It was a cold, rainy and damp winter night in Paris. With a friend popping by to visit, my partner wanted some place nice and cosy. But of course, knowing him, we ended up in the Nanashi, a trendy and bourgeois (affectionately/derogatorily shortened to bobo) restaurant in the 10me arrondissement.
Founded by Kaori Endo of the popular brunch spot, Rose Bakery and two other associates, the canteen-style restaurant even has a blackboard with the menu/plat du jour scribbled all over it. The wait staff are friendly (for Parisian standards) and are a mite, well, flamboyant if you catch my drift…. haha!
We started out with the must-have brioche “pizza” smothered in sprouts, arugula, nori flakes and roasted baby tomatoes. Talk about an anti-oxidant filled pizza. Certainly not the cheesy, greasy take-out you’d expect.
Et encore, bien sûr, being in France, my two French dining mates insisted on the “rouleau de printemps“, that had foie gras bits in it, to suit the Christmas spirit, I suppose. I’m not much of a fan of foie gras or the raw Vietnamese vegetable spring roll as well. So, I left them to it. It had a lovely presentation with a side of fish sauce.
At Nanashi, you’d be stark raving mad to leave without eating one of their bentos, well because that’s the only thing they serve, for the main course at least.
Don’t expect the typical black compartmentalised boxes. The bentos at Nanashi come in white ceramic dishes. As I don’t eat beef, due to religious reasons, I opted for the orange fish with brown rice with salad and assorted cooked vegetables. Quite the unexpected twist to the bentos I’m accustomed to seeing, that’s for sure.
The other two got the beef bentos (I’m sorry, that photo came out blurry, so I’m not posting it). It looks pretty much like mine except with medium-well beef slices on the top.
Anyway, as they say, there’s always room for dessert. To me, and I’m sure I speak for my partner as well, it’s probably the best part of the meal. We had the signature Matcha Cheesecake and the Ginger Chocolate Fondant. DEE-LISH-CIOUS. The Matcha Cheesecake could do with a bit more matcha powder but otherwise an excellent effort.
The Ginger Chocolate Fondant was chewy, spicy and chocolatey all at the same time. A very Christmas-sy dessert indeed. I’m an old lady anyway, I love ginger and the scent of jasmine. So, it’s the best thing since they created Nutella to me, but if you hate ginger, skip this one.
The price ranges from 13 euros to 20 euros in Nanashi.
Nanashi just opened a second outlet in Le Marais for those based in that district.
Nanashi is located at
31 Rue de Paradis, 75010
and
57 Rue Charlot, 75003
cook. eat. rinse. repeat. 
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