5.9. L'Aromatik Bistro, 7, Rue Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in the 9th, 01 48 74 62 27, closed Sunday evening but open for Sunday brunch (Metro: Trinite d'Estienne d'Orves), 2-dish lunch menu at 15.90, 3-dish dinner 35, plat du jour 13.50 E, opened in 1928 but underwent a facelift and reopened with new chefs (Jean-Charles, ex-Costes system and Olivier, ex-Marco Pierre White) in 2009 but to my ken has only been reviewed by Alexander Lobrano in Hungry for Paris which is astonishing. Why astonishing? Well for starters, the decor is stunning:
and would constitute another example of what we Yankees think French bistrots do or should look like. And second, the food is really quite good and like that of so many of their interesting young peers opening bistrots in Paris demontrative of a new spin on familiar food. Examples:
Above is/are pal J's scrambled eggs with ham and truffles and below my daurade cerviche with cilantro whose juice was so impressive I did the uncivilized and drank it from the plate.
Colette had the free-range chicken with undressed salad greens and mushrooms, pal J. the cod with many veggies and I the veal liver with a caramelized pineapple slice that worked exceeding well.
Desserts consisted of orange slices with a zambaglione sauce, pear with chocolate sauce and apple with caramel; all of which J. thought were the hit of the meal, while Colete and I were less exuberant.
With two pitchers of the house bio Cotes de Rhone, the bio (dry inside) bread, caraf'd water and five Illy coffees (Pal Joey sez for that an extra point,) our bill for three was 94.70 E (thus 63.13 a couple).
Go back? Well, as a matter of fact, next week, since it looks from the menu and staff that it's an entirely different deal at night. On verra.
Greetings John...
As always a consistently good review.. quick logistical question. In the above details...(2-dish lunch menu at 15.90, 3-dish dinner 35, plat du jour 13.50 E) can I assume that this lunch menu is also there in (weekend) Sat and Sun afternoon.(for that matter in all your other reviews unless specified otherwise)
The reason I ask is early during my stay in Paris, I had been to Cafe des Musees with the expectation of enjoying their menu lunch. I was however told that because it was the weekend they did not offer the menu. So while I definitely enjoyed my lunch there, going forward, I made all my lunch visits to places like Frenchie, Cinoches etc only on weekdays to play safe.
However it is taking a toll on managing my work and so wanted to make sure whether I was operating under the correct assumptions or not.
Thanks again for your great reviews...
Regds...Sandeep
Posted by: Sandeep | March 31, 2010 at 12:50 AM