John Talbott's Paris

French restaurants in tough times.

The previous two days before this was written, I’d eaten at two places, one of which featured three courses for 16 € and the other two courses plus a glass of wine for 24 € and those experiences plus the chatter in the blogosphere caused me to reconsider what I wrote last month entitled “Paris mid-range restos empty: has the market hit bottom?”

Well, the market hasn’t hit bottom and no one knows where that is or when we’ll arrive. (Disclosure: I haven’t held American equities for sometime, so to some extent personally I have no dog in this fight).

But back to that piece. In it I posited that as I walked about and ate, I saw empty mid-range places but cafes and bars, etc.,were bursting out into the street and I posited that probably it was just the middle places that were hurting and the top and bottom places were doing quite fine. I was wrong about the big boys.

At lunch with a chef whose place is not hurting, I learned that some famous starred places were empty more than once a week, whereas in the past it had been more like once a year.

Then I began to notice articles in the French and American press about bar/cafes in France losing customers and even closing – but it was blamed on the smoking ban not the economy. It is interesting that said bars and cafes warned of this but were assured by their American, Italian and UK counterparts not to worry, business might fall at first, but it would bounce back.

Wrong again apparently, although how much of the drop off is due to the smoking ban and how much to the “Starbuck’s Effect”, that is, the question: do I really need a second cup of $4 fancy coffee rather than the homemade stuff. One throwaway newspaper in France talked of bars converting to Sports Bars with huge flat screen TV’s beckoning customers in.

Then the day I wrote this I saw an article in the weekend by Nicholas Lander in the Financial Times who says that diners are going back “where they have already eaten well or been warmly looked after,” “are spending less on alcohol” and “spending less” in general, giving as evidence that “the queues at the bar waiting for a table are thinner” “companies….sent out instructions to curb spending” and reflecting the title of his article “Why the term ‘restaurant’ may soon disappear” are “doing everything to avoid calling their new openings restaurants.

Café, bar, bar and kitchen, bistro, bistrot de luxe, canteen, trattoria, osteria and lounge are now far more common names than “restaurant” because “the word “restaurant” is associated with expense.”

He suggests that some restaurateurs are splitting their places into “a brasserie and restaurant, or a grill and restaurant” creating “’cheap’ and ‘expensive’ seats.” He quotes as one case a person who opened a “bar trattoria” a few yards from the mother restaurant, both serving food from the same kitchen and wonders if it won’t “spell the end of the restaurant?”

The same weekend, in the Journal du Dimanche, Benoist Simmat quoted a Crédoc study showing that restaurant custom was down 30%, business by 8-15% and that it affected small neighborhood places, brasseries, theme places mid-range and one-stars but not the “grand tables, bistrots and fast food chains.”

Which gets me to another brighter view. As I’ve said before, three wonderful trends in French restaurants – the “bistrots d’a coté,” substitution of “trash” fish for expensive ones and the widerspread use of the “menu,” that is, prix fixe meal – were all born during economic recessions or hard times. Should we not expect some equally inventive innovations this time? 

And finally, did some of these guys see this coming? I have no evidence for this, but why did Christian Constant, Christian Etchebest and Thierry Burlot, respectively, open quite good but less pricey fast food, cantine and wine bar places rather than upper-scale restaurants, like their primary sites are? And one sees more places opening or renovating their places providing common tables – Constant’s Violin surface, Afaria’s tapas table and Petit Panisse’s spread are but a few examples.
On verra.

These thoughts were prompted by two recent meals at:
Petit Panisse
35, rue de Montreuil, 11th
T: 01.43.71.37.90
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Formulas at 10, 12 and 15 at lunch and 24 and 30 €.

Les Terrines de Gerald Vié
79, rue du Cherche Midi, 6th
T: 01.42.22.19.18
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Formula of two dishes plus wine at lunch for 24 and 30 € at night.

The Centre Pompidou – 3-1 for our side.

 

I went to the Beaubourg for the Futurism show, called “explosive avant-garde” stuff in their advertising and yawned my way through what is touted as “Nine exhibitions in one.” Totally predictable, expected and second rate. Why do they do this?

