Between them, they do not total fifty, one is of Neapolitan origin, the other from Casablanca, both have a passion for French cuisine and wines. Today they are inaugurating their restaurant, Armonia, in the heart of the 7th arrondissement and offering French-inspired cuisine that does not exclude any borrowing from world cuisines.
Passions communes
They have a spirit of adventure and an entrepreneurial spirit, a taste for challenges, an eye for detail and quality. These two young men are very much of their time.
The first, Andrea, arrived from Naples at the age of 19. There, he works with his father, here he joins Robuchon where his brother already officiates. As a clerk, he will discover all the facets of the profession, and go through cooking then the pantry, becoming chef de partie before joining Axel Manès as second. A few years later, he met a prince from the Middle East who sponsored him as head of his residences; he then travels from Courchevel to Ibiza…He sees the country, discovers products, techniques, meets the Prince’s gastronomic requirements. The desire for a restaurant was born in his mind, he returned to Paris, worked extras with major Michelin stars and met Mustapha with whom he worked on a barge moored at Place des Invalides. Together, they created Armonia.
Mustapha began his career in the Telecom networks before freeing himself and leaving everything for Nice where he worked as a clerk. He then left for Belgium where he worked for the caterer Jean Michel Loriers who worked for the royal family and there learned rigor, forms, consistency… At the same time, he was trained as a mixologist by Hannah Van Ongevalle, world champion of this discipline, developed a passion for wine and began advising Parisian bars. He then meets Andrea…
A high-quality restaurant… with a traveling mood.
The two of them dream of an elegant, simple place, where the cuisine combines pleasure and quality. This place is 15 rue du Champ-de-Mars in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, a cube with an extension facing the kitchen by Menomenipiu, cube lined with brown wooden slats on raw wall, a glass roof that can be completely retracted per day plenty of sunshine, a lunch counter, marble tables, benches and comfortable chairs. The tables are spaced apart allowing the intimacy of a conversation, the soft tones, the calm and serene atmosphere.
The cuisine, for its part, is rooted in the French spirit and transcends borders to draw flavors and perfumes from the global repertoire. That of their travels, their roots, their imaginations. To start ? a tribute to Italy of course, the country of Andrea’s childhood which passed on to him the taste for good, well-made, beautiful without ever neglecting the quality of the ingredient which will make the excellent dish. The suppliers are handpicked, the products observed closely – respect for the animal and taste quality require – the long and patient set-up allows the kitchen to be managed without ever wasting anything.
The gazpacho combines flavorful tomatoes with sherry, mascarpone and kumbawa. Classic? not so much, the soft texture of the soup itself, the search for delicate stridencies, the rather powerful aftertaste, offer a personal version of gazpacho. The sea bream ceviche marinated in citrus fruits and tomato water accompanied by onions and cucumber is also in search of sweetness and refusal of aggressiveness, ideal for a spring lunch. The smoked eel is softened by a potato velouté and a horseradish cream, a question of balance, a concept constantly at the heart of the cuisine, while the Black Cod is marinated in white miso and accompanied by a puree of long turnip for a tone-on-tone game. The beef cooked sous vide, new potatoes, marrow bones with mustard, once again seeks temperance at first glance which then brings its share of surprises to the palate. The entrecôte is served under a smoked bell jar with its garrigue herbs, the white asparagus finds its Mornay sauce but disturbs the classicism of beef cecina and candied tomatoes, there is the desire for a sunny, very fresh cuisine , very mastered in terms of textures, very technical but from which we retain a simple pleasure.
As for desserts, the ricotta cream, chocolate crumble, red fruits is interpreted like a white cloud and colored stars, a sweetness disrupted by the explosion in the mouth of the red berries while the chocolate with roasted flavors, in very small touches, entices our imaginary towards other lands. Milk Espuma, another poetic planet, finds at its heart an iced sphere of passion fruit while a peach ice cream, jasmine espuma, almond tuile, wild fruits takes us on an intergalactic journey with Mediterranean flavors .
The desire to come back…
Armonia adjoins the famous Rue Cler, the Eiffel Tower, the Pont de l’Alma and the restaurant is to be experienced as a pleasant stopover in the wanderings that the capital offers. Andrea and Mustapha’s desire is to invite people to come and enjoy a moment of taste, to find the pleasure of lunch on the go or dinner in town with serious, attentive and sober service, playful cuisine. while asserting its rigor, fragrant and well-made wines, a harmonious moment and, each time we return, the joy of being welcomed by these trendy boys with a sincere pleasure of seeing each other again and tasting this fine cuisine made and tasty.
HARMONY
15 rue du Champ de Mars – 75007 Paris
[email protected] / www.restaurant-armonia.fr
The editorial team /Le7tv (press release)
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