France, Ready or not, Here I come
Continuing with my restaurant expedition journey in France in November 2006. Will venture to different french restaurants in Paris and across the Languedoc-Roussillon, Toulouse, Côte D’Azur, and Monaco.
Highlights:
It’s all started with my first love at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown, Vancouver. Since my first tasting of Bouillabaisse (a tomato stew with fresh seafood and herbs cooked in the Provençal style), my passion for seafood has only grown stronger by the day. Marseilles is the Mecca of Bouillabaisse. This 30€ Bouillabaisse is complimented with a lovely terrace at Le Mérou Bleu on rue St-Saëns. (1)
Restaurant tasting calendar:
- Nov 20 - Dec 8: Montpellier
- Nov 24 - 26: Sete, Carcassonne, Toulouse
- Dec 1 (Friday)
- Dec 2 (Saturday)
- Dec 3 (Sunday)
- Dec 4 (Monday)
- Dec 9 - 16: Paris
- Dec 12 - 14: Barcelona
- Dec 21: Depart Paris for Vancouver.
Stay tune for more updates. If you have any suggestions for restaurants in the region, feel free to send me a message.
Anne
- from Monday to Friday, by phone 04.67.58.92.74
- Fax 04.67.92.90.83
- 6, rue Boussairolles 34000 MONTPELLIER
- alliance-francaise@alliance-montpellier.org
- Maps
Car:
SIXT Montpellier Airport (Anne)
Aeroport Montpellier Mediterr.34130 Mauguio
Tel. +33-4-67653375
Fax. +33-4-67200413
Mo. - Fr. 07:30 - 23:00 hour
Sa. 08:00 - 22:00 hour
Su. 09:00 - 23:00 hour
Public Holiday 09:00 - 23:00 hour
What to pack?
Hostel in Paris
http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/HotelErmitage-Paris-3485
http://www.hotelmoulinvert.com/ [Maps]
Paris Dining Notes
Suggestions from Murray McMillan
Several great easy-on-the-pocketbook finds await the serious diner in the City of Light, several of them on the eastern side of the city, somewhat off the main tourist thoroughfares, though no sector of Paris seems immune from the visitor invasion.
These are a few small places (and some not so small), where a great three- or four-course selection from the day’s set choices from “le menu” will set you back 25, maybe 30 euros max. Basically, “le menu” is a list of specials, as distinct from what North Americans call the “menu.” (What we think of as the menu, the French call “la carte” — meaning the whole list of what’s offered.) The menu price is just food — before you add wine or other beverage, which can be as modest or extravagant as you wish — but it is invariably “service compris,” meaning tax and tip are included.
From my visits in 2001-2004, here are a few favourites from varied locales:
Paris 1st
L’Ardoise, 28, rue du Mont-Thabor, Paris 75001. 01.42.96.28.18. (Updated/written October 2002.) Open every night for dinner.
The menu changes daily according to the chef’s whim, and it’s written on the “ardoise” — a huge slate board that’s hefted to your table. The place is tiny, with rooms on street level (behind the flossy hotels along rue de Rivoli, between the Place de la Concorde and the Palais Royale) and in the basement (fun for a group). Again top-notch cooking at bargain prices.
Paris 2nd
A Priori Thé, 35, Galerie Vivienne, Paris 75002. 01.42.97.48.75 (from March 2002 visit). A series of beautiful 19th century galleries, or arcades, run through buildings behind the Palais Royale, near the Bourse. This “salon du thé” serves good lunches in particular, with hefty salads a prime attraction. There are also sandwiches and other light fare, and the people watching is fine sport.
Paris 4th
Baracane – Bistrot l’Oulette, 38, rue des Tournelles, Paris 75004. Phone 01.42.71.43.33 (Updated/written October 2003.) Open lunch (M-F) and dinner (exc. Sunday). Booking a few days in advance is advised.
The focus here is on the southwest of France, but the menu is wide-ranging. Compact room, fine menu at about 26 or so Euros, exceptional value. The restaurant is on the eastern edge of the Marais, just a block east of the northeast corner of Place des Vosges. Have gone back every trip of the past four years; sometimes visiting twice.
L’Epouvantail, 6, rue de Jarente, Paris 75004, on the Place du Marché-Sainte Catherine. 01.40.29.03.03 (Updated/written October 2003.)