Since the Futurism thing took me 5-10 minutes, and I’d planned on spending my afternoon on art, I drifted next door to a show of Jacques Villeglé’s “torn posters.” Wow! Now this was truly “explosive avant-garde” stuff. It is bright, inventive, colorful, totally new, in short, fabulous and uplifting. His construction of these posters, his vision and his execution are a breath of fresh air.

Then on my way out I went to the mezzanine galleries where I was further pleased: the installation by Damian Ortega is fresh and lively and so much better than I expected that I smiled my way through it all and my next trip through the Ron Arad furniture and design show next door was equally pleasant.

Both shows plus that of Jacques Villeglé’s were such a treat compared to the over-hyped Futurism one that I left puzzled at the Pompidou’s public relations machine.

Finally, I got a wonderful view of the great white palaces of Paris stretching up to Sacre Coeur.

 

Oeuf Mayo in the 1st: open Monday lunch, that’s about all.

 

1.0 Oeuf Mayo, 42, rue de la Coquillere in the 1st (sound familiar, exactly, it’s just two blocks past Dehillerin), was featured somewhere and while it was at the bottom of my list, among places open Monday, as my friend Atar says, “the new Saturday”, it got to the top pretty fast.

 

I actually tried to go there a while back with my charming cohost on the eGullet France Forum, but the only guy in the place rushed out to say there was a “disaster in the kitchen” and they were closing – it should have been an omen – today there was “a disaster in the kitchen” but it wasn’t an electricity or gas outage, it was awful cooking. You recall when Spy Magazine kept saying that the revered two-time New York Times Pulitzer awardee, Abe Rosenthal, mentor to giants like R.W.  (Johnnie) Apple, was “writing as bad as he can?” Well, this guy is cooking as bad as he can.

 

I really didn’t come in with “an attitude.” While they wouldn’t take my reservation (which they did last time) I accepted the explanation that it was a small place and they couldn’t. But when the waiter came over with his left sleeve rolled up to display a horrid tattoo and his jeans down around his knees anti-Obama style, I took notice.

 

I looked at the carte – truck stop stuff. Firsts, herring, rillettes, etc., but recalling an expert on such things declared that the oeufs mayo at Quai-Quai were the best ever, I decided to see what a place called Oeuf Mayo could do – first mistake; they were pretty pathetic.

 

Then I had the special – roast pork with herbs and mashed potatoes, both were inedible and I wasn’t into licking the acceptable-tasting gravy off the plate.

 

So I took the tarte au citron which actually wasn’t half bad. The Richard coffee was OK and the bread passable.

 

Now the question, dear reader, is, why am I giving it a 1.0 – Ans. Because they played a CD of the Garde Républicaine playing my favorite French marching songs.

My bill for 3 courses was 16 €, 2 would have been 12 €, and wines were 15-79 € a bottle and 2.5 € up a glass, so in total one had a 28 € hit. But at what cost to one’s arteries, spirits and pride? Oh yah, the little saucer holding the addition said (in English) “Every day, every night, every time” whatever that means.

Go? No wonder it took so long to creep up my list.

Reviews of reviews - The Week of November 17th, 2008

The Week of November 17th, 2008

Sunday, in the NYT, Elaine Sciolino mentioned places to eat while “doing” the three Picasso shows this Fall: Les Saveurs de Flora, Orsay Restaurant + Café Marly.

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to Al Taglio, an Italian place in the 11th and Philippe Toinard, next column over, gave 3/5 dots to the world food place Family Affair in the 17th. In the sidebar they mentioned Pierre Herme’s new branch in the Publis Drugstore and Le Nansouty, 35, rue Ramey in the 18th, 01.42.52.58.87, a new wine store which serves eats such as charcuterie and steak.

