Double: The Restaurant That Didn’t Steal Its Name
As we’ve already told you, The Good Life loves to have dinner at the counter and watch the dishes take shape before our eyes. This week, we squatted one of the 12 seats at the restaurant Double, the new address of chef Tsuyoshi Yamakawa.
After the eating cellars where hunger is appeased with expensive small plates, the bill calms down and the traditional 3-course menu reappears. This is the case at Double, a micro restaurant in the 18th arrondissement that has just opened, with Japanese chef Tsuyoshi Yamakawa (formerly at Saturne, Verre Volé and Crèmerie) at the helm, playing around with Italian recipes that he masterfully reimagines.
“Double” as… two menus. Day and night. At lunch, the chef skillfully prepares onigiris using traditional methods—an amass of rice, triangular in form, filled to the brim and wrapped in nori seaweed, these finger foods pay homage to the chef’s culture. Only available for takeout.
In the evening, however, the ambience dims and the Japanese menu gives way to recipes straight from Italy, a cuisine that the chef appreciates and particularly masters. If maritozzi (Roman brioches) grace the entrees, offered in a unique, savory version, topped with salmon Ikura caviar, the pastas are the true stars of the restaurant.
Each day, a dish of spaghetti alla chitarra and another of ravioli (the chef’s specialty) are on the menu, adorned with artichokes, prawns, or Chinese cabbage. A fish and a meat dish complete the short menu for anyone who would want to skip gluten.
12 seats, not one more. All placed in levitation, at eye level with the chef, so as not to miss any detail of the show behind the counter lined with the ceramic work of Franca Ateliers, a duo from Marseille also in charge of the restaurant’s dishes.
If the plate speaks with an Italian accent, the decor is reminiscent of Tokyo and its XXS stalls where you dine in less time than it takes to say it. However, one will appreciate taking one’s time at the restaurant Double—although it will be necessary to deal with a double service—and linger over the details of its intimate and artistic styling.
Everything is refined and warm, reminiscent of Japanese living, where minimalism leaves the guest with the full dimension to feel at home. A feeling multiplied by the proximity offered by the configuration of the space with the chef and the service, particularly attentive to the rhythm of the diner to serve their pasta at the right time.
