My list of places I want to eat at in Paris is insurmountable. It’s long enough that I would probably have to eat out twice a day every day for six months before getting to the bottom of it, and it’s growing a little bit more every day. But there are a few places that have caught my eye more than once, places that rise to the top of the list, and Le Grand Bain is one of them. After seeing its simple yet beautiful dishes pop up on Instagram feeds again and again (and hearing a few raves), I finally decided to pay it a visit last week, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Le Grand Bain could be pretentious, if it wanted to be. Instead, it’s resolutely simple, putting great ingredients (and a lot of plant-forward options!) on the plate.
Guests are encouraged to choose two to three small plates per person to share. My dining companion and I shared five plates, which felt like just the right amount.
We started with this dish of razor clams, smoked yogurt, watercress, and poppy seeds. Aside from the fact that it was almost impossible to get a good picture of this dish (completely selfishly and entirely for photography-related reasons, I wish chefs would serve dishes on flatter plates!) this dish was one of the standouts for me. The smoked yogurt was as rich as cream and paired perfectly with the fresh couteaux. It was the perfect example of Chef Edward Delling-Williams’ (formerly of Au Passage) creative, innovative simplicity and the perfect harbinger of what was in store for the rest of the night.
This beautiful plate of fried potatoes with raw cream and lumpfish roe was another standout, for me. The potato rectangles were made of thinly sliced potatoes that were reassembled and pan-fried. (I’m sure there’s a more technical term for this, but it eludes me.) Crispy and perfectly cooked, they paired wonderfully with the combination of yogurt and caviar.
I’ve never met a gougère I didn’t like, but this one was truly excellent. A thin slice of lardo was draped over each of the sizable gougères when they were perfectly piping hot, the warm pork fat melting into the surface. The attention to detail here was great: gougères, which are made with not-a-negligable amount of cheese, could have been overly salty when paired with lardo, but the seasoning here was perfect.
This dish of scallops with blood orange and radicchio was probably my least favorite of the night, but not by much. It fell a little bit flat for me as compared to the bright flavors on every other plate (I might have liked a touch more of the bright, acidic citrus sauce). That said, it was my dining companion’s favorite, and technically, it was perfectly executed, with nicely sized chunks of tender scallop.
This dish was my personal standout: salsify (also known as oyster root) over a Roscoff onion cream served with a crispy topping made from chicken skin. It seemed too creative not to order, and it fully lived up to my expectations, with none of the three richly-flavored components overpowering the other.
Wine-wise, we stuck to glasses: a light Alsatian red-skinned white to start and this umami-rich Italian orange wine to follow. The wine list by the bottle is consequential, too.
In fact, this may be what I love so much at le Grand Bain: the choice. While I’m generally drawn to spots boasting short-but-sweet menus, the sheer number of choices at le Grand Bain make it the kind of place that is a democratic no-brainer for both adventurous and pickier eaters. And it also makes it easy for me to plan to go back soon and try all of the dishes I missed.
Le Grand Bain -Â 14 Rue Denoyez, 75020