Nanashi: Bentos for bobos

Photo: © MAP

I can’t help myself but sometimes I just can’t follow the hipsters. Are they wrong or am I? Nanashi is the name of the bobo-canteen that is at stake here. When Japanese chef Kaori Endo opened her restaurant on rue du Paradis in fall 2011, the crowd was there from the very first day –  and has never disappeared. Meanwhile she has opened a second venue in the Upper Marais. And it’s all the same there.

So healthy, so hype

What is it all about? Nanashi proposes organic food with a Japanese twist. Everything is fresh here, organic  – it’s healthy and hype. But is this enough? No, it’s not. But the bobos, the bourgeois-bohemians at Nanashi are too busy being themselves that ultimately they don’t care about what they have on their plates – or in their bento.

Because the bento is the big seller here. It comes with meat, fish or fit for vegetarians (14.- €). Have a delicious freshly squeezed juice with it and your lunch will be a 20-Euros-deal which is not what I would call a real bargain. There are soups and salads, too, but the desserts are probably the best thing you can get here. The rest is missing something. It has no soul, if not to say no taste. May be it’s just lacking love. How come? No idea. It’s quite an achievement though, to produce food that bland and have such a success.

Lacking love

Kaori Endo is formerly of Rose Bakery and Nanashi is clearly modelled after the famous example. But for me it’s nothing like it. Anyhow, Endo, who’s also a cookbook author and TV show host, has been praised by the French media for her stylish canteen in which not only the decor is low-key; the food is too. But you should try it for yourself.

Métro: Poissonière