The French love themselves a play on words. A fief is exactly what it sounds like, but in the case of Michelin-starred FIEF, it’s also an acronym: Fait Ici en France, Made Here in France. Stalwartly locavore, 1-Michelin-star FIEF prides itself on sourcing all of its ingredients from the hexagon – which means no coffee, no chocolate, and no vanilla. Instead Chef Victor Mercier takes full advantage of the bounty of France’s terroir to craft a tasting menu featuring surprising and audacious flavor combos, most of which are inspired by French classics, and many of which boast a slight Asian twist. The restaurant is located in a dimly-lit, almost clubby room the likes of which folks who frequently dine in the 11th arrondissement will not be unfamiliar. And to top it all off, they cater to vegans.
In theory, it’s a cool concept. In practice, there were some gems… and a fair bit of fumbling.
When you book at FIEF, you decide from among three carte-blanche options. Five-course menus are served at 7pm and 9:45pm, with the “Conscious Omnivore” option priced at 95 euros and the plant-based “Amour Végétal” at 85. Or you can go whole hog at 8pm with the ten-course “Grand Menu” at 165 euros per person. While I had booked the omnivore menu for both me and my dining companion, upon arriving, we were offered the actual menus du jour and asked if either of us wanted to switch. I found myself enticed by the plant-based offering, so between the two of us, we sampled everything. We also added a 60-euro wine pairing, and while we also had the option of a 100-euro luxe pairing, the entry-level offering was wonderful.
Three mises-en-bouche set the stage, with the first one featuring a thin, crispy pancake wrapped around a miso-infused purée. While tasty, it had unfortunately already grown soggy by the time it was delivered to us. I was far more impressed with the beetroot tartlet and sunflower seed “Oreo” that followed.
Leek-vinaigrette is everywhere these days, and I’m very much not mad about it (as my hasty, blurry photo probably shows). This was one of my favorite bites of the night, with the tender, sweet leek paired with a rich, slightly sweet squash seed praline and the umami funk of nutritional yeast. The wine pairing – a white Crozes-Hermitage from Domaine des Entrefaux – offered the ideal floral and fruity notes and proved my favorite of the evening.
The bread service arrived next: a crackly, sourdough loaf paired with a salted butter infused with bergamot.
Here, I got my first taste of an unfortunate tendency that would plague the meal. While I liked the idea of the bergamot butter, the flavor was intense, almost overpoweringly so. Someone in the kitchen must like florals, something I would notice again and again as the meal unfolded.
This was the case for my first plant-based course, inspired by French onion soup (yet another trend I’ve been noticing of late, especially on fine dining menus). The Asian-inspired dish saw a caramelized onion and black garlic dumpling settled in an onion-dashi broth infused with Breton kombu and Meyer lemon. While the dumpling itself was tasty, there was far too much ginger and nasturtium in this dish – and I say that as someone who regularly drinks fresh ginger shots and eats candied ginger like it’s going out of style.
The omnivore appetizer was a dive-caught scallop paired with “coffee” and “vanilla” made, respectively, from celery and sweet woodruff, both of which proved uncanny local replacements for the real thing. I tasted a bite of this and found it far more balanced, but over time, the “vanilla” aromas of the woodruff became a bit much.
The omnivorous main toyed with bistro classic steak au poivre. Rosy venison loin was paired with with potato in two forms – mashed and crispy fried matchsticks – all sitting in a puddle of a rich pepper sauce made with three different peppers grown in France: sichuan and green pepper from the Norman Cotentin peninsula and red peppercorns from the Ile de Ré. This dish was lovely and well-balanced; to my mind, it showcased better than any other dish what FIEF does at its best.
The plant-based main had its merits as well: a Camargue rice congee was topped with kale and loads of seasonal mushrooms including chanterelles and shiitakes. Drizzled tableside with a mushroom broth, it could have been a rich, earthy delight. The dish was nevertheless plagued by the same over-floral problem as some of the others, and the ginger and sichuan pepper were so present I nearly couldn’t finish it. A real shame.
Trou normand is a French tradition of serving a sip of high-octane alcohol towards the apex of a rich, hearty meal to create a trou – literally a hole – so you can keep on eating. I love the way fine dining restaurants have appropriated this tradition, and the offering here of a lemon sorbet with Nyons black olives and olive oil from Avignon was lovely. It was topped with epazote drizzled tableside with vodka.
Cheese is not included in the tasting menu, but we opted in – and we were not disappointed. In keeping with yet another recent trend, FIEF opts not to serve a cheese plate or trolley, but rather to reimagine one cheese as a dish, in this case the Loire Valley goat cheese pyramid known as Valençay. A puff of ethereal cheese concealed a dried fruit base, offering the ideal blend of airy and creamy textures and sweet and savory flavors. We both agreed that this was our favorite bite of the night.
Dessert-wise, the omnivore menu skewed resolutely seasonal, with a walnut succès paired with oxidative yellow wine and Périgord black truffle. A walnut dacquoise base was topped with walnut sorbet and walnut milk, crafting a cohesive whole.
I found the plant-based offering a bit less enticing, with a squash and kumquat combo paired with almond milk and Vallauris orange blossom treading the same well-trod overly-floral path.
Mignardises followed, and while the pâte de fruit was lovely, the kiwi was not, both underripe and underwhelming. I’ve read other reviews that note that the desserts here pale in comparison to the savory offerings, and unfortunately, I found this to be true.
While there were some high points in my dinner at FIEF, I find it difficult to recommend, given the missteps, especially on the plant-based side of things. The service was nevertheless lovely, the wine pairings on point. And I have to give a special nod to the fact that while we overstayed our welcome by several hours (we were there for four!), no one ever made us feel unwelcome.
I so wanted FIEF to be stellar, but unfortunately, the execution here just didn’t live up to the promise.
FIEF – 44, rue de la Folie Méricourt, 75011