Chez Toinette, Paris - economy seating, first class food

Finding this place was like playing the most satisfying game of Hide and Seek ever.

Carefully tucked away on a slanted side road we found a friendly little restaurant named Chez Toinette, where everything looks and tastes homemade. We only found it thanks to some GPS acrobatics which took us through the well lit backstreets of Montmartre in Paris.

It looked super old, though well maintained and classically put together. Everything about the place made us want to try it out; it was just the sort of place that we like to investigate.

Inside was cosy, warm and energetic. Not to the point of feeling panicked, but just because the hosts of the restaurant were constantly running around the tiny space, seeing to their guests. Tables were so close to each other than to get in and out of your seat meant uprooting at least two neighbouring tables full of customers. It ended up being a good thing, since it opened a dialogue with our fellow diners, who were all in the same cramped boat, and more than happy to help out with getting us seated.

warm, homely and cramped. all good things.

We were greeted in French, but served in English once they figured out we barely knew how to say bonjour. The women taking orders seemed less like waiters and more like stakeholders in the business who were interested in meeting their customers and helping them to have the best possible experience. They were friendly, smiling and helpful with our choice of wine to match the meal.

Where were the stuffy French waiters with the napkin draped over one arm and noses pointed at the ceiling? Everyone present was happy to be there, staff and customers included. It was time to find out why.

Our entrees were baked brie on brown bread, snails cooked in garlic, butter and bread crumbs, and a large cold slab of foie gras served with bread and salad leaves. All of those dishes were on our tiny table within ten minutes, which gave us some time to get comfortable and try our wine.
The brie was soft and very hot, and introduced us to the rustic, random plate layout that Chez Toinette use on a lot of their dishes. Some dried parsley and a sprinkling of paprika helped to add colour to what would have otherwise been a white plate with white bread and white cheese. The dried herb and spice ring around the plate also added some flavour variation when we felt like it.

The snail platter before...

and after.

So nobody goes to france without trying snails, right? right. We are no exception. We have had snails before, but not in France, so we had to see how they measured up. Our slimy set of shell stricken suckers were served up in a special ceramic platter with an indent intended for each snail. They were first pan fried in a mixture of butter and garlic, then inserted into the platter, with the whole dish being crusted with bread crumbs. The end result was something that tasted like rubbery pieces of garlic and butter, which is not a bad thing, but I didn't taste anything unique. The snails could have just as easily been bits of overdone calamari, or slow cooked intestines for all I knew. I certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't a memorable dish. 

Foie Gras... for 1?

... Or maybe it was because we forgot about everything once the foie gras hit the table. Served cold. A massive, off-pink lump of duck liver blended with a little pepper and grand marnier (french orange liqueur), served on the same plate as some sweet caramalised onions, bread and some greenery for colour. Now, I hadn't had much foie gras in the past, but I knew that I liked it in small amounts. It is kind of like butter for me - It is lovely in moderation, but you could never eat it on its own. Well, this is pretty much was this dish amounted to - eating straight butter. It was rich to the point of being bad for our eyesight. Who serves this stuff in such an enormous quantity anyway? It seems unsafe in a delicious way. The rich, mouth-filling texture of the liver, followed by the warm length of the liqueur meant that we were more than happy to wait another ten minutes for our main courses to arrive..

Rare Duck, done well.

For mains, a rare duck breast served with a honey sauce, and venison served with a fois gras sauce.
The duck breast was perfect. It was rare, warm, wet and soft. That is a grand slam as far as slabs of meat go. The dark, sweet sauce was nice, but seemed more like a barrier to be broken through in order to reach the prized meat underneath. I cannot emphasize enough the fact that the duck breast itself, without the sauce, ticked every box as far as we were concerned. Adding a rich sauce to a dish like that was just showing off. It was already perfect.
The venison was chewy and overcooked by comparison. The sauce was actually the best part of it, as if we hadn't had enough foie gras by that point anyway. The meat was a little gamey, but not rare enough to really capitalize on the flavour of the animal. It came off more like an english roast, and less like rich french cuisine.

We skipped the cheese course and the dessert. We had cheese as an entree anyway. There was just no space left by that point.

RECOMMENDED

Chez Toinette is just example of the style of restaurant that everyone should visit when they end up in France, and there are many others similar to it. It has all the classic French dishes you have heard of all your life, and it actually does most of them very well. I can't yet say if their snails are any better or worse that what you should expect, but everything else is well worth trying.
The thing that sets Chez Toinette apart from other cliched French places is the atmosphere, and the 'hidden-away' vibe that it has. Try it out, if you can find it.

The bill (for 2):
1 x Foie Gras - 14 euros
6 x Snails - 9.50 euros
1 x Baked brie on bread - 8.50 euros
1 x Duck Breast with honeyed sauce - 17 euros
1 x Doe Fillet in foie gras sauce - 19 euros
TOTAL: 68 euros (Approx. US$89)

Restaurant address: 20 Rue Germain Pilon, 75018 Paris, France

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

Au Soleil De La Butte, Paris - An unassuming restaurant serving great french food

Does anything say France more than a basket of bread and a plate full of various cheeses? We had been walking around Paris for most of the day and found ourselves up around the Montmarte area in the early evening. It must have been at least 2 or 3 hours since our last meal, so there was space to try some more delights that Paris had to offer....bring on the cheese!

With no dinner reservations booked we had the daunting challenge of finding somewhere to eat. This is only because there is simply so much choice in Paris - sometimes too much choice can be a scary thing! After wandering around the fringe of Montmarte for a while we stumbled across a cute little cafe that looked intriguing and inviting.

