Japanese Cuisine in Paris: Orient Extrême Montaigne

Paris is a cosmopolitan city, complete with many gastronomic delights.  When you want Asian cuisine, you can easily find a place to suit your cravings. My family and I love Japanese food, and we discovered a medium-sized restaurant on a street off of Avenue Montaigne,...

on 21 Rue Bayard, in the 8eme arrondisement.

Nestled between a Thai restaurant and a French bar and restaurant, across from the RTL radio station which is next to another Japanese restaurant, the Orient Extrême Montaigne is accesible by Metro - and the nearest one is line 9 (Franklin Roosevelt exit), plus a few minutes of walking on Avenue Montaigne, then left into rue Bayard. With a Vélib' (bike) station right in front of it, you can enjoy a bike ride to the place from wherever you find another bike station - just be sure to know where to pass.

Welcomed in French, instead of the customary welcome greeting in Japanese, this was a hint that there was going to be an added touch to what we were looking forward to. We were not disappointed by chef Toyofumi Ozuru's creations.

It's a simply chic place, like some French restaurants, and patronized mostly by  the locals. 

I thought it was interesting that we ordered the same items on the menu.

 Carpaccio de Saumon 

This Italian dish, with the raw beef replaced with raw slices of salmon, came with a distinct Japanese sauce like Ponzu Sauce, with fresh shallots, black sesame seeds, and little sweet nuggets that were crunchy. That was a burst of flavor.

 

 Ebi Tempura California Rolls


A very popular choice as a starter course - this is Tempura Shrimp rolled into the California Roll.

 

Ebiten Salade

This was a tasty salad with a mound of lightly battered and quick fried shrimps, over a melange of colored salad leaves, and garnished with chopped spring onions. SImply delicious with a creamy sauce. We had seconds of this one.

We kept our main courses light to make room for dessert.

 Fondant de Chocolat au glace vanille

A version of a lava cake - the chocolate fondant (means melting) was still warm, complimented by a petit serving of fresh fruit salad and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Decadent!

Fondant de Chocolat au sorbet mangue

A request was granted for a lactose-intolerant chocolate addict who asked for a mango sorbet to replace the ice cream, was willingly granted.

Macha Cake 

A cake roll with a creamy green-tea flavored filling and sweetened Azuki (red beans) paste, served with vanilla ice cream and sweetened red beans, on the side. The cake roll was not very sweet and it did have a discernible green-tea flavor, that went so well with the side accompaniments.

To cleanse the palate, a scoop, each, of vanilla and green tea ice cream did the trick.

 Except for a table or two, the restaurant was packed by 10:00 p.m. 
For reservations: +33 (0)1 47 20 91 58