Hugo Riboulet, the talented young winner of season 14 of Top Chef, has just opened his first restaurant in Paris, named Groot. If this name rings a bell, it's because it comes straight out of Guardians of the Galaxy, of course, but it's also a private joke for viewers who followed season 2023 of M6's culinary competition.
Hugo Riboulet 's new restaurant takes its name from his Top Chef teammate Albane Auvray 's faithful onion companion, and it's no surprise that he and his good friend Albane are opening Groot hand in hand! It's a stone's throw from Les Halles, in Paris's 2nd arrondissement , that the two have chosen to open this street-food counter, which is both common and unusual in that it's dedicated to... pies!
In this mini-place with just 10 seats, along the counter facing the open kitchen, the two comparses, who trained at Michelin-starred establishments , intend to unveil their accessible version of this great classic of traditional French cuisine, at the crossroads of street-food and gastronomy. Naturally, the ingredients will be carefully selected according to the seasons!
The à la carte menu features 4 different pie recipes to tickle the taste buds and delight the palates. For example, you can discover Albane's signature tourte, unanimously acclaimed by four MOFs in a legendary Top Chef competition: a devilishly naughty vegetarian tourte (€16.90) with celery confit in citrus butter, assembled in millefeuilles, garnished with brown mushrooms, ceps, trumpets, smoked garlic cream and Granny Smith apple.
Or Hugo's tourte Classique (€17.90), a true tribute to French cuisine, with its tender supreme of yellow Landes poultry, duxelles of brown mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and trumpets of death, stuffing of free-range pig and veal, and cabbage embeurré.
Another favorite is the Tourte Gourmande (€16.90), a terribly addictive and comforting dish for cold days, with smoked beef sausage from Maison Le Bourdonnec, potatoes, onion compote with yellow wine and Savoy raclette. Hugo et Albane also offer a vegetable onion juice (€1.50) in which to dip the pies, so you'll want to give it a try!
To accompany these already generous pies, Groot unveils a trio ofhighly successful accompaniments with a focus on vegetables: a bowl of various cucurbits (5.95€), prepared in different ways; a bowl of beets (5.95€) with a yogurt sauce like a horseradish gribiche with toasted almonds; and a delicious Dubarry velouté (5.95€). For dessert, two choices, no more and no less, a seasonal fruit nage with verbena syrup (4.95€) and an airy tiraaamouss (4.95€).
Hugo Riboulet and Albane Auvray didn't take the easy way out by tackling a French culinary landmark that's oh-so-complicated to prepare (especially in large quantities!), yet they succeeded brilliantly. Check out the address!
This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please mention it in the comments.
Location
Groot
34 Rue Saint-Sauveur
75002 Paris 2
Official website
www.grootlatourte.com
