badly wrong. It's because he's experienced difficulties along the way that he wants to help people in difficulty.

It's an undertaking that is widely applauded, and which he continues by creating a new restaurant giving young talent the opportunity to express itself. With his closest collaborators, he is launching a new concept of sustainable enterprise, where the environment, integration, training and transmission are all part of the equation, to offer us wonderful culinary experiences.

The restaurant is staffed by 20% people from its schools. It's a real springboard for new talent. As part of this approach, Onor offers its teams working conditions in keeping with the well-being of its employees. With two consecutive days off per week on Saturdays and Sundays, Onor makes a strong choice to preserve the private and family lives of its teams.

Thierry Marx declares: "Onor is more than a restaurant, it's a commitment. The idea for Onor was born during the COVID crisis, of a world at a standstill, a life in brackets, a suspended moment during which everyone nourished their future with a share of the imaginary. We talked about the world after... and here we are tomorrow. The topics that were quickly forgotten were the right ones: The future of the planet, the insane race for profit in defiance of all reason, and at the end of the day, our fragility. Onor is a utopia in motion, a reconciliation between conscience and cuisine, between commitment and the practice of a trade".

So, what's on the plate? Thierry Marx has decided to offer us a high-level gastronomic experience at Onor. With his right-hand man Ricardo Silva, Onor's Executive Chef, who accompanied him for many years at the Mandarin Oriental, he offers his vision of tomorrow's gastronomy, ever more respectful of its social and environmental impact. By setting up a laboratory here, the chef can continue his research work on site.

The dining room, designed by Mathilde de l'Ecotais, is uncluttered and refined, despite its use of recycled materials. Minted chairs and paintings, bluish tables, unusual salvaged lighting and a large origami work form a beautiful unit. The open kitchen gives us the opportunity to watch the dishes being prepared before our very eyes.

The 4 or 6-course tasting menu features Thierry Marx 's signature dishes, such as " Risotto de soja " and " Soupe à l'oignon en trompe-l'œil ". For this address, the chefs have also worked on new versions of " Raviole bras croisés ", which is garnished with fish or shellfish depending on the season, or " Bœuf charbon ", which honors Jersiais beef, an exceptional breed that is as rare as it is confidential.

Innovative techniques developed with Raphaël Haumont are also put to the test to extract and concentrate flavors, exalt fragrances and create new textures: aromas and essential oils obtained by ultrasound, juices and broths by cryoconcentration and vacuum evaporation. On the sweet side, the chefs and the physicist-chemist paid particular attention to their latest research into " food pairing ", combining cucumber with vacuum-packed sponge cake, for example. A whole program of tasty discoveries!

At lunchtime, you can enjoy a menu at 90€ or a tasting menu at 180€. On our visit, we began this gustatory journey with a trio of top-of-the-range canapés. The first is a bouchée with cucumber jelly, offering a soft freshness, combined with onion for a slightly sweet fondant, topped with Sologne caviar, which adds a delicate saline note. This is followed by an innovative tartlet in which sweet, earthy beet marries perfectly with creamy, slightly acidic goat's cheese. Finally, a smoked eel maki adds an exotic touch, the smokiness of the eel contrasting harmoniously with the sweetness of the rice.

The amuse-bouche that follows is the famous soy risotto, elegant and refined, enhanced by an earthy, creamy truffle mousse, offering a symphony of textures and flavors that delicately awakens the palate.

The first act of the meal offers two choices: first, immaculate white asparagus, served with a raspberry pea condiment that brings a summery sweetness, complemented by black olives for a sophisticated touch of bitterness. The alternative is a raviole en bras croisés, topped with fresh crabmeat, with cider-beaten butter to soften and lemon caviar to awaken the whole with a hint of acidity.

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Your choice of main course is an exquisite dilemma: a delicately prepared pollack with a fine herb stuffing, enhanced by marinated cockles, or a tender, juicy duckling from Dombes, with turnips and blackberries for a striking contrast, all wrapped in a bigarade sauce for harmonious balance.

Before moving on to the final act, there's no getting away from refined and sometimes unusual cheeses, like this fresh cheese wrapped in a sakura leaf with pleasantly salty notes.

The final act is a choice between the sweetness of a Tahitian vanilla soufflé tart, which evokes images of heavenly beaches, and apple press, a gourmet tribute to Brittany with a caramelized kouign amann puff pastry and vanilla cream that transports your taste buds to the ocean.

If you're a wine lover, you're in for a trip across France, in an astonishing box to be discovered through maps of the different regions of France.

You'll also enjoy a selection of the house's breads, including a delicious olive and walnut croissant roll and a gomasio brioche loaf.

It's a culinary adventure well worth the 90€, taking your taste buds from a mouthful of land to a mouthful of sea, and ending with a sweet tour of the islands. We, for one, loved the trip. In the evening, service is even longer and more gourmet. All that's left for you to do is discover Onor, this new gastronomic restaurant in the 8th arrondissement. Please note that the restaurant is open Monday to Friday from 12:00 to 13:30 for lunch, and from 19:00 to 21:30 (when orders are taken) for dinner.