“Joia” or tears, I have not decided yet.

parisdiaRestaurants & Hotels6 Comments

The lovely and confortable first floor dining room and bar

Everything was irritating about my experience at Joia, (Joy in Basque), the new Hélène Darroze restaurant located at the heart of “branchitude” just behind the Bourse, on rue des Jeûneurs (literally Fasting men). When I called, I was told I could only have lunch at 12 pm or 1.30 pm. So annoying this double service habit!  So 1.30 pm is what I booked and when I arrived two days later, I was told there was no booking under my name. The young lady on the phone had mixed up the Thursdays… and reserved for the end of the month. This was particularly annoying since a close friend of the chef had urged me to go and taste the delightful menu.

Lovely mushroom plates with foie gras and a n egg

Then I was seated at a high table and high stool, the sort of place you can never put your handbag anywhere and your feet don’t touch the ground. I hate it. This was downstairs in a very noisy room which calmed down around 3 pm and just next to the open kitchen. I could see a little green house in the courtyard where you can presumably smoke and nice hydrangeas hanging on the wall across the room from me. This cheered me up.

The open kitchen is fun to watch

We then ordered some chardonnay which was served in ridiculously large goblets in very small quantity for 11 €. And the wine we were brought was not the wine we had ordered. When I politely told the waiter, he said, it’s much better and more expensive but I won’t charge you… ridiculous answer! I did not like the wine but there was so little to drink that It did not matter. I hear Hélène Darroze favors lady winemakers… A good idea maybe?

The full glass of white wine

We then had a green bean salad and mushrooms with foie gras and an egg in the center. And both starters were absolutely delicious. The brown bread was a bit stale though. Dommage! bread is important in Paris.

The green bean salad and duck

We then had Mamma Léna’s green raviolis with tomato sauce, excellent, and neck of lamb confit with spices which reminded me of gigot de sept heures. I ordered polenta to go with it and potatoes were brought to me. The pretentious waiter obviously was not listening at all…

Dessert of Mille crêpes, perfumed with matcha tea and a cream of yuzu was slightly tasteless but pretty. We then went upstairs to check on the room where we had reserved but not gotten in, and it was ravishing with confortable corduroy armchairs and a lovely bar.

Mille crêpes with matcha tea was mostly very pretty

So the morale of the story is, double check that your reservation is confirmed for the day you asked, make sure the wine you order is in stock that day, and repeat your order so the waiter brings you what you asked for. Trendiness is not enough of a quality to erase all professionalism. But I suppose this is just rehearsal times and in a few months, everyone will have been trained properly.

The façade of Joia on rue des Jeûneurs is very grand

You will then be fine in one of the talked about spots of the moment (it opened on September 5) and you might even enjoy yourself after you’ve looked at all the media people who are regulars. After all Hélène Darroze is Laetitia Halliday’s best friend! So who are we normal customers to complain?

Joia, 39 rue des Jeûneurs, Paris 2.tel: 01 40 20 06 06

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6 Comments on ““Joia” or tears, I have not decided yet.”

  1. En fait cette adresse rue des Jeuneurs donnerait plutôt envie de ..jeûner que d’y déjeuner ! Est-ce que Laetitia est au menu des VIP?! Et quid de la “Couenta” ? É mucha Joia?!

  2. Incroyable ! Quand HD a ouvert son petit restau derriere Notre Dame il m’est arrivé exactement la même aventure… C’est dommage que la gestion du lieu ne soit pas aussi bien supervisé que sa cuisine… délicieuse au demeurant !

  3. Indeed, dear Laure, trendiness and professionalism have to walk hand in hand! Encore une histoire de… marcheurs !

    Quoi qu’il en soit, merci de nous faire commencer la journée avec un sourire et amitiés, Isabelle

  4. Laure: my great, great friend, Gael Green, who has been a noted food critic for years recently wrote about an equally careless waiter: ‘he needs to withdraw and stir up some passion for pleasing.”

    Garrison

    And I failed your multiplication captcha twice…

  5. Dear Laure, You seldom complain or scold. This review is a scorcher! I do hope some kind person passes your review along to the owners. Poor service is poor service. Hopefully, as you say, all will settle down, and you will soon receive the best seat in the joint!

  6. Ugh! It seems the world is going to the dogs. We are too often confronted with much the same problems in restaurants here! But the food does sound yummy!

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