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, Sebastien Demorand reviewed Chamarré Montmartre, {see busted heart review by Emmanuel Rubin just below} and loved it, saying where else, except at Vongerichten + Roka, can you get this quality of food, for example: oysters in jelly and milk-fed pork, prepared by three chefs, Antoine Heerah and two others; lunch menu = 35 € (water & coffee included,) mini-portions of "bar food" with cocktails and other menus at 52 € and 65 €, with good wines priced about 9 € a glass or 32 € a bottle.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin’s “Cest nouveau” in Figaroscope gave the photo, blurb and first slot to the ¾ heart place Jadis, 208, rue de la Croix-Nivert in the15th, 01.45.57.73.20, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays where on the menu-carte of 32 € one can have poached egg with spinach, sautéed rabbit or yellow Pollack with smoked cabbage. He gave 2/5 hearts to the formerly only delivery of sushi-sashimi place Matsuri Bac in the 7th and one heart to the puzzle-fast-food Italiante B Di Comiso in the 9th. Two busted hearts each were awarded to the Italian sounding but apparently French striving l’Atelier du Parc, 35, blvd Lefebvre in the 15th, 01.42.50.68.85, closed Sundays which has menus at 29 and 34 and the Beauvilliers makeover as a Franco-Mauricien restaurant, Chamarré Montmartre, coordinates in the 18th same as Beauvilliers, open 7/7.

This week’s Figaroscope’s Colette Monsat et al, did a rating of the best baguettes a la tradition that I’ve posted in that topic.

{For reasons not clear to me} Francois Simon in his Hache Menu reviewed a ham-cheese sandwich from Café Parvis, in the Gare Montparnasse, total for 2 with drinks = 13.60 € and he insists you go before your train leaves.

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse of Paris Update, reviewed Lavinia where he found the wines well-priced but the food way over-priced, albeit OK.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde wrote one article on beef miroton and Beaujolais and another on truffles and where to get them served up: Le Pré du Moulin, Sérignan-du-Comtat, Le Grand Pré, Roaix, Le Temps de vivre, Uchaux, and the Villa Augusta, Saint-Paul-des-Trois-Châteaux.

Thursday, l’Express posted a review by François-Régis Gaudry of la Remenance in Lyon.

Thursday as well, in the throwaway ParuVendu, Philippe Charles gives his “selection” of bistrots as: Au Fil du Vin, Table d’Adrien, Carpediem, Miroir, Chez Casimir, Le Carré des Vosges, Chaumette + Chez Margot converted last September from l’Ecume, 25 bis, blvd Henri IV in the 4th, 01.42.72.39.85, menu = 16.50 € for leeks with egg, cote de boeuf Bearnaise and frites and pain perdu.

Saturday, Francois Simon in his Figaro Croque Notes reviewed and called Gerard Vié’s new place on the rue du Cherche Midi the “address of the month” liking his rabbit terrine and paleron of beef in particular. Saturday as well, he reviewed six new books, most about famous chefs:
Anton, le Pré Catalan, the “most spectacular”
Les Bons ustensiles et les Bons Gestes F. e. Grasser Hermé
Olivier Roellinger Trois etoiles de mer
Dictionnaire du gastronome Benoit France & Jean Vitaux
Simplement Bistot Yves Camdeborde,
plus one on Italian cooking.

Sunday’s Journal du Dimanche had several articles of interest: in the Version Femina, Astrid T’Serclaes reviewed Zebra Square where she judged the chef impeccable; Aurelie Chaigneau wrote up three places where the chefs put on a show, Bigarrade and two foreign ones Pates vivantes + Al Taglio. In addition their Business Section devoted a whole page to gastronomy; Benoist Simmat quoted a Crédoc study showing that restaurant custom was down 30%, business by 8-15% and that it affected small neighborhood places, brasseries, theme places, mid-range and one-stars but not the grand tables, bistrots and fast food chains; talked about the scandalous mark-up (3-10 times the price) of wines; Marie Nicot wrote of Cojean’s successful formula of fresh food, good product and fast-food in its 13 stores and CDT uses Vaudeville as an illustration of empty brasseries and the Flo Group’s loss of 10.5% clientele, largely from business folk, even though they’ve introduced low cost items and menus.

October, Alexander Lobrano, in Where, reviewed the results of the new chef at the Brasserie du Louvre, Place Andre Malraux, 01.44.58.38.38, where he liked the foie gras, (one of the best) risottos (in Paris), beef carpaccio, lamb and desserts, Arthur, coordinates already given, and the ItalianDiVino. The November issue contained a spread by Lobrano of the empire of Alain Ducasse and reviews of the Palace Elysee, Le Gaigne + le Mouton Blanc, recently renovated at 40, rue d’Auteuil in the 16th, 01.42.88.02.21, where he mentions the frisée salad, crayfish gratin, steak tartare, onglet and salmon.

