Yep, the owner is rabbit-mad. There are rabbits everywhere. They’re breeding! But how’s the food? We tell you the hard truth…

photos : JasonW


Rabbits are sweet aren’t they, but they do seem to multiply rather rapidly. At Usagi (‘rabbit’ in Japanese) they have colonised the entire restaurant! On the counter, on shelves, on the walls…. they are everywhere, even in the toilets! In fact the toilets are actually inside a giant rabbit. Now there’s something you don’t see every day.





We loved the design of the place, very amusing, great retro furniture, loads of character. It looked like we were in for quite a special meal!

On the menu was… a rabbit, and an explanation of the concept behind the food.

“Well before the year 1,000AD, Japanese monks invented Shôjin, a life of rectitude and purity where searching for the essential dictated everyday life. Their food, simple, vegetarian, used a Kombu (edible kelp) bouillon, shiitake mushrooms, rice and grilled soybean – the “Shôjin dashi” as its base, and is to be found in all the dishes served at Usagi, as if these deeply wise ancients were with us still and taking a new step forward…”

It’s a great story and sounded like a yummy mix, so we started checking out the menu. This is the midday menu, and the first surprise was the price: 35 euros is pretty dear for a lunchtime meal, even a high-concept 1,000 year-old monk’s meal.

Turning the page, we got to the evening menu…

Unsurprisingly, the prices were even higher and a quick calculation revealed that a first course, main course and dessert was going to cost between 43€ and €52 each, and side servings are extra! Add wine to that and you’re looking at a 130€ meal for two. Ouch! We decided to bite the bullet, trust what our friends had told us about the place (that it was amazing) and order.

Whilst waiting a small salad and drink were served to us. A nice touch, and not bad, if a little neutral. We imagined it was to clean our palate. We also noticed that the rabbit theme even extended to the shape of the plates!


Our mini first course was tidied away. After a few minutes and a couple of microwave ‘pings’ from the kitchen (only separated from the restaurant by a thin black curtain), our starters arrived. We each took our first taste… and looked at each other in disbelief… It was tasteless. Hot, but tasteless. Not ‘subtle’, not ‘let’s eat it slowly and allow all the complex flavours develop in my mouth’. Tasteless. The Monk’s soup with white miso, Daikon (a large, white, mild east Asian radish) and tofu looked OK but tasted like hot water and a bit of stock cube.

The ‘tofu islands’ looked fried and tasted of nothing, served in the famous ‘Shôjin dashi’ which tastes of… nothing.

We couldn’t believe it. Things were starting to go seriously wrong. After having been the first customers of the evening another couple of tables had arrived. Two fashion-magazine journalist types had chosen a table centre stage. Elsewhere a couple had sat down, the man obviously trying very hard to impress his lady friend. Suddenly it dawned on me. The décor. The concept. The prices. We had been duped by hype! Paris has a few of these restaurants: overpriced, overvalued, look great but with indecent prices and so-so food. Our consternation was slowly turning to horror.

The atmosphere was becoming punctuated with more and more ‘pings’ from the microwave as people ordered their meals. I don’t know about you, but when I’m paying 25 euros for a meal, I don’t want to be reminded that it has just been heated up in the microwave. Our dishes arrived. And it was not good.

I had asked for the tuna steak to be well-cooked. It was cold and I had no other choice but to send it back. Cue another ‘ping’ from the microwave. Great.

The Soba bouillon and rice had lots of strange sort of spaghetti things in it and tasted of… nothing! We found ourselves shovelling salt onto both our main meals to try and get something out of them (and generally we don’t really put salt on things).

Being masochists, or rather – taking our job as restaurant reviewers seriously – we decided to order dessert. Frankly, we were still hungry. The green tea cake and miso was OK, but really nothing special. At least it was only (only!) 8 euros.<

However the avocado sorbet with maple syrup (photographed here with the green tea cake in the background) finally made us sit up. Very icy and delicate, the taste was something out of the ordinary. At last!

However, for us it was too late for Usagi to redeem itself. Posers, prices and pings had ruined our evening and disappointed out tastebuds. After paying the huge bill, we hopped off home with our cute little bunny tail firmly between our legs.

You can see the rest of our photos of Usagi at the Flickr gallery here. They’re a lot tastier than the food!

Usagi is at 58 rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris. Métro Filles du Calvaire (line 8)
Open Tuesday – Saturday for lunch and dinner.
Telephone +33 1 48 87 28 85
Website (nothing on it): www.usagi.fr

Bigger map here