Eating Carnivorously in Paris - Part 2:
La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais

Like other Europeans, dinner dining is a big affair for the Parisians.  La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais is one of those places that locals call their dining room.  Situated on right on the Seine along quai de la Tournelle, it is right opposite a famed temple of cuisine, La Tour d'Argent. La Tour d'Argent is renowned for its pressed duck, a dish best left for readers to research yourselves. However, La Tour d'Argent's pressed duck is made from ducks raised in its own farm with each duck given a serial number.  Diners ordering the duck receive a postcard with the duck's serial number.  Keeping with the Tart's horological theme, just think of it as a limited edition duck.  Personally, I would have preferred that my duck had a name, like Daffy, Donald or maybe Peking, to make it a more intimate dining experience.  

Since I have digressed, let me bring this back to topic by noting that both La Tour d'Argent and La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais are owned by Claude Terrail.

La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais is clearly the more casual dining experience but I would wager that a feast of flesh is best done on a casual setting.  

Reservations are important, as when my wife and I arrived at 7.30PM, the place was bustling, noisy and crowded. We were squeezed into a two seater right in the middle of the small dining area and a quick scan of the room confirmed that this was indeed "local" - all conversation was in French. Further confirmation was made through observing scores of women tucked into flesh in ways only French women can.

The menu was extensive but it contained what one would expect from a typical French menu.

Aperitifs and water were brought to the table and our order was taken.

This was quickly followed by bread, butter and little radishes.

The lady kicked off her meal with Poireaux tièdes à la vinaigrette, warm leeks dressed in vinaigrette and garnished with minced red onion and chives. This was a wonderful medley of all things oniony. The vinaigrette rounded off the sharp onion flavours with an acidic bite.

I opted for the entree of the day, which was a terrine of rabbit. It wasn't just filled with rabbit meat but also rabbit liver and served with a big jar of preserved onion and cornichon pickles.

Let us pause to reflect on the wine we had with dinner. My knowledge of French wines is limited to "rouge" and "blanc". We shared a half bottle of what ever is in the picture above. It was good.

Main course for the lady was coq au vin, or chicken cooked in wine. This is, of course, a classic French dish that can be found in almost every French bistro.

But there is good coq au vin and bad coq au vin (you can tell the bad ones from the poorly translated name of this dish on the menu - cock in wine). Good coq au vin is made by marinating chicken in good red wine. Not just a little dash of red wine but generally a whole bottle for at least 24 hours. The chicken is then browned and simmered in the marinade.

La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais' coq au vin was excellent. The sauce was richly reduced and thickened through slow cooking intensifying the flavours but also creating a velvety consistency. It is finished with lardons, not little bit of bacon but real French lardons. I had suspected that they may have thickened the sauce with pig's blood but the lady asked the chef directly who responded with a dismissive shaking of the head and proceeded to flirt with her. It all happened in French but I suspected something suggestive was said.

I opted for something less complicated to cook - Entrecôte Grillée Béarnaise. You don't need to know French to figure out that its grilled steak with bearnaise sauce, a sauce of heart attack proportions. Entrecôte is the rib eye but without the bone. It is a fattier cut of meat but gives a good balance of meaty flavour and texture

I requested that the Entrecôte be cooked to the chef's recommendation but that was before the flirting incident, in which case I would have asked him to cook it blue and then returned the meat by suggesting that his version of blue is not blue enough. In all fairness, the steak was wonderful and the bearnaise sauce had a smooth creamy richness of the right balance of acidity to cut through the fattiness of the meat. The wine went well with it too.

For dessert, we were recommended to try the dessert of the day, a lemon meringue pie. A simple enough dessert that was executed flawlessly. The lady and I shared this. Note that I did protest that we should have gotten one each but she made a more compelling case for one dessert rather than two.

Overall, La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais  was a fantastic experience, flirty chef and all.

The waiting staff were friendly and quick to make suggestions, while the open kitchen is a plus as its always fun to see a frantic kitchen in action. The goatee dude in the motion blur is that flirty chef.

The place was packed with locals with a good flow of dining traffic, which is clearly a good sign. The menu is extensive with French classics done well. The prices are reasonable if not on the high side but you get what you pay for.

Which leads me to question, why eat at those tourist traps when a wonderful establishment like this exists?

La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais

19, Quai de la Tournelle
75005 Paris
Ph : 01-43-54-17-47


Part One of "Eating Carnivorously in Paris" can be found here and Part Three here.


[G.]