You have to dare and venture into rue d’Orcel, just before the steps leading to Mont Martre to discover Mom’Art restaurant. Dare pass through the doors of the hotel, towards the courtyard for a bucolic dinner far from the Parisian hustle and bustle.
At Mom’Art, it’s chef Gregory Cohen who welcomes you. The chef has been called in by the family managing Hôtel Mom’Art to brighten up its clientele, the neighborhood inhabitants and it’s a successful bet!
At 50 years old, Gregory Cohen is into a bold cuisine that bets on the respect of the product and the cooking technics technology offers to bring the best of the aromas and textures as well as nutriments. This cooking, sisters particularly enjoyed it. And we understand why!
Seated on the sunny terrace, we ask the chef if he has a ‘signature dish’. Smirking, he answers that all the dishes on the menu are signature dishes worked as hard as one another and he explains the composition of each dish, and it’s very tantalizing!
Despite the reduced menu, 7 starters, 7 main courses and 6 desserts, the choice is Cornelian…
Oeuf parfait, coffee heart and mushroom emulsion, black and white scallops carpaccio, salmon gravlax, mirin-marinated cod and yuzu, pan-fried and steamed served with truffled mashed potatoes, Black Angus burger, Tomme de Savoie heart, hay-smoked and served under a cloche… Mom’Art dishes promise a beautiful experience.
For us, it will be oeuf parfait, coffee heart and black and white scallops carpaccio.
Plates make us loose our heads as much as dishes title do: at each bite, taste buds jump in joy. We know all the ingredients, but their association is groundbreaking, intriguing. Coffee lovers will be speechless in front of the Oeuf parfait that lets a coffee cream appear once you’ve cut it, a delight that surprises and delights taste buds! Scallops enthusiasts will be intrigued by the 2-color plate, filled with surprises.
According to Gregory Cohen, cooking is sacred. The chef owns a very complete kitchen: smoking, pan-frying, grilling, steaming, sous-vide, frying, Grégory Cohen has no limit and tests his cooking non-stop.
The secret of a good dish? At least two different cooking. He demonstrates it with the cod that is pan-fried 2-3 minutes so that it doesn’t loose its juice when it’s steamed and enhanced by delicious truffled mashed potatoes.
Without being “into a diet”, Mom’Art menu advocates health with a healthy cuisine loaded with nutriments and it’s very enjoyable!
But may gourmet people be rest assured, Mom’Art also served prime ribs and a burger with a hay-smoked heart of Tomme de Savoie (!). If it was very sunny and warm the day we came, it’s sure we’ll come back to taste all this.
Finally, if you really love good food, the chef also has desserts. Taste the chef’s cheesecake, maybe the only “cooking-less” dish, the secret of its light and smooth mousse despite the mascarpone (!). But the chef’s memory trigger is undoubtedly his revisit of the French toast that he likes to call “La Brioche retrouvée” (for the record, in French, a “French toast” is called a “Brioche perdue” or Lost Brioche and here, the chef likes to call it The Found Brioche).
How good we feel at Mom’Art, with a very smiling team that treats us like family and lunches that last all afternoon!
Post scriptum: Have we told you that Mom’Art also serves an aperitivo with tapas starting from €7 and from 6 p.m.? the perfect occasion to grab a drink in a super hidden place just before dinner!
Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.
Location
Mom'Art Hotel
42 Rue d'Orsel
75018 Paris 18
Prices
les tapas (en apéritif, de 17h à 19h): €7
les desserts: €9 - €12
les entrées: €11 - €14
les plats: €23 - €28
Official website
www.hotelmomart.com