In the December Travel & Leisure, there were two articles of note: one blurb mentioning the Senderens run resto at the new hotel Mama Shelter and an article “Europe for Less”, by Anya von Bremzen that defined "affordable meals" as "$100 for dinner for two and about $40 for lunch.....[with] interesting $30 bottles" [of wine]. The restos she names in Paris are: l'Entredgeu, l'Agassin, Itineraires, l'As de Fallafel, Breizh Cafe, Comptoir de Tunesie, Cantine de Quentin and Afaria.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, John Talbott wrote an essay on “Watching chefs work.”

6.0 Meating in the 17th: another theme restaurant: an archival* review.

Let’s start with Meating, another new “theme” restaurant (along with Pomze, Spicy, Rouge Tomate, etc), which is, you’ve got it, devoted to meat and meeting important people. It’s way out in the 17th, at 122, avenue de Villiers, 01.43.90.10.10, (the ex-Apicius space, ah, but that’s another story), chef’d by a young Rostang-ite.

You ask - Why on earth would I, who am basically a non red meat type, usually refuses to eat at non-French places in Paris and can have the best US beef in America for a pittance, or any American, be bothered with the French version of American meat (the menu gives you a whole rap about importing American stoves and ovens, serving US BBQ sauce, etc, etc, etc.).

Well, as I indicated above, April’s been a cruel month for new places; it was Saturday lunch and the choices were few; it was rainy and I needed comfort food; and the reviews hadn’t been all that bad.

So out I schlep to the PC and enter a very fancy place (voiturier at Saturday lunch, no less). Oh oh, budget in trouble. But all I wanted after my magnificent meal of stir-fried broccoli and beef last nite was a light tartare and voila, instead of paying 50E without wine, I had the “menu” with two tartares (first tuna and then beef, the beef tartare prepared properly and wrapped in thinly sliced carpaccio of beef, quite good) for 31E. I loved it.

And, the other stuff I saw served; e.g. firsts of thinly-sliced avocado stuffed with crab, 7 or 8 veggies in a broth; seconds of beef in all its forms, included the biggest bone on at cote de boeuf I’ve ever seen, looked equally good.

The frites were about average for the US or France, which means pretty bad. The bread, wine (a serious international list) and coffee were quite acceptable, however.

Will I return? Not with Colette (although there were 4-6 fish/fowl dishes - beef is clearly their biz). And here I experienced a first in the US or France, the “management” came over to tell a guy yelling into his “mobile” to tone it down – of course, 3 tables of French folk and I had already asked him to, but still….

*Originally published in April 2005.

Picasso and the Ladies of Algers at the Louvre (and Boulez down the hall.)

 

Well, the good news about this 4th show of Picassos I’ve seen this season is that it’s focused and beautifully hung. There were many too many people hovering around the dozen or so works but that was OK. As opposed to the Grand Palais’ Department Store approach, this was the boutique version: all carefully chosen, clearly related and well described. The bad news is that they should have let the Louvre curators manage the other exhibitions.

The Pierre Boulez show on the other hand is a mess; unfocused, unintelligible and lacking a theme. Like John Connelly speaking of John Kennedy, I knew Pierre Boulez and this is no Pierre Boulez, what did everyone have in mind? Beats me. A waste of time and shoe leather.

Le Passage in the 8th: Senderens at his best and worst.

 

3.5 Le Passage, 9, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.42.65.22.90, open 7/7, calls itself a “New York-styled upstairs bar.” I’ve been three times since it opened a few years ago; the first time while eating downstairs to see what it was like; the second time because Colette and I seriously wanted to try it but stuff looked too sushi/curry/etc., so we went elsewhere and today, Lord knows why, after all the mixed reviews (Figaro up, Adrian Moore down).

Now disclosure: I’ve been a fan of Alain S’s since the late 1960’s atl’Archistrate and I even liked my first meal at his newest post-star invention. So despite the fact I’d read about dried out sushi and awful wait-staffs, I went with a clean slate.

First, though, its entrance is most off-putting; whereas on prior visits I’d entered from the main resto, going down the dank passage and being buzzed in was infradig. Then there are the “New York-style” chairs and tables – New York? – I lived there 25 years and I never saw stuff like that.

