CAM Restaurant
Hear ye! Hear ye! Hot new restaurant, comin’ in hot. Chaud derrière! Tout nouveau, tout chaud!
That’s enough of that.
If you follow Paris chefs or wine-o’s or any sort of food people on Instagram, you’ll see that C.A.M is receiving visits left and right from well respected chefs and those in the industry who are champions of super creative cooking. And that means they are likely to seek out and appreciate that kind of high quality food themselves.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and where there’s chefs, there’s good freakin’ food. C.A.M. (one month old) has received visits from the Who’s Who of the Paris dining world. Let me just Paparazzi like a food-focused TMZ real quick.
Taku Sekine (Dersou)
Aaron Ayscough (Not Drinking Poison in Paris)
Seen dining with cute dog.
James Henry (ex Bones & Ten Belles Bread)
Omnivore World (Omnivore)
Tatiana Levha (Le Servan) & Bertrand Grébaut (Septime)
Aw DZANG, it’s Beyoncé and Jay-Z. When the king and queen of the food ball make a point to come in, it is a sign of great blessing.
And there’s been more, but honestly, I can’t be expected to go trolling around Instagram searching for every foodie person who’s gone in the past month. You get the point. The people are going.
Probably most impressive is that they have no website, no Facebook page (except for one photo), and no official phone number (save the chef’s cell which is on their Instagram and Le Fooding’s page).
C.A.M. Import Export remains on the facade from its days as a mini Eiffel Tower boutique. I guess it’s hard to stay in business when there are 300 dudes outside the Eiffel Tower selling those for 1€ each. Also, insider tip: You can buy an entire bag of mini Eiffel Towers on Amazon for around 22 cents each and hand them out as gifts if that’s your gift-giving style. Anyway, I can see why it didn’t last.
And now it’s a super cool place to eat, joining the ranks of a bare-bones and stripped down interior that says, “We don’t care about your fancy interior design because we’re making awesome food. And we’re probably cooler than you, but come on in anyway.”
I have inferred this last bit on my own. But if I’m being honest, these people are, in fact, cool. I mean look at what they’re doing in their free moments.
Balancin’ wine glasses…
Late night walkin’ on the bar…
I love them. Let’s be friends.
The new Asian-focused venture is head up by Phil Euell of Boot Café with chef Eseu Lee (previously at Passerini) at the helm.
Ok, should we look at food now? Let’s.
The Food
Monkish with clams
Crispy breaded quail
Smoked cuttlefish with ginger nouc nam dressing, smoked pork breast, and baked dorade tempura crumbs
Bonito head with smoked beef fat, spring onion relish, and arugula salad. Not for the faint of heart. I genuinely think this dish could scare some people, but I think it’s a masterpiece, and I want to eat ten of them.
Lettuce wraps with soy fermented steak
Le Fooding says they ate the following:
“an explosive steak tartare doped up with a spicy gochujang XO sauce, crushed peanuts and smoked mozzarella (€13)”
“blanched Brussels sprouts and eggplant, twirled around in a good sesame sauce (€9)”
“incredible steak marinated in fermented soy, which you wrap up yourself in fresh lettuce, mint and cilantro (€24)”
“some excellent quail with garlic and soy beans (€15)”
Also this.
Price-wise, you can expect 7-13€ per starter (eggplant, mackerel, hummus) and 14-24€ per main dish (quail, monkfish, steak). Food-wise, expect flavor and spice and maybe teeth in your fish head, but don’t expect it to be average.
Reservations only accepted for parties of 6 or more. Otherwise, it’s first come, first serve.
Restaurant C.A.M
Thoughts? Comments? Let me know!