Masaikuta

Like some sort of dandy mercenary, chef Masahide Ikuta jumped ship from Bruno Verjus’ fine dining restaurant to a windswept market eatery (Les Enfants du Marché), before settling down on a hot tin roof at Acte II. Now, this standout figure in the Japanese-Parisian culinary scene welcomes diners into a universe entirely his own, which boasts two counters (one facing the kitchen, the other the cocktail bar), a handful of striking blond wood tables and a demijohn suspended from the ceiling. The night we visited, his six-course menu was like a burst of shooting stars: a seismic surf ’n’ turf prelude to the meal featuring a Quiberon n°2 oyster paired with tetragon leaf and lovage oil; orgasmic raw bluefin tuna in a rich strawberry and raspberry soup, with crisp cucumber, blackcurrants and coriander blossoms; a crispy churro topped with Cantabrian anchovy cream hidden underneath cherrywood-smoked sardines; and a breathtakingly pearlescent fillet of turbot in tosazu butter, garnished with trout roe, redcurrants, haricots verts and broad beans; thunderous Bresse chicken grilled to perfection over binchotan charcoal, paired with raw palourde clams in wild anise oil and a carrot and apricot purée in chicken jus glazed with Pedro Ximénez sherry; before a rhubarb and raspberry sorbet wrapped in rhubarb ribbons, nestled into a hibiscus reduction, followed by a (very) creamy warm apricot flan served with a devilishly good saffron-vanilla ice cream for dessert. · Philo Sale-Ami