Next I looked at the carte, expensive, about 45 € for two “small plates,” this is his “second”? The waitguy told me the “menu” and for 36 € I went for it. (Wines were 9-10 € a glass and 25-? € a bottle.) I began with an amuse-bouche of a consumé of langoustines with a crème of celery with a daringly successful jolt of chopped chives; OK, Senderens knows his veggies and (with guys like Bocuse years ago), didn’t have to tell the world he found and used good ones.

Then came something that sure as heck (as Geo Bush would say) sounded like evitée de tomates but seemed like blah sliced turkey or rabbit with nice romaine leaves and dressing. Then came Senderens back blazing full bore – with a poule faisan rollatine stuffed with foie gras on a bed of perfectly cooked mixed wild mushrooms (cepes, pleurottes and oysters) and a peppery brown wine sauce – heaven!

The dessert also was not half-bad but mal-described as a macaroon; indeed the joy was in the incredibly delicious mound of coffee ice cream with pomegranate seeds.

The service varied between out-to-lunch (but I was supposed to be eating it) and talking about last night’s liaisons and attentive and helpful. It seemed incredible to have 3-4 wait-persons serving 7 customers and ignoring them 50% of the time a full 3 meters away. They were making up in professionalism by being enthusiastic, pleasant and energetic. It almost worked.

The bill for the 36 € “menu” and two glasses of passable wine = 54 €.

Go? In this recession/depression, if you’re still travelling on your corporate jet, still gas up 3 SUV’s and have your money in hedge funds – Go! but otherwise wait til we climb out of this hole in 7-10 years.

Russian Avant-Garde Paintings at the Maillol

 

Wait a minute! Haven’t we seen this stuff before? Yes, in New York at the MOMA, in Athens and/or maybe in London; well maybe not the Costakis Collection from the Thessalonika SMCA, but much the same subject matter.

This exhibition is OK, but I think your 8 € can be spent more wisely, if you’re familiar with the genre.

Les Terrines de Gérard Vié in the 6th - Best opening in November?

 

5.5 Les Terrines de Gérard Vié (rings a bell?), 79, rue du Cherche Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.19.18, closed Sundays and Mondays, serving a formula of two dishes plus wine at lunch for 24 and 30 € at night is another gem of a place.

Going there is old home week, first because the location was that of the much missed Rond de Serviette, second because it then housed and still has the awning of Neuf 7, home to Mireille Darc, Johnny Hollyday, Laetitia Casta and Gérard Depardieu and third, because the man behind the place, Gerald Vié, is he from the Trois Marches/Trianon Palace, pre Gordon Ramsay.

In any case, it’s been on my “list” and today’s Croque Notes by Francois Simon calling it the “adresse du mois” when we’ve got a week left, pushed me to go sooner rather than later. The place was hopping and despite Simon’s bemoaning Vié’s bemoaning an absence of custom, it was only accommodating folks with reservations today.

The amuse gueule(s) was/were some slices of sausages and boudin and a terrine. The firsts are all either charcuteries or terrines, but interesting ones – I had the rabbit since Simon liked it, and it was good, but its abats that came alongside were even better, especially the liver.

Then I had again what Simon did, the paleron of beef atop mashed potatoes with big carrots and a dense brown-black sauce. Too much to finish but great. This is comfort food folks, go expecting no less.

And it’s also great theatre by the couple in the front room, bantering back and forth, he juggling plates like Marcel Marceau and she juggling the liquids equally fast.

A word about its name – Les Terrines….., why are these terrines different from the dozens now being sold from all over the country in front of my market street? Good question; but they were very good.

With a coffee and a ½ bottle of wine but no bottled water = 38 €.

Go? You bet, but “best of the month?” up against Jadis, etc., I dunno.

Writing restaurant reviews: An archival* essay.

For Christmas, one of my Paris eating companions suggested that my wife Colette give me Dianne Jacob’s Will Write for Food. It’s a terrific book but I realized it’s not for me after eating at two places in the past while: the spectacular L’Escarbille in Meudon and the glitzy but banal Seafood Bar Prunier aka Caviar House & Prunier in Paris.