We were instantly greeted (at first in French and then quickly with English) by a young and enthusiastic waiter who, contrary to everything we had heard about Paris, seemed excited to have foreigners in the cafe and was eager to serve us. Despite committing a definite faux par of starting with cheese, we gladly sipped away on a not terrible glass of red wine while chowing down some pretty great cheeses. I love that no matter where you go in Paris, cheap and cheerful or refined and expensive, the cheese is always great!

We then opted for the combined menu option that so many cafes and restaurants offer in Paris - a entree, main and desert for 25 Euro - which we shared due to pigging out on cheese to begin with. The entree was deceptively simple looking - it presented as a layered wafer and prosciutto tower with some salad on the side. It wasn't until we cracked into the 'wafer' that we realised it was a toasted cheesey/Parmesan creation that offset the richness of the prosciutto so well. Interesting and delicious!

For main we ordered the veal knuckle that was served with a rich lemony gravy and the richest, creamiest baked potato I have ever eaten. I dread to think about the amount of cream that was in those potatoes, by my oh my, they were heaven! The veal was soft and fell away from the bone and was certainly big enough for the two of us to share.

But wait...there is more. For desert we ordered the Chocolate Charlotte - a French classic we were told. It came out looking quite simple not what we would expect from a "fine dining" menu. I expected a short crust pasty taste, filled in by some light chocolate mouse with a bit of custard on the side - perfectly pleasant, but nothing to write home about. I was wrong! What appeared to be chocolate mouse, was instead the most divine, rich (but not overpoweringly so), dense chocolate cream and was wrapped up in a light fluffy pastry. It was incredible. Despite the gigantic portion we were brought, every morsel was devoured with appreciation and groans of enthusiasm. Did i mention it was incredible? We tasted the same thing a couple of days later at another restaurant and it was probably only at that point that we realised just how special this recipe was. We were sent into a sugar high, but it was well worth it!

RECOMMENDED

So all up, I would recommend this place. I wouldn't suggest that you seek it out at all costs and that it will change your perception of French cuisine. However, each dish was interesting and tasty in its own right and we enjoyed it for everything that it was and for the over-the-top, pretentious cuisine that it wasn't trying to be. The staff were wonderfully friendly and it offered great people watching since it is also a popular student spot. I am sure there are many places that fit this description in Paris - but this is where we found ourselves one night, and we were happy we did.


The bill (for 2):
1 x cheese plate - 8 Euro
1 x entree/main/desert deal - 25 Euro
TOTAL: 33 Euro (Approx. US$43)

Restaurant address: 32 Rue Muller, Paris

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

Les Papiles, France, Paris - When can I go back?

An impromptu trip to Paris was sure to produce some memorable dining experiences and plenty of great material for the Travel Bites blog. Les Papiles, a small but fantastic bistro located near the Luxembourg Gardens, certainly did not disappoint!

We took it on good advice that we needed to book in advance and although we were early for our reservation, within minutes of sitting down the place had filled up to almost bursting point. While the owner understandably wants to maximize the number of diners each night, possibly the only negative point that I will raise for Les Papiles is the limited personal space for each diner which invariably means that you are forced to listen to the conversations of those around you and the body heat plus the heat radiating from the open kitchen made the restaurant uncomfortably warm.

That small gripe aside, Les Papiles cannot be faulted. The service was brilliant (Bertrand Bluy, owner and operator, was incredibly welcoming and happy to help with our wine selection) and the food, rather than being over-complicated or fussy, was fresh, creative and simply delicious. The dinner menu is a four course set menu, but it does change regularly according to the best produce of the season. Below is a description of what was served up for us in late November:

For entree we were served individual plates that were beautifully decorated with white beans, sausage, herbs and cream/butter and a shared pot of creamy soup that we generously scooped into our bowls. While I would hate to know how much butter and cream went into this dish, the richness of the soup balanced perfectly with the spice of the sausage and the texture of the white beans. Elegant flavours and great presentation. On a normal day, I would have been perfectly content to have stopped at this point - but there were three more courses to come!! (I was already regretting having eaten so much lunch!).

If the Entree was beautifully presented, the rack of lamb that emerged piping hot from the kitchen and landed on our table was almost too picture perfect to pull apart. Hand on heart, this was the best lamb I have ever eaten. It was soft, moist and each bite melted in my mouth. It was served with creamy baked potatoes that I sadly had to ignore due to limited stomach space - the lamb definitely got preference!

In true French style, the next plate to arrive was a simple cheese plate - a long, elegant, perfectly stinky slice of creamy cheese that was served with caramelized onion and slices of baguette. By this stage I was full; really, really full. For goodness sake, I didn't eat all my cheese! If rejecting amazing french cheese was a criminal act, which it should be, then I was guilty!


Desert arrived shortly following and despite the complete lack of stomache space, the cool and light texture of this dish was refreshing and the perfect way to round off the heaviness of the previous dishes. From bottom up, there was a layer of sweet stewed apple, followed by a light, yet creamy layer that was similar to a creme brulee but perhaps a little more yoghurt like in texture. On top was a divine layer of caramel foam that danced across my tongue. Heaven!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

It is difficult to rate a restaurant as Highly Recommended after just one meal, but I can with great confidence, give such a recommendation to Les Papiles. I have never eaten at a Michelin Star Restaurant, but if this place isn't dining at its best, then I don't know what is. And when you see the price tag below what more can you ask for!! 



The bill (for 2):
2 x Degustation Menu of 4 courses
TOTAL: 66 Euro (Approx. US$85) (not including the bottle of wine we ordered)

Restaurant address: 30 rue Gay Lussac 75005 PARIS

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.