Philou

Formerly of Le Square Trousseau (pre-Costes brothers) and Le Crillon Hotel, Chef Philippe Damas opened Philou, a restaurant in the 11th arrondissement between the Canal Saint-Martin and the Hopital Saint-Louis. 

Finding a good bistro in Paris is not hard, but Paris by Mouth named it the best value of Paris 2011 - must mean a lot . The service is friendly (there were about 2 attentive waiters and the chef popping in and out of the kitchen). The decor is very modern; the menu is written on the blackboard (it apparently changes daily), a little round bar at the entrance and a cool Ingo Maurer lighting fixture brightening the room. In the summer, I'm sure the large terrace outside will be very pleasant. 

Entrées:

Foie gras de Canard, pain d'épices et salade d'haricots verts
Duck foie gras, cinnamon bread and green bean salad


It was mi-cuit, silky and smooth. 

Poêlée de cuisses de grenouille et pleurotes à la truffe
Pan-fried frog leg with pleurotes mushrooms with truffle sauce


The pile of pleurotes with truffles didn't hurt as it soaked up the flavor of the frog leg and added a nice golden color to the plate 

Plats:


Rognon de veau et boulangère de céléri
Veal kidneys with celery


Perfectly cooked and rosé, it had a little gamey taste to it which was pleasant. The celery was tender, sweet and soft. 

Faux filet, grenailles et champignons
Faux-filet steak, baby potatoes and mushrooms


Nicely saignant, the roasted potatoes added crunch. 

Gelée de clémentines et riz au lait 

Clementines gelée and rice pudding

Here you'll find classic French cuisine renewed with fresh seasonal ingredients and serving natural wines for not much money. 15 - 30 euros for 1-3 courses. Thank god!


Philou
12 avenue Richerand, 75011
Tel: 01 42 38 00 12
Metro: Goncourt (Ligne 11)

Les Cocottes de Christian Constant

Les Cocottes sits on a prestigious piece of land in a chic quartier of Paris in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower. An area not known for good-value restaurants, Les Cocottes is one of it's kind in the neighborhood fully staffed of cooks running around the kitchen. The restaurant is headed by Christian Constant (who owns sister restaurants on the same street), who worked at the Ritz, and Hotel de Crillon's 2-Michelin star Les Ambassadeurs. In 1998, he left Le Crillon to open his own restaurant, Le Violon D'Ingres and subsequently Cafe Constant and Les Cocottes. 

Les Cocottes refers to the Staub, the cast iron enamel oven-to-table casseroles famous for retaining heat and flavour and quite pricey as well, because they last very long. 

Les Cocottes serves everything from breakfast tartines to after-work tapas, even salads and soups - some critics have compared it to the American-style diner but I wouldn't label it as such, perhaps more like giving a French twist to the idea of a diner. But what Christian Constant wanted was to give people what they want to eat with good fresh produce. Diners dine either on counter-toptables or high tables giving a communal feel to the restaurant.

Terrine de campagne, "Recette de mon apprentissage" - the terrine was my favorite

Jambon des 3 fermes de chez Ospital: a good selection of ham, very strong in flavor. 

Pot-au-feu de Foie Gras: a very interesting take of the pot-au-feu but I felt more should have been given. The soup had a very clean taste to it. 

Pommes de terre caramélisées farcies au pied de porc - Caramelized potatoes with pig's feet. 

I fell in love with the idea of the dish but perhaps had too much expectation of what was going to be presented. I literally thought I would see gelatinous pig's feet. It was more like pig feet meatballs stuffed into the potato. 

Boeuf Bourguignon, champignons et oignons 

The beef was very tender - as it should be with Boeuf Bourguignon, but had to add a lot more salt. Moreover the pasta stuck to the bottom of the cocotte, making it hard to eat. 

Pigeon farci au foie gras cuit sur son crouton - pigeon cooked with foie gras.

I thought the meat was very tender, the foie gras also melted in your mouth. Had the most taste out of the three cocottes. 

I was not blown away by the food at Les Cocottes though it was enjoyable. It was a normal meal perhaps a little bit more pricey for what was given. A cool concept with the idea of cocottes. 

Les Cocottes de Christian Constant

135 Rue St. Dominique, 75007

Tel: none but information available from Le Violin

Metro: Bir-Hakeim (Ligne 6), Ecole Militaire (Ligne 10), or Pont de l'Alma (RER C)

Website: http://www.leviolondingres.com/eng_cocottes.htm

Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie

After a shopping day at your local cuisine shops (e.g. Mora, Bovida, Simone and the likes), you can take a break at Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie situated next to Bovida. Before coming to Ferrandi, I had always passed by this restaurant/boutique and often saw many people coming out of the shop with bags filled with gastronomic ingredients including fresh fois gras d'oie (goose foie gras) to boudin noir (blood sausage) even wine as well as others sitting in the restaurant next door. 