Dinner only, I believe. This is a little gem, tucked away in a corner of the Marais, just west of Place des Vosges, and two short blocks north of rue St-Antoine, close to the St-Paul metro station. Don’t arrive before 8. When you get through the door, you might think you’ve stumbled into someone’s rec room, circa 1965. But the food is exceptional, with excellent four-course fixed menus at around 26 euros (before wine). Like Baracane, which is not far away, it’s one of those I’ve returned to each trip, and it’s consistently excellent.
Paris 5th
Moissonnier, 28, rue des Fosses-Saint-Bernard, Paris 75005. 01.43.29.87.65. (Updated/written spring 2001.) Open for lunch Tues-Sun.; dinner Tues-Sat.
If you’re after a really hearty meal, and long for something that’s simple and unpretentious, this is a find. The cuisine is from the southeast — centred on Lyon, but also drawing on the nearby Alps traditions. If you order the ” salades Lyonnais,” a cart with about a dozen wonderful composed salads gets rolled to your table, and gets tucked in between you and the next party, and you simply help yourself from the assortment in huge earthenware bowls. That’s a meal in itself, but save room for a robust main course. The restaurant is on the Left Bank, a short walk from the end of the Pont de Sully, which crosses the eastern tip of Isle St. Louis.
Paris 6th
L’Epi Dupin, 11, rue Dupin, Paris 75006. 01.42.22.64.56. (Updated/written October 2002.) Open daily for dinner (except maybe Sunday), and some days for lunch. In any event, you MUST call well ahead to reserve, and it’s worth it. Two seatings, at 7 and 9 p.m.; call five to seven days ahead to dine early, about 10 days ahead for the later slots. (If you’re dining alone, you can take a chance, as I did, and maybe score the tiny spot at the end of the bar, overlooking the dining room — an excellent place to watch all the action, but definitely a different kind of dining experience.) This is a wonderful find; even if there can be a lot of New York accents in the place. Superb cooking — dinner in Oct. 2002 was one of my best meals in France. Four excellent courses will run about 30 euros on the menu; on the midweek night I was there, each was stellar. The restaurant is on a little side street just south of the great Bon Marche department store (whose vast food hall is worth a visit of its own).
Paris 7th
Le Clos des Gourmets. 16, av. Rapp. Paris 75007. 01.45.51.75.61. (From visit October 2003.) This is a lovely spot where the food equals the elegance of the diplomatic/government/well-heeled life of the surrounding neighbourhood, near the Eiffel Tower. Not inexpensive, but I had a memorable Saturday lunch that lasted a couple of hours and cost about 35 €.
Paris 8th
Ladurée. 16 rue Royale. Paris 75008 (near Place de la Concorde.) 01.42.60.21.79 This is a glorious old gilded lunchroom/tea room serving delicate sandwiches and rich pastries to ladies in white gloves and big hats. It’s in one of the city’s smartest shopping districts south of the Madeleine church. Good spot for a delicate late-lunch salad plate while giving the Visa card a chance to cool off just a bit.
Paris 11th
Astier, 44, rue J-P Timbaud, Paris 75011. Between Obermakpf and Parmentier metro stations, north of Bastille. 01.43.57.16.35. (From visit October 2003.) This is one of those little packed, out-of-the-way corner places where it looks as if nothing has changed for 80 years. Maybe it hasn’t. The tables are tight, tight together, and many of the diners are making valiant efforts to use their high-school French, learned in Sioux City. A vast four-course menu runs about 30 Euros per person, and one course is one of the most impressive cheese selections I’ve ever encountered. Staff first bring one of those standard 8-inch-high pizza pan racks to your table and manage somehow to find space for it. Then a huge wicker basket of cheeses arrives to sit atop that – I counted 17 selections last visit, and each was superb. Main courses and desserts run to the classics of neighbourhood restaurants, with some additional game – perfect on a chilly Sunday evening.
Paris 12th
A la Biche au Bois, 45, av Ledru-Rollin. Paris 75012. 01 43 43 34 38. (Excellent dinner there, May 2001.) Classic bistro fare in a lovely old packed room, near the Gare de Lyon.
L’Oulette, 15, place Lechambeaudie, Paris 75012. Phone 01.40.02.02.12 (Updated/written October 2002.) Open lunch (M-F) and dinner (exc. Sunday). Booking a few days in advance is advised.
If the name seems familiar, it’s because the owners are the same as the listing above. Baracane was the chef’s first venture, now he’s moved slightly upmarket, in a corner of Paris where few visitors venture — the up-and-coming Bercy district that abuts the Seine south of Gare de Lyon. This is a beautiful, modern room, and the lunch I had was first rate. As an appetizer, try the house pate served with an exquisite chestnut bread. A little more expensive than Baracane; a great treat.
May 2004
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