Augusto - Paris 3th

Augusto

16, rue Vertbois

75003 Paris

Tél : 01 42 77 14 85

Métros : Temple, Arts et Métiers

Closed Sundays and Mondays

→ the website


















The Pitch

This lunch was a favorite of mine: a roman tratorria with good service, an authentic menu that was appropriately priced. A straightforward menu: No useless extra charges, easy to read, all the dishes could be taken as part of the prix fixe menu. It was great !
Just be careful on certain week night evenings because the restaurant is often full, and the tables are so close to one another that it could make an intimate dinner difficult.


















The Meal

Prix fixe menus : 12 euros main dish + coffee, 16 euros starter - main dish - coffee, 20 euros starter - main dish - dessert
Suppli 

Sardines marinated in olive oil


















Lingua di manzo con salsa verde
Beef tongue with green sauce



















We ordered the dish of the day, so there is no translation
Fusilli with endives


















Gorgonzola Orrechiette with brocolis and pecorino



















Crema al cardamono fragole e lamponi
Cardamom-flavored cream with strawberries and raspberries

Le Bienvenu - Paris 2nd

Le Bienvenu

42, rue d'argout

75002 Paris

Ouvert de 11h à 7h du matin

Métros : Sentier, les Halles

The Pitch

A Moroccan restaurant-bar that is open day and night. Notably, they serve couscous and sandwiches at all hours.


The Meal
I got a merguez sausage sandwich for 5.50 euros.
I had two, so you can tell that the night up until then had been a bit difficult, but at least I got my food in 10 minutes, I got to chat with everyone. In brief, I found some understanding people. Don't understimate Le Bienvenu.

Honestly, I had already tried the couscous, but I find it's better for a pick-me-up sandwich. There's merguez, brochettes and more. I included it in my list of "My favorite sandwiches ", it may not be the best but it's consistent, and the fact that it's open late made me give it a place on the list.

L'Hirondelle - Paris 75015

L'Hirondelle
123, rue de Brancion
Paris 75015
Tél : 01 42 50 60 60
Metro : Porte de Vanves
Tramway : Porte Brancion























The Pitch

L'Hirondelle is a traiteur¹ where you can have a sit-down meal on nicely set tables. There's even a little courtyard in the back where you can eat in the summer. Katia (the proprietress) makes everything herself (lentils with sausage, lasagna, strawberry charlotte, vinaigrette, etc.), and you can tell. A detail that makes a difference: the carafe of water with fresh mint leaves.

1 : Traiteur – an food establishement that sells prepared dishes; somewhat similar to a delicatessen in the US

The meal
Lasagna & a green salad with a glass of Côtes du Rhône, strawberry charlotte and coffee : €16














Dessert

Strawberry charlotte and coffee

La lune de Jade - Paris (75009)

→ The 1st visit

La Lune de Jade
62, rue de Dunkerque
75009 Paris
Tel : 01 53 20 06 08
Closed Sunday

The back story

As you know, I like La Lune de Jade a lot. It's calm, good and the food is presented well.
The other day I needed a calm place to have a conversation, where I could feel like home. So I went to the Lune de Jade Saturday night, there was only us. When you know the place and you know you don't have to worry if it's empty, it's perfect. Otherwise I would understand an empty restaurant on a Saturday night could be a bit scary.


The meal

I have almost tried the whole menu, but I was still a bit afraid of the oyster sauce omelette. So let's go! The husband who is in the kitchen comes out to ask : "are u sure? it's really special", his wife adds "but all the Taiwanese students who come here love it because it's a typical meal from Taïwan".

Entries

It's super sweet, but it's very original. There are also some oysters inside, but I have to admit I didn't eat them all. I'm not sure I would eat all this after a New Year's Eve, but it's really interesting.

Homemade raviolis with pork

They're homemade, once a week. I wasn't so impressed. The raviolis were ok, but I thought they could have been more tasty or having more aromatic herbs.

Plates

Seafood with black pepper

That's one of my favourite meals in this restaurant, the black pepper, the pepperonis and the heat of the hot plate transform this frozen seafood and manage to give it life and taste! A real success!

Curty pork chop

This is good too, it's served with sesame seeds.

In addition to the rice, we also ate some vegetables boiled, with dry beef, regularly recommended by the owner, it makes a real difference with the rest of the lunch.

The verdict

3 Tsingtao beer or 5 I forgot, 2 entries 2 main plates with 2 side dishes: 23 euros per person, exatly the price I'm ready to pay to eat well cooked products with a bit of alcohol and in a quiet atmosphere, like home.

Deux fois plus de piments - Paris (75011)

Deux fois plus de piments (twice the chilli)
33, rue St-Sébastien
75011 Paris
Tel : 01 58 30 99 35
Open every evening
Closed for lunch on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday












Note of March 16 : please keep in mind that the place is still a great option as you read on.
A couple amongst my friends got sent away last Friday.
So here are two additional details :
- you have to book on Friday and Saturday
- there’s a student on the floor and the bosses are in the kitchen. So when something doesn’t go according to plan there is no manager to rectify it. There’s two of them rotating on the floor and one is more ‘on it’ than the other.
On one occasion I ate the whole of my meal by a table of 4 that hadn’t been cleared, I wasn’t too impressed. I asked her if she intended on clearing, she replied that: no.
I think that other people coming here for the first time might have been put off…

The original review of March 4 :

The restaurant
Located on rue Saint-Sébastien, it was opened by a young couple. They are both in the kitchen and a young woman, not always the same one, helps them out on the floor (she can sometimes be a bit lost but in general things run ok). He came to France at the age of 21 and learnt to cook in China with his family who apparently includes a few ‘cordon bleus’. So this is family cooking as opposed to what you learn in books (not that I have anything against the latter but when you’re dealing with the first it shows in the plate).
It is also quite different from other Chinese restaurants or caterers where the owners don’t have the finger on the suppliers or the menu. Here it’s the parents who loaned the money to make it possible. The result? A young clientele Chinese or otherwise and a smile-inducing cuisine to share between friends.

