How about this for great but reasonably-priced food?
7.0 Les Bouchons ex-Francois Clerc, now Le Restaurant de Philippe et Jean Pierre, 7, rue du Boccador in the 8th, 01.47.23.57.80, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, serves an outstanding, while forced-choice 3 course menu for 28 Euros, which with 1 glass of wine, bottled water and coffee = 33 Euros. I’d read about its passing hands from Francois to Jean Pierre and Philippe, we’re all on first names here, who also run the P’tit Bouchon, a take-out and sit-down place nearby (the Rue de la Tremoille to be specific) two weeks ago and didn’t realize that while Figaroscope treated it as a “new” place, the team has been in place for 5 years.
My Anglo-American friend wanted to eat “downtown” and after some negotiation, we settled on Les Bouchons – well, settled is hardly the proper wording; it should be “luckily fell into.” I got there a tad early and was quizzed (quite nicely) about my reservation (indeed, the place was packed half-way through lunch).
A la carte was 48.50 Euros for three courses plus 19 Euros for the cheapest wine, for instance, resulting in damages exceeding our planned budget so we opted for the menu, thinking that we might really go astray and would be stuck with 6 losers. But immediately we sensed things would work out OK - our olives and glasses of wine were good and the warm bread super.
We each had a half-dozen superb-product Breton oysters that were crisp and tasty, then perfectly cooked cod with a puree (they said was) made with some fennel and finished with a light chocolate millefeuille stuffed with cream and accompanied by vanilla ice cream and latticed caramel. With a bottle of very drinkable Fitou, coffee and unbottled water, our bill was 85 €.
Go? You bet, the only regrets were a soggy hand-towel in the bathroom, a miscalculated bill and a Visa machine that refused my no-exchange-fee card.
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