#* La Coloniale, 25, rue Mazarine in the 6th, in the old Ristorante Visconti space,
boy, have they redone it, 01.43.43.69.10, (Metro: Odeon, Mabillion), closed Sundays and Mondays, is the newest kid on the block excepting for "Top Chef" L'Alcazar across the street, having moved down from the Rue Picpus in the 12th, where it started in 1997, recently. My charming and vibrant former cohost at website which will go un-named, wanted to eat here on a Saturday rather than at any of the French places I suggested and I resisted saying I only ate at French places, but 5 seconds later, realized I was being churlish (again) and figured out a rationalization - Cambodia was a French colony/possession/protectorate for almost a century after all - ergo this was French food.
The carte is over-whelming and the last page contains an encyclopedia of advice about gluten, eggs, spices, vegetarians and vegetables. Whew! I told her that rather than read through it, figure out what ingredients and preparation she wanted and they would have them.
"A soup" she said, "I've had a cold for two weeks and that's it - a soup." And so it was, a fish soup, and a fine one at that. And I had crispy raviolis of shrimp with whatever the spicy, not particularly hot, but spicy sauce was, they were just what my doctor ordered.
Then she wanted the Laotian beef salad which while not up to Colette's Thai beef salad, did the trick and I had the sweet-sour duck breast with lemongrass and a soup, it was a meal in itself; and I ordered a portion of fried rice with Chinese sausage, which sounded inventive, but wasn't, however, with some house non-bottled hot sauce which our patronesse implied that the French found too hot, it was fine.
Our wine was a Cotes du Rhone and that plus 2 coffees and one Chinese rice digestif resulted in a bill of 98 E.
The men's barhroom held two unexpected items: both of which you'll have to figure out what to do with.
#* Unrated; I may know French, Thai and Viet namese cuisine but Cambodian is new to me.
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