Restaurant KEI

Restaurant KEI Restaurant Review:

After spending seven years with Alain Ducasse at the Plazza Athénée, Japanese-born chef Kei Kobayashi has learned many of the secrets of French gastronomy. He took over the eponymous restaurant of Gérard Besson, who retired to our great regret. The dining room is decorated in silver and gray tones: the carpeting, walls and Louis XV-style armchairs all harmonize. Polished tableware and efficient yet very polite service enhance the French cuisine endowed with a Japanese tinge. The warm gratiné (cheese-topped) clams with herbs might appear as an amuse bouche. Dishes like baked and half-baked foie gras with apple jelly, Parmesan and truffles; veal dressed with endives, spinach, beetroot leaves and potato; sautéed sea bass served with beetroot dices, chorizo emulsion, fresh fava beans and asparagus slivers; and four gnocchi set in a creamy juice with fresh truffles and arugula salad testify to his great mastery over cooking time and his art of garnishing the plate with great precision, though sometimes lacking in flavor. For wines, we suggest the Crozes Hermitage "Alberic Bouvet" 2006.