Dinner in Jourdain. A few Sino-bistro plates to share, and three little words waiting for their moment. A question that deserved a carousel for a backdrop. See you at Cheval d’Or, 21 rue de la Villette.
On my own, I make decisions quickly. Friday night dinner? Settled in two minutes. Yet other decisions escape me completely the moment I sit across from someone I love.
When exactly do you say "I love you" for the first time?
Before dinner, at the risk of spending the next two hours dissecting their reaction? Between courses, casual as can be? After the second glass of wine, risking that this second glass gets blamed? Or must one wait for dessert, so those three little words can finally slip into the conversation?
The Backstory…
To conduct the experiment, head to Le Cheval d’Or at 21 rue de la Villette, in Jourdain. Behind the red facade of this former Chinese spot, Hanz Gueco, Luis Andrade, Crislaine Medina, and Nadim Smair have imagined a restaurant that also beautifully blurs boundaries: a Parisian Sino-bistro where Chinese heritage meets the gestures of French cuisine.
Plates arrive in the center of the table, meant to be shared. Rice gnocchi, char siu foie gras, tortellini crossing paths with mapo tofu, or playful takes on the scallion pancake: the kitchen travels freely across repertoires. In the minimalist setting designed by Ciguë, plates are passed around, bites are stolen, and somewhere between courses, the speech you so carefully rehearsed is forgotten.
