We do bistros and brasseries too!

               

Eating with the French is always interesting. Since my spoken French is far from fluent, I am quite contented to listen and the topics, well, fascinating would be putting it mildly. How about plastic surgery and french beauties, divorces, matchmakings, saving wayward French hostages, muggings, holidaying in Colombia and grand chefs of Lyon to start with?

The restaurants chosen are also different from where we might tend to go to, you know, the tiny, overbooked under-30 covers place run by an ex-chef from famous 2 or 3 star establishment and his/her spouse and maybe a spare harried waitstaff but which is all mitigated for, hopefully, by food to swoon over. In contrast most of these "dine with the locals" meals have been in larger establishments serving classic foods with comfortable surroundings and brigades of waitstaffs. Such as Montparnasse 1900 last night. The restaurant has existed for nearly 100 years and was run by the same family for a long time before being sold off to someone else. Sitting on a plush leather banquette in the midst of gorgeous Art Nouveau everything (ceilings, walls, lightings, tiles, my tachycardic heart overwhelmed by all the beautiful craftwork), taking in the details such as the luggage racks and coathooks which harks back to the days when passengers eat there after disembarking from their train at nearby Gare Montparnasse, when we think about it all, the food hardly mattered anymore.

               

Not that it was terrible, thankfully it was not bad at all. Cocktail of avocado and shrimps, steak frites, floating islands (île flottante), creme brulée for husband- competent classic dishes, though my steak was too classical in the sense that I had to chew and chew until my jaws ached and my head screamed. So the food doesn't make you go and extol, say, the whimsical pairing of vanilla and watercress but it does allow one to relax, to carry on a civilised conversation, to butter up the baguettes, to finish the kir petillante (sparkly blackcurrant and champagne cocktail) and to raid the chocolate almonds in the sugar basket come coffee time.

               

If one prefers Art Deco, there is also La Coupole further along the same street, or Le Boeuf sur le Toit near Champs Elysée. And then there's always the bistros like Chez George and Bistrot de la Muette; the decor would not be nearly as elaborate, and the tables are closer together but these places are always full of locals as well as tourists enjoying an uncomplicated night out. 

Addresses below:

Montparnasse 1900: 59 Blvd Montparnasse (6th) T: +33 1 4549 1900

La Coupole: 102 Blvd Montparnasse (14th) T: +33 1 4320 1420

Le Boeuf sur le Toit: 34 rue du Colisée (8th)T: +33 1 5393 6555

Bistro de la Muette: 10, Chaussée Muette (16th) T: +33 1 4520 3593

Chez Georges: 273 Boulevard Pereire, (17th) T: +33 1 4574 3100

Comments

[Nicole L Marques]

Ces oeufs à la neige ont l'air d'être délicieux!! :-)

[umami]

Nicole: Tout à fait, ils etaient délicieux, assez legers avec un bonne rapport entre douce et un peu d'amer.