The Brasserie Lorraine aka la Lorraine, 2 pl des Ternes, In the 8th, (Metro: Ternes) 01.56.21.22.03, open 7/7, was one of the last “independent” brasseries until it was acquired by the Freres Blanc (I remember it well because they stopped serving the fish soup a volonté and then had a Mckinsey-type ask me to fill out a survey; I told her the place was ruined. Subsequently like the old New Yorker cartoon the little brasserie fish got eaten by bigger fish, etc., until there is is one whale-sized Flo-Blanc-Bertrand.) Q. So why was I here? A. Because acquirer of useless information that I am, I heard (from Elle and Air France Madame, really?) the place had been redesigned by one Laura Gonzalez and I decided it was time for a revisit. We entered and rather liked the renovation, especially the vases in back of the banquette.
All three of us ordered the rock fish soup, which while no longer endless, at least came with a large pitcher of extra soup not just a measly portion. Then while Colette had the daurade on rice our friend recovering from pneumonia and I had quite nice fish and tartar sauce with quite nasty soggy undercooked or singly-cooked chips.
For desserts Colette had the Grand Marnier soufflé and we had the baba au rhum, OK but no more.
Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and three coffees, and very good bread, was 191€ or 127.32€ a couple.
We had to ask two times for the loud music to be turned down; we had to ask several times for the bill and our request for a 2nd bottle of wine took so long we chose not to accept it when it finally arrived. Clearly the staff (all of whom were most pleasant) was stretched, maybe because of the 'unrest' on Saturday?