Pre: I keep thinking that at 83, decrepit and failing, I should give up this nonsensical quest for new places in Paris with astonishing food, prices, clienteles and locations - and then, like two days after a marathon, I say to myself "No, I want to do this again/forever."
7.9 La Bicyclette, 5, rue de Chaumont in the 19th,, 06.10.40.33.12, closed weekends (Metro: Jaures) is way off the beaten culinary path, even for me, just over in the 18th. But it sounded interesting: owner/front guy Bertrand Disset from the Bataclan brasserie, chef Slavica Marmakovic (ex Sunset and Clamato, two of my faves). It has a 3-2-3 "menu" for 19 E at lunch with intriguing sounding products, ingredients, spices and herbs from all over the Mediterranean, but hey if Novak Djokovic got to be #1 eating this stuff, count me in.
First off, the chef sent out a bouillon of vegetables and herbs that was pungent and had my fellow blogger and I trying to identify what was in it; hummm, cumin, parsley,.... Then she had the panzanella with smoked ricotta, described by Wikipedia as "a Tuscan chopped salad of bread and tomatoes,.... sometimes also onions and basil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar." Simple, eh? Nope. Complex. And I had coques with spinach and cedrat, again you would think simple but it was not.
For main courses we both had succulent lamb bits cooked as kebabs with a yogurt sauce or a flatbread that was astonishingly-surprisingly tasty with shaved turnips; followed by a rhubarb-lemon crumble and roasted pineapple between pastry leaves.
Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and two coffees, was 77 E a couple.
Go back? Despite the weird location, indeed!
Please keep doing this until at least 103.
Posted by: Mark H. | May 13, 2019 at 05:00 PM