27 sep 2021

Datsha Underground, a sophisticated bunker-like restaurant

Located in the heart of the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, in the very commercial rue des Gravilliers, the Datsha Undergound restaurant presents refined and inventive cuisine in a sophisticated setting with the comforting atmosphere of a bunker.

© Julia Fihman

We would have spotted him more quickly if we hadn’t looked for him. A discreet restaurant with the appearance of a bunker, a den for private parties who swear by a total gastronomic experience, Datsha Underground seduces with its contradictions: a trendy place where the cuisine is inventive and (almost) without fuss, an address for partygoers where it is good to sit down in a discreet corner, taste a natural wine with sweet aromas, and watch the chefs busy in the kitchen. Founded in 2019, the restaurant, whose name means “second home” in Russian, was designed as a living space. You can most often eat dishes to share, celebrate birthdays on your private floor and enjoy innovative cocktails in the basement, in a hushed atmosphere made of red velvet sofas and chandeliers as if straight out of the palaces of former oligarchs. 

 

If the dishes can be enjoyed with others, nothing, however, in Datsha Underground’s kitchen, recalls the comfort food of our grandmothers. Delicate, the flavours surprise and explode in the mouth. The textures show originality and sublimate recipes that we would like to transpose to home. At the helm of the kitchens since the beginning of 2020, chefs Joao DaSilva and Vincent Bessy – whose paths crossed at Clamato,  the restaurant dedicated to seafood at the Parisian institution Septime – combine experimentation and conviviality. They offer, in refined dishes , typical dishes of French cuisine as well as surprising dishes from elsewhere. You can taste an oxtail pressé that invokes the flavors of the stew of yesteryear, shallot ravioli with kimchi [a traditional Korean dish made of fermented and spicy cabbage ] but also a simply roasted cabbage,  twisted with a vanilla almond cream. The apotheosis of the meal, “the époirsse”: a pairing of époisse – the cheese finishes its fermentation in the restaurant itself, under the watchful eye of the sommelier – embellished with caramelized nuts with ginger and a very delicate wine, the “Poiré de loup”. 

 

Datsha Underground

57, rue de Gravilliers

75003 Paris

Tuesday to Saturday from 7 pm to 11 pm

01 43 56 95 09

 

Roasted cauliflower, vanilla almond cream