Why do I say this? Surely I, among all persons, need a lesson in writing well. Granted. But I don’t know how to say this and be respectful of Ms. Jacob: I can’t write by formula or by using guidelines. Sure, I include the name, coordinates, closing dates, prices, etc., of restos. But it is rare, in fact, I cannot recall a time, when I haven’t either loved a place or hated it.

So I’d be dead in the media markets where one has to sell papers or magazines or whatever and seemingly find something good about even the most dreaded experience. Therefore, as opposed to such intellectual, gifted and golden tongued masters as Francois Simon and Sebastien Demorand in their “Croque Notes” and “Zurban” respectively, whom you finish reading and say – “huh, but should I go?,” if you read my stuff - it’s pretty clear. (I think that Simon was told this 10 years ago and then, at least in his “Haché Menu,” began to specifically ask himself at the end of each piece - “Should one go?”)

On the other hand, in defense of them and in all honesty, it’s also a lot easier when you are eating for yourself and only 20,000 readers max and any reimbursement you get is independent of how the review comes out. I know at least one food writer in Paris whose hate mail is pretty nasty.

So what did L’Escarbille and Prunier teach me aside from loving one and hating the other? Well, first, that aside from taking notes (hell, no one here knows who I am until the review appears anyway), I begin my writing a review in my head from the instant I set eyes on the place.

For example, with L’Escarbille, the moment you get off the Toonerville Trolley in Meudon you’re thrown back decades, if not more, trudging beside the train tracks up to what looks like it was the auberge serving the town. There it is, in full view of the station, homey and comfortable if not comforting; gravel outside, warm greeting inside.

I always insist that the quality of food has to be judged separately from the décor, welcome, service, etc. and that I’m equally happy eating great food off newspaper as on linen, or equally unhappy eating bad stuff in starred-places. Anyway, as soon as I got the amuse bouche I began writing in my head – “pretty good tampenade, nice toast.”

Then the menu - terrific selections, wine list - sensible and broad, and order taken - promptly and caringly. From then on it was all terrific, right up through the coffee that could have come straight from Naples, it was made so correctly. By the time I’d reached the train station to return to town, the review was all but written.

Ditto at poor Prunier but as opposed to the day before, I remember that name from a long way back. To me Prunier represented the most famous, indeed, “the” almost mythic fish place in Paris. I’d read some good reviews of this recent incarnation and went, fully knowing it was touted as a “seafood bar” and was dependent on its downstairs’ larder/boutique, but hey, both Petrossian 144 and Flora Danica are as well.

Anyway, I know the Place de la Madeleine well, passing through it probably twice a week when I’m in town; and things didn’t look much different. But on climbing the stairs I realized that the place was in the grips of a designer’s serious vision. Bright, mirrored and stark (not Starck). Off-putting? Not necessarily.

The guy who greeted me seemed OK. Two people downstairs at the empty boutique; six upstairs for about the same number of customers. OK, so far, so good.

Would I like an aperitif, no thanks, a menu would be fine, I thought to myself. No menu, for 5-10-15 minutes; all the while looking/smiling/raising eyebrows at the wait-staff talking amongst themselves, safely ensconced behind the bar.

My review began to write itself. This place is in trouble – in the wake or the defeat of the government’s “first employment contract,” these young folk, whom I hope have night jobs, know they’ll be let go in six months, so why should they hustle?

Finally, I order and the bread and toast are from yesterday at best. That’s OK in your local crummy bistro but a place that gets close to a $1,000 for 125 grams of caviar should have a little pride. And it went downhill from there to such an extent that I fled before any hint of dessert or coffee.

So let’s come back to writing reviews. In both cases, where the settings, meals and experiences couldn’t have been more different, I could no more write a formulaic piece than whistle through my ears.

As I approached each place, I began to compose; when looking over the menu and wine list, I formed certain impressions that took shape as phrases; eating definitely pointed out the pluses and minuses in bold type; and from that point on, the reviews were out of my control.

My only favorite:

L’Escarbille
8, rue de Velizy, 92nd (Transilien train from Montparnasse to Meudon @ Bellevue on the Rambouillet/Mantes line – 4.10 € RT)
T: 01.45.34.12.03
Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday night and Mondays
Menu-carte 36, a la carte: firsts 21 €, mains 22 and desserts 8€.

* Originally published in April 206