One of my favorite spots in Paris is an incredible Michelin Star restaurant called Septime. Owned and operated by Passard-trained chef Bertrand Grebaut, Septime’s menu is constantly evolving as new innovative dishes are introduced every single day and live for no more than a week. Following the success of Septime, Bertrand has opened two additional restaurants each with their own personalities. Septime La Cave is essentially a small cozy wine bar with small sharing plates just a stone’s throw away and Clamato is a dope modern and refined seafood restaurant right next door.
Bertrand’s describes his cooking style as “naïve, spontaneous and balanced,” which definitely shows through in Clamato’s fresh and intriguing seafood dishes. Like Septime, Bertrand maintains the same fundamentals of creating new dishes every day based on seasonality and the quality of ingredients. Menus are date stamped and are kept somewhat unpredictable day by day. The only thing that generally remains constant is the dessert – a ridiculously delicious maple syrup tart.
Based on the dishes we tasted, Bertrand masters bringing out the natural flavors in the seafood without overpowering the main component of the dish. His dishes are clean and simple, yet full of flavor. The fresh swordfish is a good example, sliced raw swordfish with a lemon kalamata vinaigrette and parsley leaves. The razor clams were on point as well, lightly poached in herbed butter. Unlike Septime, you don’t need reservations for a taste of Clamato. It’s definitely worth the visit!
Espadon / Citron de Kalamata – swordfish with a kalamata vinaigrette (€13 or $16 USD).
Accrabes /Wankaina – these bad boys are essentially petit crabcakes with a crunchy crust filled with sweet crab meat (€7 or $8.75 USD).
Sardine / Pain / Creme Crue – loved the salted sardines with the crunchy thinly sliced crostino and a dollop of raw cream (€10 or $12.50 USD).
Sar / Radis / Coriandre – white fish served with crunchy radishes and fresh coriander (€14 or $17.40 USD).
Asperge /Coque /Pourpier – white and green asparagus with baby clams and purslane (€14 or $15 USD). This was another one of my favorites. The asparagus was perfectly cooked with fresh sweet clams while the purslane added a slight saltiness and tartness.
Couteaux / Beurre D’Herbes – the razor clams with herbed butter FTW (€13 or $16 USD). The clams were sweet and perfectly cooked with a generous amount of melted herbed butter.
Tartelette Au Sirop D’Erable / Chantilly (€8 or $10 USD). This tart is unreal. As soon as you break the crust, the sweet sticky syrup flows out onto the plate. So effing good!
Clamato
80 Rue de Charonne
75011 Paris
France
p: +33 1 43 72 74 53