I know that most of the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai restaurants here are not run by owners of the same country, the majority are owned and operated by either Cambodians or Vietnamese. This is especially true of Chinese restaurants, a hard lesson I learnt many years back when we tried unsuccessfully to procure a bowl of clear noodle soup over our 3 week honeymoon. But I still keep trying, and lately we hear of places operated by mainlainder Chinese and authentic Northern Chinese joints, which we'll definitely go check out.
In the meantime, on one of my walks around my neighbourhood, I came across a very sleek Chinese restaurant that reminds me of those at home. Tse Yang, at 25 Ave Pierre 1er de Serbie, is discreetly signposted, and like trendy Chinese restaurants in Singapore, one enters and has to walk through a long passage before finding the dining room. It also seems to be a favourite with expense account types and diplomats, the sidewalks are consistently jammed with sleek black cars. Sorry, no pictures as I forgot the camera.
Anyway, the food is good if one sticks to the Szechuan and Northern Chinse dishes instead of Cantonese staples. Hot and Sour Soup packs a peppery sour punch with loads of ingredients including wood ear fungus and shredded duck meat, very welcome in the middle of winter. Mapo tofu while not exactly authentic or ma-la, is also robustly spicy and tasty in its own way, i.e. they don't dumb down the food. My favourite is their tea smoked duck, the duck retaining its juices and had a beguiling smoky aroma which is accentuated further with pepper salt. The restaurant is owned by a Vietnamese, but there is clearly a mainlander Chinese in the kitchen.
The relative authenticity and high standards come with hefty price tags of course, a meal here can be very costly. But for celebrations or if ah-kong is paying the tab, why not?
Tse Yang
Haute Gastronomie Chinoise
25 Ave Pierre 1er de Serbie
75016 PAris
T 01 47207022
