At Les Enfants Perdus, in Paris, “the salmon steak, coated with sesame, white and black, balances between sweetness and freshness”

A a stone’s throw from the Gare de l’Est, in Paris, we expect sauerkraut or any other dish with Alsatian accents rather than salmon tataki. However, it is indeed one of the treasures of the Lost Children, a warm refuge on the quiet rue des Récollets, which leads to the Saint-Martin canal. On the blackboard, placed on a wooden table, a few dishes written in chalk are highlighted on a menu that changes with the seasons.

If the style is rather French, it is interpreted with the house touch of chef Thineshkumar Mahendran, in the kitchen almost since the opening of the place in 2008. In 2014, he is part of the young trio, with Louis Plichet and Tibor Granat, who bought the bistro-style address, which has become like a second home for them.

“Everyone who passes through it builds its identity. A few years ago, a Japanese chef introduced us to working with fish, says Tibor Granat. We had a starter consisting of a variation of bluefin tuna in three ways, in carpaccio, in tartare and in tataki. Then we had the idea of ​​keeping only the tataki, but with salmon, for a generous dish. »

“We do everything with the heart”

Tataki, in fact, is generally served as a starter and the fish cut into small slices. This is not the case at Les Enfants Perdus: the plate deploys a whole salmon steak, coated with sesame, white and black, and quickly seared to give it a slightly caramelized semi-cooked appearance. Combined with mashed potatoes and parsnips, with a few fine, just-roasted carrots, the whole thing balances between sweetness and freshness.

An invigorating dish, like its environment, where wooden furniture and antique objects are highlighted by subdued lighting. “We do everything with the heart”, confides Tibor Granat. You only have to taste the octopus in carpaccio, the homemade foie gras, the roast veal cooked for six hours or, for dessert, the famous French toast to see it.

And what do we drink with salmon tataki? It is Louis Plichet who takes care of the wines: he chooses them healthy and sincere. To accompany our dish, it will be the vintage Crazy morningan Alsatian Sylvaner, fleshy and iodized from Lindenlaub.