The chef Manon Fleury, appreciated and esteemed by Parisian gourmets, is (finally) inaugurating her first restaurant in Paris. Named Datil after a variety of small plum endemic to the Lot region that almost became extinct, this long-awaited restaurant has opened in the Haut-Marais district, replacing Café Ineko. A figurehead of the new Parisian gastronomy scene, the young chef has put down her knives in this pretty long restaurant, with its small zenithal glass roof linking the front dining room to the back, opposite the open kitchen.
A former top-level fencer, Manon Fleury quickly became the darling of Parisian foodistos, revealing the extent of her talent at Le Mermoz, where she was chef from early 2018 to late 2019 after apprenticing alongside William Ledeuil at Ze Kitchen Galerie, at L'Astrance under Pascal Barbot, and then at Semilla with Eric Trochon.
From that moment on, the chef's cooking was based on an eco-responsible approach, close to the earth and to people. Her cuisine is plant-based yet gourmet, healthy yet vibrant, generous yet human. After a residency at the Chalet des Îles Daumesnil , where she refined her vision of French gastronomy, moving away from classicism to reinvent a cuisine in tune with the issues of the day, Manon Fleury unveils Datil, a place in her image.
And it's a wonderful discovery that awaits those who step through the door of this little restaurant, confident in the talent of this chef who proves, if proof were still needed, that vegetarian cuisine can be just as moving, just as right and just as finely prepared as meat dishes.
To achieve this, the chef takes great pleasure in working with her good produce from A to Z, proposing variegated declensions of the beautiful but also the humble pieces of fruit and vegetables she receives daily in the form of juices, tuiles, stuffings, broths or butters. At the center of the plate, greenery is highlighted bysubtle combinations with seafood or produce, but it is greenery that remains the queen of recipes.
For lunch, expect to pay €65 for the 4-course menu, €110 for the wine and food pairing menu; for dinner, €120 for the 7-course menu, €185 for the wine and food pairing menu. Don't be surprised to learn that Datil has been awarded its first Michelin star in just a few weeks' time - it's richly deserved. You'll have read it here first. The rest, in pictures...
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Infusion of rosemary oil and potato
Potato mousse, seaweed powder, diced vinegar pear
Potato starch tile and beet juice
Apple, pear and cinnamon juice
Buckwheat and chickpea tempura, potato julienne, dried sea lettuce
Seaweed tartar, fresh sea lettuce and grateloupia from Le Croisic
Like butter
Roasted sunflower seeds, sunflower oil
Sliced radish, raw scallops, almond cream, garlic and harissa
Bread soaked in lemon juice, wild cherry blossom, peppery seaweed
Grilled sausage, peanut, oyster, spinach tomato
Pak choï, monkfish, peanut butter, vegetable sauce and oyster
Italian meringue, apple and citrus
Lemon sorbet, lemon cream, Sichuan tile, kumquat and hazelnut
Mignardises autour du pruneau
Rehydrated prune in syrup, blackberry cream, fig leaf oil
Parsnip and prune custard, like a pastel
Datil stone and blackberry infusion
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This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please mention it in the comments.
Location
Datil
13 Rue des Gravilliers
75003 Paris 3
Official website
www.datil-restaurant.fr
