Seeing as I live so close to one of Paris’ most buzz-worthy foodie neighborhoods, I’ll admit I rarely venture into other areas. So when a doctor’s appointment saw me in the 16th, I scoured my list of spots to try (FWIW, there are more restaurants on said list than there are days in the year…) to see if I could take advantage of being so far from home to taste something new. When the friend I was dining with added her preference for Japanese fare, we zeroed in on the 8th arrondissement’s super-swanky Ran, just across from the equally swanky Hotel Marquis Saint-Honoré, from whence, we deduced, most of the smattering of patrons who were dining here on a Monday night had come.
The first thing you notice when coming into the space is how grand it is: a beautiful bar lines the first of three dining rooms, and from the sky-high ceilings, a gorgeous glass chandelier exudes Old World charm.
This is the sort of space that so many associate with Paris and yet that there is a major dearth of in my 10th/11th arrondissement circuit, so they’re details that I welcome.
We began with cocktails, and while there were some definite miscommunications and misunderstandings among the (very, very young) staff, we were both pleasantly surprised when we ultimately both received the Ran Chito, a smoky, herbaceous combo of mezcal, shochu, mint, roasted tea, and fresh pineapple juice. It was one of ten cocktails on the creative list with loads of Japanese touches and influences. (And for the teetotalers, there were also two creative mocktails!)
While the menu does indeed boast a selection of consequential mains, including steamed bass with dashi broth, veggie tempura, and scallops with ponzu butter, as well as robata-style dishes cooked over a lava stone grill, we opted instead to stick with the appetizer selections, ordering four to share. First up, these miso-glazed black cod bites served in crisp sucrine lettuce cups. While definitely tasty, I found that the fried topping distracted from the delicate morsel of fish, which ultimately got a bit lost here.
Of course, when I saw tempura Camembert bites, I couldn’t help but order them. I wanted so much to like this Franco-Japanese fusion dish, served with a delicious sweet miso sauce and pickled ginger, but I ultimately found it underwhelming… Maybe because the wedges of Camembert could have been fried to a slightly crisper doneness, or maybe just because as compared to all of the other dishes, it felt far less refined and thought out.
I’m not pooh-poohing it entirely, but it needed something else I couldn’t *quite* put my finger on: some note of freshness or some more creativity with the plating. (Though if I’d had another cocktail, the stodge would likely have been pretty welcome.)
Where the restaurant shone was in its raw fish dishes, like these spicy tuna bites.
The build-your-own bites were delivered on two plates: the steamer basket of fried sticky rice morsels and this bowl of delicious spicy tuna on ice. The contrast of hot fried rice and cold, creamy tuna married perfectly, and the seasoning here was on-point: spicy enough to merit the moniker but not so much so that the flavor of the spiced mayonnaise overwhelmed the fish.
My favorite dish also showcased the reshness of the fish itself: a tuna “tataki” with truffle miso sauce. The beautiful presentation was just the beginning of my love of this dish, which was perfectly balanced thanks to the melt-in-your-mouth tuna and a judicious hand with the sweet miso sauce and powerful truffle.
Dessert was ultimately underwhelming: Coconut tapioca pearls were served with the thinnest layer of mango coulis, and while the fresh red cassis was a nice touch, I ultimately would have preferred actual sliced mango with this dessert.
It probably sounds like I’m not recommending Ran, and this isn’t entirely the case. With its gorgeous dining room and tasty cocktails, I actually think Ran is lovely… for an apéritif. If I were to return, in future, it would be for a drink or maybe two (at 19 euro a pop, I think that’s my limit) accompanied by one or two small plates to share… at which point I would walk up the road and have dinner at Contraste.
Ran – 8 Rue d’Anjou, 75008