Les Bouquinistes

For the one night we were in Paris - it had to be some thing good. So I did some research (Despite my French Colleague suggesting Little Georgette), scratched my head and finally checking on one of my bibles , I plumped for this little place on the Rive Gauche. Ah St Germain, so evocative of chic sixties Paris. My colleague told me why it was called the Bouquinistes - these are the chaps that line the Left Bank of the Seine selling books. I called and made a booking in my halting French. The staff are helpful. We got an early table.

We hopped into a cab and head down towards the Pont Neuf, watching Notre Dame out of the cab window. Paris can be so attractive at night. Now Mr Jones is not a fussy eater but after an incident in Madrid where we attempted Nouvelle cuisine of a sort (read - foam experiment), and had to have a chips on theway back to our hotel, we have studiously avoided foamy places. Now all the guide books will tell you this is a Bistro (aha - therefore no foam - just hearty French Fare). So imagine my surprise when we were presented with below... yes it covered in foam..... But readers there is a reason. Just hang on..

We were show our table for 2, a charming corner over looking the now closed book stalls. Mr Jones shoved me out of the way as he got the view and I got the restaurant. Interesting decor - some deliberately modern art that certainly looked like it had been painted by my 3 year old neice and tall flowers. Otherwise it all white and simple. There is a bar at the front.

Back to the food, for starters, the staff are of Maghreb origin and they are very smiley, polite, helpful and they spoke good English.. oh so far so not Paris.

So what did we have? For starters the Lobster and Crab tart.. very light and fresh (Me). Mr Jones opted for the ravioles d'escargot with chanterelle mushrooms. So the foam.. well it looked like a snail trail...

For mains, Mr Jones had the grilled Foie Gras and I for the wild chicken. For vin, we had a bottle of Chateau Ramage la Batisse (50 Euro - one of the cheaper bottles).

For desserts, we had the desserts for 2 - all the desserts on the menu. Oh my God. It was totally like the best thing we ever had (sorry to sound so Valley Girl - but like it was awesome). - custard with hints of Lemon Grass, Lavender Creme Brulee, Chocolate mouse.. and so on. We paid up and walked the 20 minutes back via the Louvre and back to the hotel.

• Cost - an Awesome 185 Euro for 2, 3 courses, one overpriced wine, and 2 waters. But its seriously good food. Ok so it was not basic bistro fare but sophisticated Guy Savoy cooking!
• Ambience - relaxed, grown up and chic
• Dress code - well dressed without being over dressed.
• Crowd - tourists, some French people.
• Service - friendly. Unusually so

Fodor's has given it a 4.5 or 5 on their site.