Dinner at "Spring" was great !
The decor is nothing fancy, it is a tiny restaurant (16 seats) located in an unknown part of the 9th, but one obviously comes for the food.
I made the resa 3 weeks before dinner, but now one has to reserve 2 monthes in advance !
We were a party of 4 but I arrived first and Daniel Rose greeted me very warmly and asked me if I wanted a glass of wine, while waiting for the 3 others. I said that I did not like to drink wine alone, and so he shared a glass of wine with me !! Very nice. And I have to say that his french is excellent !
That glass of wine was complimentary.
Then he and his waitress waited until all seats were busy before serving the meal (that's the rule). As you probably know it is a 4 course fixed menu (39 euros), and no substitution is allowed. Actually, maybe he found us nice because when we told him that 2 of us did not eat pork (but that we knew the rules and did not mind if he could not substitute), he made a special dish for us ! I think it depends on his mood and if he likes you or not !!
We started with pigeon and ceps under a round shaped pastry, and served with raw beets, green apple and a flower (a "pensée") to decorate (I ate it as it was edible ). Pigeon and ceps perfectly cooked, raw beets and apples were amazing, cut into tiny dices.
Then the second starter was mackerel fillets, with a "salad" of pomegranates and raddichio. A thin toasted bread which had been rubbed with chorizo was a pleasant touch too. For the non-pork eaters, the bread had been rubbed with guinea fowl grease instead of chorizo.
Main dish was the pork, very nicely presented in a rectangular plate and topped with a baked apple that was incredibly shiny. Some grated lime on top of the dish. Mmm, yummy. Guinea fowl was the substitution for non-pork eaters. Perfectly cooked too.
The dessert was a trio of bite-size delicacies : kind of a dark chocolate ganache (DR explained to me that it was not really a ganache as there was no cream inside, but that it was very close), a delicious tiny lemon curd,and kind of a cream with chestnut spread and pear chutney. The portions were really tiny, and we thought that is was only amuse-bouches, but it was the actual dessert. As they were all rich and filling, it was finally more than enough. A small glass of "lait de montagne" was a pleasant addition, it was flavoured with ginger. I loved it.
We all loved the whole menu. Half the customers were english speaking tourists, I chatted with my "voisins de table" and they were coming from San Diego. They had read the article on "Bon Appétit". They loved the menu too.
Wine recommandation was great.We had a sweet wine wine, a Montlouys.
The only negative comments : the waitress was prompt and efficient but not really smiling that night, and she did not explain the dishes very well. Daniel Rose was much more precise and detailed when we got explanations from him.
The coffee was also quite bad even though it was an expresso. Then Rose gave a nicely wrapped large slice of banana bread to all, explaining it was his grand-mother's recipe and that it was for our breakfast the next morning ! Wow, to die for !
As you can guess, I highly recommend "Spring" to anyone who wants to enjoy perfectly executed dishes, with a pleasant creative touch, and in a nice atmosphere.
I can't wait to have my cooking class with him in a week !!