The months that I spent in the Basque region in 2009 were some of my favorites, food-wise, in my life. I love eating tapas style (as evidenced by my wholehearted embracing of the small plates trend here in Paris), and I have to admit, for a city with 18 Michelin stars, San Sebastian is a relatively inexpensive city to eat in.
So when two friends suggested that we check out the newly opened Amagat in Paris 20th arrondissement, a Catalan restaurant specializing in tapas, I was pretty excited… and, yeah, a little apprehensive.
You see, Basque food once exported never seems to have the same flair. And after a cursory look at Amagat’s prices online, it seemed that it was taking on a decidedly Parisian price point. Add to this the fact that my most recent experience with Caché, the restaurant that occupies the same space as Amagat (Amagat is Catalan for hidden, aka Caché in French) was less than stellar, and I wasn’t too sure what to expect.
Luckily, Amagat avoided many of Caché’s missteps.
First of all, Amagat takes far better advantage of its location on the picturesque Villa Riberolle than Caché did. The former is in a converted loft, and despite it overlooking the beautiful courtyard, on my visit, I wasn’t allowed to take advantage of the gorgeous outdoor space. (Not sure if this is always the policy or if everyone on staff was having a bad day that day.) At Amagat, however, even the indoor seats have a beautiful view of both the cozy dining room and the courtyard outside, and the staff is absolutely lovely – bordering on an American level of friendliness.
I have to thank the French for not giving into the trend of asking, “Do you know how the menu works?” but if this were that kind of country, this would be that kind of menu. Basically, each table gets two menus: one actually explaining what each dish is, and the other allowing you to tick boxes for which dishes you’d like to try (and in what quantities). It gives you more control over what you’re ordering, but it also kind of does away with the need for a server in the first part of the meal. (Ours fancied himself a very loquacious sommelier, instead.)
We started things off with Amagat’s play on a Gilda, the classic pintxo of guindillas and anchovies. I balked, at first, at the per-piece price of 5 euro, but this Gilda has a lot more to say for herself than most.
Manzanilla olives, roasted red peppers, Cantabria anchovies, marinated octopus, boquerones, guindillas, and pickled garlic can all be found on each of these hefty skewers. The latter, especially, was a pleasant surprise of flavor and texture. Fresh seafood and quality veg made these a real standout for me.
Several types of charcuterie appeared on this menu. We opted for the leaner lomo, which was richly flavored and sliced paper thin.
Of course, not everything was a showstopper. Escalivada is usually one of my favorite Catalan vegetable dishes, but this one was a bit bland and could have used a touch of vinegar to punch it up. (Still nice to have a vegetable!)
And while a pommes paille play on patatas bravas was a cool idea, I found myself missing the stodginess of the fried potato wedges in the traditional iteration of this side.
The boquerones, meanwhile, were super tasty, but a tiny four-piece portion reminded me why I was so worried about the prices here. (It turned out to be worthwhile once we let the servers know we’d be hanging onto the richly flavored oil for dipping!)
The standout, aside from the Gilda, was perhaps this braised pork cheek. A massive sharing portion, this was literally fork tender and oh-so flavorful.
Seriously, look at that.
We hadn’t really planned to order dessert, but we sat around for so long gabbing that someone in the kitchen must have decided we needed some. And it did not disappoint! Catalan rousquille biscuits were served in a sundae with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Barely time for a photo before that spoon swooped in!
Definitely check out Amagat – the Catalan cuisine is worth the trek, and the prices aren’t nearly as scary as I’d thought, given the quality and portion sizes here.
Amagat - 23, villa Riberolle, 75020