The restaurant is rather old (supposedly existed since 1894) with wooden banquets and tables. You have a view of the open-boutique that looks like an antique épicerie with its own side entrance. Whatever you find in the boutique you will find on the menu with a couple of more choices of foie gras, cassoulet and magret de canard (duck breast). 


Soupe à l'oignon - simple, traditional but very tasty with the caramelized onions matching perfectly with the the grated cheese

Royale de Foie gras

Salade de Canard - different parts of the duck including foie gras with a subtle vinaigrette

Foie gras poêlé - seared foie gras - melted in your mouth with the sweetness of the honey, went ery well with the crunchyness of the pain d'épices. 

Magret de Canard - perfectly seared (inside was rosé, just as it should be)

Moelleux au Chocolat - to die for!

Yes, I know it's a lot of duck to handle but this is their specialty - everything revolving around duck, goose and the likes. If you're in the mood for duck, definitely come to this place that will satisfy your hunger for foie gras. 


Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie
34 Rue Montmartre, 75001
Tel: 01 42 33 31 32
Metro: Etienne Marcel (Ligne 4)


Website: www.comptoir-gastronomie.com

Le Dauphin

We're back with more news on Chef Inaki Aizpitarte, who to some is a culinary genius and an up-and-coming Chef on the Parisian food scene, while others think it's just all overrated. 

I'm not an adoring fan of Chef Inaki but his cooking is good. 

I've blogged about the Chef previously, after my visit to Chateaubriand about 3 months ago. I was very impressed at first but having eaten there a couple of times; some of the dishes became less memorable - perhaps that's where the mixed reviews of the restaurant come from? But the food is nonetheless good, moving Inaki's restaurant to 11th in Restaurant Magazine's World's 50 Best Restaurant List and beating culinary giants such as Gagnaire, Robuchon and Troisgros. 

Last night though, I spent an evening at Le Dauphin, his most recent venture a few doors down from Le Chateaubriand. It looks like a Parisian tabac from the outside; very uninteresting place to be honest but made a total makeover with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas who magnificently transformed it into a modern Carrara-marbled wine bar serving more than tapas-like plates with natural wines from France. There's marble everywhere (the floor, the walls, the ceiling! The place is sleek, the decor minimal (but much nicer looking than Le Chateaubriand) and some dining tables laid out around the wine bar. Like Le Chateaubriand, the menu is a single sheet of A4 paper with a list of dishes that they serve - apparently it changes weekly. It's simple, nothing overdone - just what you need to know really. 

Mirrored walls in the back leading to the kitchen

I made a reservation for 7.45 pm, which was quite early, but the place immediately got packed by 8.30 pm with people typically at the wine bar (it is a wine bar in the end). I think when there was an initial buzz, it was hard to get a reservation but now not so much + it might just be worth walking in to have a glass of wine or two and munch on 2-3 dishes. 

As for the wine list, there's a variety of natural wines from France including Bordeaux and Burgundy but it leans toward the Loire Valley and promotes natural wine producers that I enjoyed at Le Chateaubriand as well; reasonably priced at 5 euros per glass and around 30 euros per bottle. 

We should be clear that the portions are not tapas-style like in San Sebastian, Spain, they are a little larger, more generous and I can't really pinpoint exactly the 'type' of food he serves - it's eclectic: French, Spanish, Japanese - kinda of like Chateaubriand where Inaki twists traditional dishes such as pig's feet, steak tartare by bringing out the original and base flavors of the dish - not overpowering it with other accompanying ingredients. 

However, unfortunately, I found there to be a lack of salt in the dishes - perhaps purposely done to accentuate the original taste? I do like a lot of salt...I was overall more impressed with this restaurant than Chateaubriand, it's something different and the food choice was more interesting - it was from the carte (whereas Chateaubriand is a prix-fixe for 50 euros). The prices of the dishes were reasonable for Parisian standards; between 8 - 10 euros, but serve this in Spain, I'd think he'd go out of business. 

Terrine de Foie Gras

Pluma Iberico, Radicchio (Pork fillet served crispy on the outside and rare...yes rare on the inside) - very impressive

Encornets a la plancha (Fried squid)

Eperlan en Friture (Deep-fried Smelt fish)

Poulpe Tandoori (Tandoori Octopus)

Steak tartare - hand cut steak with capers, fresh herbs and radish

Cochon de Lait Bigorre (Suckling Pig with Celery puree)

Along with the Pluma, the suckling pig stood out as the most flavorful dish, though I wished that the skin had a little bit more crisp to it. 

If you're willing to make the trek to the 11th arrondissement, definitely come here for a glass of natural wine or two and chow down on some good portioned tapas from Inaki Aizpitarte's new venture which holds already a lot of recognition at reasonable prices - so come before they increase! 

Le Dauphin 

131, Avenue Parmentier, 75011

Metro: Goncourt (Ligne 11)

Tel: 01 48 06 58 41