If you like desserts, this restaurant is a dream come true – “creative desserts, innovative, light and addictive” is what their website says.

But wouldn’t a whole meal of only sweet dishes make you ill? Well, surprisingly the answer is no, as long as a lot of care goes into the composition…

Here’s how our meal went.

Dessance recently opened, taking the place os a restaurant that was always empty. Now, it’s full all the time! (probably a good sign). The chef Christophe Boucher, previously worked his magic at the Pavillon Ledoyen and the Grand Vefour, both of which have three Michelin stars.

Dessance is a much less grand affair than those two of course, and although the space itself is small, clever use of mirrors coupled with a high ceiling make sure you never feel cramped (the number of tables is limited however, so make sure to book in advance).

Behing a long counter, you can see the kitchen staff preparing your dishes (with more work apparently going on in the basement).
First of all, don’t worry – there are still a few savoury dishes on the menu… although you’ll often find they have a touch of sweetness to the too. As the menu says:

“Eat at Dessance and:

– Experience gastronomy that is balanced in taste, texture and temperature
– See the dishes sculpted before your eyes on the kitchen counter
– Discover seasonal creations ‘à la carte’ or in ‘Carte Blanche’ menus carefully dosed without too much sugar or fat, forming a proper meal
– Taste original accompanying drinks, with or without alcohol, with no or little sugar”

Yep, Dessance has a real concept going on, even the name is a combination of two words meaning “the birth of the dessert” (“la naissance du Dessert”), and we wanted to test it out fully. So, we decided to both go for the sweet/savoury tasting menu comprising one savoury dish, a snack, two seasonal desserts, a big dessert and some nibbles to finish.

And what better way to get things started than with some natural sparkling wine to wash all that down!
The first ‘dish’ arrived very quickly – a little bowl of finely shaved pecorino cheese which turned out to be actually quite copious, preparing our tastebuds for what was to come. At the same time came two little hot buns served with homemade tomato chutney which has – unsurprisingly – a slightly sweet edge. All very finely done.
Newt up, a very impressive dish – ‘madeleine’ cakes with Roquefort that had obviously just come out of the oven. The butter and sugar of the cakes perfectly complemented the savoury Roquefort and came served with a little bowl of fromage frais with a hint of lemon. Delicious!
Then came a little bowl of lamb’s lettuce and apple pear soup with pear ice cream. Looked and tasted amazing.
The following dish was very sugary – strawberries with strawberry-flavoured sweets, parsley ice cream and fromage frais emulsion, but with a savoury elements added by thin slices of marinaded horseradish. Surprising and once again beautifully presented.
Another graphic dish followed – banana in vodka infused with grilled halznut, served with passion fruit, raw celery, citron, a celery emulsion and ginger-speculoos ice cream. Wow! So many different tastes to try out and combine. A real exploration…
However, there was a little trouble in paradise. Although our dishes were surprising every time, they were starting to take longer and longer to arrive. Then the waiter came with the next dish… which turned ou to be one we had already eaten. They’d completely lost track of where we were in our tasting menu.

It turned out that a table of ten was playing havoc with the kitchen organisations – with everything made fresh, serving ten people the same thing at the same time put everything else out of whack. To apologise for the wait and the confusion, we were given a glass of vodka each (the famous grilled hazelnut-infused vodka), then after another long wait we were even given a free dish to eat – pear with meringue and chervil. It was a kind gesture, but our wait had indeed been long.
Who can resist a Baked Alaska? The one at Dessance is soft, lightly flambéed in alcohol, with a heart of caramel ice cream.

However we weren’t convinced it was as excellent as our expectations. Perhaps the alcohol used to flambée wasn’t the best? Or perhaps it could have been a little more cooked? In any case, the wait had been so long that we were having a hard time appreciating anything – between arriving and being served the Baked Alaska, and incredible three hours had passed by…
Finally, the last dish arrived, and despite everyone being extremely kind to us during the evening, we were relieved the experience was soon to come to an end. The nibbles turned out to be kaffir lime marshmallows with ginger, sage-mango sorbet and nougat, all homemade and startlingly presented.

It was however too late to save the evening. Three and a half hours for dinner is a trial!
Dessance is something out of the ordinary, with quite spectacular menus and staff that is genuine and kind. We must have bad luck being there on a night when organisational problems made our meal drag on and on, but we’re sure you’ll appreciate the stunning taste combinations and enjoy analysing every ingredient as we did. Definitely one of our more memorable meals recently.

Dessance (here) is open Wednesday – Friday from 3pm – 11pm, and weekends from midday to midnight

Tel. +33 (0)1 42 77 23 62

Website: www.dessance.fr

Facebook: facebook.com/dessance

To check out all our photos of the Restaurant Dessance, click the play button below, then click the four little arrows bottom right to go into fullscreen mode.