Update: Alas, Spring has closed (2018) but chef Daniel Rose has opened other eateries  in Paris as well as New York.

Spring is a popular restaurant in the shadow of the Louvre in Paris. It’s dinner degustation was pleasing and wallet friendly and I can see why it has garnered a strong following. While I personally preferred the restaurant David Toutain, it remains nonetheless a place I would recommend friends to try if they don’t want the fanfare or cost of a Michelin-starred establishment.

I had read a lot about Spring, so my expectations were fairly high. I was also curious to find out if it was really good and not hyped up because of its American chef-owner. Admittedly my Parisian friend felt that it’s a bit overrated. But at just around EUR84 for a ten course dinner (seven savoury plates, three desserts), I think it was decent value. Degustation (omakase) only, no a la carte menu.

For more info and to make reservations at Spring, visit their website: http://www.springparis.fr

My meal (from May 2014):

On the whole, the starters were simple but tasty. We had three appetisers starting with the frog legs above. Then came the peas and creme fraiche soup, served concurrently with cucumbers in sesame oil. This latter dish is commonly found in Japanese or northern Chinese restaurants – so not a big deal to us. So, while I really enjoyed the peas and creme fraiche soup (very refreshing), I thought it was somewhat of an underwhelming start. The mains were better.

The white and green asparagus was good served with bonito and a smoked lemon butter. The smoked butter was a nice touch. Then came the first of three meat dishes – sea bream in a vanilla broth accompanied with swiss chard and onions. The fish was nicely cooked with its scales seared leaving a nice crunch to the dish while the vanilla broth didn’t overwhelm the sea bream.  This was my favourite dish for the evening.

We had two veal dishes – the first being a fillet. The second was the braised shanks with mushrooms. While I do like the taste of plain grilled or roasted meat, the shanks and mushrooms was delicious.

On to the desserts – as with much of the meal at Spring, the food appears relatively simple but is satisfying. Nothing overly fancy in the desserts either but they were all good.