Naturally yours
It took me a long time to return to the Natürlich restaurant. As if to ward off the fate of its previous tenants. As if the past had to be wiped clean to better appreciate the present. It was time to move on, to stop looking back and, above all, to trust in the abilities of a trio of great professionals, eager to do well and do good. They needed time to take possession of the premises, digest the history and find their feet. What could be more natural than to take time to better consider the actors who enchant us with their talent? This is the story of a restaurant that never admits defeat and continues to write a fine gourmet history.
Winning trio
Natürlich has always been a man’s story. For his debut, a tattooed, rebellious child prodigy returns to his homeland with all guns blazing. The soufflé Pierre Jancoud didn’t even have time to (un)blow. After a period of neglect, young talent Jonas Bolle takes over the stoves and signs worthy culinary symphonies fully in line with the energies of the place. We thought it was going to be a long opus, but the gastronomic score won’t last forever either.
For several months now, a new tribe has been brightening up the restaurant on rue de la Coulouvrenière. In the dining room, sommelier Giuliano Frassineti has cleverly revitalized a wine list featuring the names of benchmark wineries: Mikulski in Burgundy, Tatasciore in Neuchâtel and Valentini in Abruzzo, to name but a few. But not only that, this talent for the grape offers surprising wines by the glass, such as a white wine from the Tenue di Castellaro winery in Sicily, made from Carricante and Moscato grapes. A serious conductor with a keen eye and precise gestures, Ilias Tanoudis leads his room with enthusiasm and vivacity.
The Caesar way
On the stove side, discreet chef Alexandru Ionut Isac offers a cuisine that combines a touch of Italy with a hint of Geneva in a fine dose of pleasure. Like the gourmet GRTA egg, languorously cooked at 62 degrees, which, once incised, pours its flowing heart onto a summer cauliflower mousse. While a beef tartare cut with a knife, crispy parsnips and Caesar-style sauce delights our carnivoroushomo sapiens palates, it’s the tenderness of a filet of scorpion fish, a few sautéed escarole, a few Taggiasche olives and a cream of lentils that make us capsize with marine pleasure.
Even if the cocoa, coffee and amaretto dessert lacks relief and structure (as is often the case when chefs tackle sweet dishes), the Natürlich restaurant is well and truly back in our gourmet hearts. What a delight to see this establishment, which quickly charmed us, reborn. Let’s hope this adventure lasts for a long, long time.