The meal
As you may guess from the name, it’s spicy! You’ll be served specialties from Szechuan, one of the 8 great Chinese cuisines, well-known for its spiciness.
Saying that, there are a few ‘easy’ dishes so don’t hesitate to ask for advice.

Starters
The time I brought my camera along they had run out of raviolis but they have to be tried: an absolute treat!

Cold beef salad









Cold noodles









Spicy beef soup









Oops, I forgot the exact name (but it’s beef and it’s good)









And the ending was beautiful too : €24 per head for all that plus 2 sticky rice and 2 big bottles of Tsing Tao (65cl).
Next time I’ll taste the two dishes in the middle of the menu, the ‘Mao’ (another beef soup) and the ‘Mix’ which is a vegetable assortment served in bowls.

A very good venue that also happens to be young and friendly.

35 Degrés Ouest - Paris (75007)

35 Degrés Ouest
35, rue de Verneuil
75007 Paris
Tel : 01 42 86 98 88
Closed Sunday and Monday










The pitch
I discovered this restaurant thanks to Chrisoscope’s Top 5. It’s located in the very chic rue de Verneuil and is completely worth the €30 effort at lunchtime. At last a fish speciality place! In the evening with €48 per dish, it’s a bit more complicated for me.

I’m saying ‘at last’ because finding a good fish restaurant is not an easy thing. The beast is noble and wild, rough and delicate all at once. You need a kitchen that will be able to respect it (the simpler the better) whilst still daring to cook it, without then getting too obsequious about it! The sea doesn’t generally bow to anyone.

The cuisine here goes straight to the point and the produce feels freshly pulled out of the water. The service definitely plays an important part in this celebration of fish.










The restaurant
I like this type of restaurant: small, sophisticated and calm, with a warm and simple service. Ideal for a romantic diner or a small-scale family meal.



The meal
The set meals belong to another price world than the menu, very clever pricing.
€29: starter, main, coffee, a glass of wine or ½ bottle of mineral water.













Starters
We start with fried halibut: faultless! It’s crunchy enough and the oil doesn’t take over, you can fully taste the subtle flavour of the fresh fish. Spot on.









My whelks were perfect, a real treat: fat and fresh, served with a spiced sauce that enhanced them nicely.









Mains
We carried on with a pan-fried bream, courgettes (zucchini) and thyme. The guest who had it was overjoyed.









salt cod brandade (1) and mixed leaf salad. Really very good, I was just sorry that there wasn’t more of it and that it wasn’t warmer. I personally like my brandade piping hot (after all, mashed potato is a warming thing).









While we’re at it, I didn’t really get the point of the sauce around it. It was difficult to handle and because the whole thing wasn’t very hot I was more interested in getting the mouthful in rather than taking it for a spin around the plate to gather sauce.

But again, it was very good.

Dessert coffee served with panacotta for an extra €2.80: it’s worth it, the panacotta is excellent, not too creamy, the raspberry is present and alive, without being too sweet.



















Our wine was a Côtes du Roussillon Village. Thankfully the person with me didn’t drink any. Just one glass for a meal of such quality would’ve been a shame but ordering wine from the menu might have seriously affected the bill.













Conclusion

I may have sounded slightly unsure about the brandade just because I don’t think that it should be a priority in a classy restaurant that specializes in fresh fish. It doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the meal and of the service and I was able to really taste the incredible freshness of the produce with the whelks. My guest had a great meal from beginning to end with the fried smelt and the bream.

So there you go : a great lunch option in a category which used to be tricky. And before I forget: You’ll feel really at ease here!

Note: 35 degrees west corresponds to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between France and the USA.

Au Petit Bar - Paris (75001)

Au Petit Bar
7, rue du Mont-Thabor
75001 Paris
Open Monday to Saturday, from 7am to 10pm

Tél : 01 42 60 62 09

→ french version












The restaurant
I haven’t had a main course yet, just a ham, butter and cornichons (1) sandwich with a glass of red: it was perfect.
Seeing the happy faces of the regulars who eat at the tables or at the counter and the immaculate presentation of the cooks who also serve at the bar I would be very surprised if the grated carrots or the sirloin steak weren’t as endearing as the rest.

Note 12/2009: ok, I’ve eaten a dish and there’s no problem. Home-style roast beef and mash.

The back-story
I was coming out of the Carr’s when I found myself in front of the Petit Bar. Its old sign beckoned me like a dear friend might’ve done.
Once inside, I wasn’t disappointed! The owner, his wife and the chef were eating at the back of the room whilst two clients were chatting at the bar. The chef got up and immediately sent a warm ‘Bonsoir Monsieur’ (2) in my direction.
Once he had poured me a beer he went back to his table: ’you’ll excuse me but we were just about to get started on the meat’.
Then the owner said: ‘it’s for the internet ? but we’re already on it!’
Well, that’s what I find each time I go back to the Petit Bar: warmth and authenticity and an ongoing impression that Ventura (3) has just left the room after receiving a personal call on the dial phone…by the glass of Ricard (4).

(1) Small French gherkin
(2)’Good evening Sir’
(3) French-Italian actor who was famous for his gangster roles in French films from the 50’s to the 80’s.
(4) Traditional French anise liqueur