After seeing the amazing David Hallberg dance the Sleeping Beauty prince… Chéri brought me to the Kong for dinner. We thought we would make a fabulous night of it and eat at what I assumed would be a swanky and chic address with amazing fusion food. (I had been to the bar for drinks this summer and had some grand illusions about dining out there).

So the swanky part was not to be denied. The place is prime Parisian real-estate. But the sparkle of all that was so tarnished by the down sides that it didn’t seem as fabulous as one would expect from an establishment that boasts presence in a Sex and the City episode.

So what did I find so disappointing?
1. The service.
2. The clientèle.
3. The food was good but not what you’d expect from such a hyped up address.

The service. Lacking class and totally pas soigné. The girls are dressed as if they were working more towards the edge of the bois de Boulogne than on the top floor of a pricey Paris restaurant. When we arrived we were invited to wait at the bar for our table and told they would come get us when our table was ready. We waited, not knowing how long it would be with blaring techno dance music deafening our ear drums. No one was dancing. I don’t think people dance there. So what’s the point? Or am I just getting old? Or was or it my nerves because I was starving? Or was I just trying to hold onto my “high” after watching the Opera de Paris ballet? Whatever the reason, it made me feel nauseous. And to top it off, WE had to go find the hostess who’d forgotten about us, in order to be escorted to our table on the upper floor. Yeesh!

Table service left a lot to be desired as well. I felt like we were getting the typical gruff Paris bistrot service, not what you’d expect from an expensive restaurant. Servers would slap plates down on our table with barely an elegant word and would reach in front of me to get Chéri’s plates off the table. Obviously these people have had no fine dining training.

But I’m guessing the rest of the clientele didn’t care and maybe we were just being overly critical but then for the prices I think it’s expected. Most of the diners were from the young wealthy and fortunate crowd that spends most of their time and money staring at their navals and botoxing their faces. There was a group of young internationals wearing jeans and white tee shirts, next to the scantily clad pseudo model and her gruff overweight wealthy dinner guest.
I wanted to cringe.

Besides the people surrounding us; the surroundings were nice, although I didn’t even find the Phillip Starck chairs impressive. The whole place screamed nouveau riche taste.

So are you wondering why I haven’t said anything about the food? Well I guess I wasn’t impressed enough to write about it. It was over priced, small and although it was good, it wasn’t what I had been anticipating, plus, did I mention; it was poorly served.

My asparagus tip first course had three tiny asparagus tips. Most of the dish consisted of lettuce.
My main course was beef, and was cooked to a soft and juicy melting point but was unsatisfyingly small. We were so disappointed we opted out of dessert. But I was hungry by the time we went to bed.

I think it’s safe to say I’ll never eat there again. And I think it’s safe to say that the Kenzo brand should really just stick to fashion.