Choosing a restaurant by looking at its facade and peering through the window is usually not a good idea, but I lucked out the other day when I picked Kitchen 32 for dinner with my friend Jean-Michel. I was probably influenced by the fact that I am going to Japan soon and thought that eating at this cute little izakaya (a Japanese-style tapas restaurant) would be good preparation for my trip. I was right. And Jean-Michel was the perfect companion since he has already been to Japan and loves Japanese food and sake.
Upon further investigation, I learned that Kitchen 32 is the only Paris izakaya of the Japanese chain of ramen shops owned by “Ramen King” Shigemi Kawahara, which now has some 50 outlets around the world, four of them in Paris.
There was nothing chain-like about the cozy little Kitchen 32, however (or the Ippudo restaurants, for that matter), with its simple wooden tables, a few stools facing the open kitchen and the line of colorful flags hanging above it. We could see that the two chefs, one of them a Japanese woman, in the kitchen, and the two servers, one of them an adorable British woman full of smiles, were right on top of things.
Naturally, Jean-Michel was sipping a glass of sake when I arrived, but we switched to a natural red wine called Glou Glou to go with our meal, which began with pote sala (the shortened name for potato salad, much like the one we eat in the United States). Here it was fresh and tasty and came topped with a perfectly cooked soft-boiled egg and a little extra mayonnaise on the side.
I got a bit nervous when J-M suggested ordering the nikomi – tripe (stomach lining) stew – but I had to stick to my policy of trying anything at least once, so I said yes. I found the well-cooked pieces of tripe amidst the sauce and other ingredients – radishes, carrots, konjac, burdock and miso soup – totally inoffensive flavor-wise, although the texture was slightly displeasing. For J-M, however, the tripe was not flavorful enough – proof that he’s a true old-school Frenchman, fond of all edible parts of an animal.
There was no hesitation about the aburi shimesaba (marinated and flame-seared mackerel), which came with slivers of perfectly sweet white onion and an amazing condiment combining tangy yuzu and pear.
We couldn’t leave an izakaya without having some fried chicken, so we had ordered the chicken katsu don, simple and delicious breaded fried chicken with a mound of rice, flavorful gravy and chopped cabbage,
Even after all that, we still had room for more, so we consulted our friendly server and ordered the aburi chashu mori: braised pork belly with mayonnaise (apparently, the Japanese are mad about mayo) and another fabulous sauce, yuzukosho (a fermented paste of chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt). The meltingly tender pork was generously showered with spring onions.
You’d think that would be more than enough food, but we also had to try the desserts. As usual in Asian restaurants in Paris, they were Western desserts with a Japanese touch: miso-cream cheesecake and matcha cake with yuzu cream, azuki beans and fresh fruit. Both were excellent, but, being a huge fan of anything with yuzu in it, I preferred the matcha cake with its accompaniment of fresh, ripe figs and blueberries.
To top off this enjoyable evening, we stopped into the Maison du Whisky across the street (11, rue Tiquetonne), where we were warmly welcomed and took a tour of its cocktail bar and the enormous tasting room in the basement. In addition to whiskys from around the world, including Japan, of course, it carries a large selection of sakes, the reason for our visit. Jean-Michel couldn’t leave without a bottle of Yamanokotobuki Junmai Ginjo sake, his way of prolonging the joys of a happy meal.
See our Favorite Restaurants by Arrondissement page to find a good restaurant in the neighborhood where you want to eat.
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