I had heard from the then new restaurant Christophe from François Simon's TV show. It looked good. In those bistrot-obsessed days, it takes some guts to open a small, gastronomic restaurant in the middle of tourist and student central, namely the Place de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève. But in that small room with cold marbled tables and the most awful table sets ever, plagued also by the glass square plates which would almost make you catch a cold, there's actually a gastronomically ambitious and excellent restaurant.
The place clearly advertises that it has all the best ingredients one must have those days in Paris: porc basque, boeuf de Coutancie, bread from Du Pain et Des Gâteaux, etc. And the chef actually cooks those as they should be. Prices are rather friendly considering the ingredients and the skills used, service is very friendly (and, actually, cute). While the room was far from full on that monday lunch, people who come here are actual food lovers. In fact, my long-time dining partner, when I told him about the place, told me "yeah, I know, I go there often". Can you believe the bastard never told me? Also, each dish is proposed with a wine pairing, which I can only assume has been carefully studied.
The crispy eel was awesome, a dish without safety net, perfect cooking, perfect juice, and the best artichokes I ever had -- no metal taste, truly al dente (meaning neither too crunchy nor mushy). Then the Boeuf was flawless, although I am never quite convinced by French beef which is never aged enough to my taste. The big entrecôte (ribeye) for two was black and blue, served with some butter posturing as mashed potatoes. The beef's fat was really great. Even the coffee was good. The bill for those ALC dishes and a glass of wine was ca. 60€ pp.
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