Ze Kitchen Galerie

Located on 4, rue des Grands-Augustins , Ze Kitchen Galerie is an Asian-European, one michelin star restaurant with an excellent reputation. We’re here to see if they deserve it. Chef William Ledeuil has a habit of creating new and different dishes using Asian ingredients with a European cooking style. He manages to pay attention to every detail and has excellent assistant chefs to help him out.

The menu was one of the best- partly because they gifted it to us (we have a soft spot for those kinds of things). We happily accepted the menu, and besides, that way we were able to take notes directly on the menu.  Here are some pictures of the menu:

Then they gave us olives and bread(which we later used to sop up all of the sauce). Here is a picture of Karsen eating olives and a picture of the fresh bread:

P.S- He says that green olives are better than brown olives.

Mommy didn’t much like the main courses and dessert so she asked the chef to make three of the starters (she found all the starters interesting).  They very graciously accommodated her request and said that her three starters would be the same price as a three course meal (a starter, a main course, and a dessert). The first dish she ordered was the Oyster-Razor Clam-Octopus-Horseradish-and Wasabi Condiment. Mommy says that the oyster was cold and very refreshing, and the horseradish and wasabi condiment tasted excellent with it. Here is a picture of it:

Karsen had the Gnocchi Sardi with Parmesan and lemon. It was so good that we all fought to sop up the delicious green sauce.  Heavy, but well worth it. The green sauce was delicious. After he finished, we had bread with it. Here is a picture of the Gnocchi:

And lastly, Anya had the tuna from St Jean Luz, with a papaya and beetroot sauce. The tuna was wonderfully done, with the papaya and some vegetables placed on top of it with the beetroot condiment poured over the top. In essence, it looked quite like gumdrops with sweet lemon zest on top.  This may have been the BEST of our first courses. Here is a picture of the tuna:

P.S. Doesn’t the tuna look like a bunch of gumdrops with cherry sauce and lemon rind on top???

Mommy’s second starter was the Green Pea-Lemongrass Broth, stuffed crab and Thai Basil. I told her to dip it in bread and eat it that way. She took the hint. 😉 . Here is a picture of the soup.

The stuffed crab was absolutely delicious. If only they had added one more crab fritter – then we could each have one ;).  Mommy said that the crab reminded her of the crab fritters at Bacchanalia, one of her favorite restaurants in Atlanta.

Karsen had the “Fish of the day” with citrus sauce as his main course. It was perfectly prepared and the citrus enhanced the flavor of the fish.

Anya had “Le Marche which means “The market” and is very similar to Karsen’s except it has different vegetables and different kind of sauces. While Anya had the lemon sauce, Karsen had the orange sauce. They were both very good – and we polished everything off!  But we both thought that our starters were better. We think Mommy had the right idea – order three starters!

And then, mommy’s third starter arrived – the spaghetti and lobster with Thai Pistou (Pistou is a cold sauce made with garlic cloves, fresh basil, and olive oil used with a mortar and pestle). And, we have to admit it was well-worth the 8 Euro supplement! We kept stealing bites of her spaghetti until she got mad. Here is a picture of the spaghetti and lobster.  This was the MOST delicious of all of the dishes we tried!  The sauce was so good – we had to ask the chef about it!  As he described the dish, we realized that the lobster-pasta was a perfect blend of French and Thai cooking.  Really amazing!!

Then…………….(drum roll please)………………………..the second most important meal of the day………dessert (although we think dessert beats breakfast and could perhaps be had every meal of the day including: Breakfast, elevenses, brunch, lunch, tea, supper, dinner, and dessert. But after all we are kids.  What do you expect?)

Karsen had the Wild strawberry-strawberry-coconut-litchi(weird name, huh? And lots of fruits), for dessert. He said his was the best, so we’re taking his word for it(It’s the best way to get him to be quiet.)

Told you. He loved it.

Anya had the chocolate tainori which was basically a bunch of melted chocolate with a fruit sauce and a meringue. It was an excellent combo.

Mommy had coffee (yuck). They must’ve felt sorry for mommy so they brought her a miniature dessert – their white chocolate dessert  (We should give them an extra smiley face for that, huh?).  Here is a picture of Mommy’s delicious white chocolate dessert and her yucky coffee (most kids hate coffee you know- just ask our cousin Mina).  This trio of desserts represented the best of their sweets.  Thank you so much for the extra white chocolate sampling!

After Mommy finished her coffee which Anya thinks smells wonderful(Karsen says-WEIRD!), they gave us some treats that we could eat on the train back to London.

We took a picture of the waiter with Anya too. Mommy says all of the staff at Ze Kitchen Gallerie were very attentive and knowledgeable.  And as a bonus, she says that they are all very handsome!

Then we got to meet the chef. He told us that he first went to Thailand and loved the food there.  He loved it so much that he was inspired to create a fusion restaurant-now known as Ze kitchen gallerie. French style cooking with Asian ingredients – what a wonderful idea! Before he explored Asia though, he worked with Guy Savoy, another very famous chef. Here is a picture of us with the incomparable Chef William Ledeuil:

While we were waiting for a taxi to come and pick us up from the restaurant, we took a picture. Well, we couldn’t resist. We just love pictures. Here it is:

Overall, we were incredibly pleased with our experience at Ze Kitchen Galerie.  The food was absolutely delicious and we appreciated the creativity.  The blend of asian spices with French cooking is a definite success!  And as expected from a Michelin star restaurant, the service was impeccable.  We especially enjoyed meeting with the chef – he was friendly and even had time to chat with kids!

This was our last meal in Paris before returning to London – and it was well worth it.  We can’t wait to get back and would highly recommend it!  In fact, mommy learned about ZKG because it was on a list of most affordable michelin-star restaurants (that’s terrific VFM, or value for money, in Sujata Bhuya parlance).  In fact, the food was as affordable as most nice places in Paris – but with the food and service that one comes to expect from a michelin-starred establishment!  Merci Beaucoup for a delicious meal!  Your excellent reputation is well-deserved!

We rate Ze kitchen gallerie

5 smiley faces

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