EAT > La Cantine du Troquet, Paris (15/20)

“That is the best food I have eaten in twelve weeks of being in France”.

I was looking for somewhere convenient in Paris to meet my friend Ken who was travelling on a lads trip for the Rugby World Cup, England had just been knocked out of the final by South Africa and it was the final few days in France for him so a great opportunity to find somewhere with traditional food done really well.

I did the usual thing, read the guides. Looked at the map, tried to cross reference the guide to the map and then using google maps I selected La Cantine du Troquet for its reviews, the description of traditional dishes and its convenient location.

La Cantine du Troquet was established by chef Christian Etchbest in 2008 and now is a successful group with six restaurants (four in Paris) and in the 14th Arrondissement close to the Eiffel Tower one of the only restaurants that did not seem to focus on tourist trade.

Paris is a city with a bistro on every corner but so many of them especially the ones in the main tourist zones are bland some even americanised food. But La Cantine du Troquet is quite different a simple Basque based menu, and a bistro that serves walk in’s rather than reservations. Here it is all about a place for locals to eat tasty food on their lunch break or for a family dinner.

This assumption was observed as we watched office workers come and eat early and when they finished families with children came for a later lunch everyone had fitted in and it all worked.

Arriving early I started with a black coffee (strong and quite good for Paris) and watched as the kitchen staff had their morning briefing sitting out the front of the restaurant before the rush. My French is hardly fluent, I can order a beer or a coffee and largely read a menu but it tops out there. The serving floor staff didn’t speak any English but that was no issue, when we got to anything tricky the one person who had reasonable English in the kitchen came out for a quick chat!

Food here is the best of Basque and Southern French flavours, the prices are very reasonable and the wine list has a few reasonable bottles. The house wine is extremely reasonable.

We started with a salumi and terrine board with bread and a couple of beers. There were two terrine’s served one a blood sausage the other a pork terrine both were good but for me the blood sausage was the standout. The board was served with two salami, one mild and the other hot, a nice prosciutto served with cornishons and pickled green chilli.

Beyond the menu there is a large chalkboard of specials and watching the meals coming to tables around me I was selecting with my eyes and nose. As a dish would come by our waitress would stop to point it out to me and tell me what it was (in French of course), in turn I was sure I was going to order the scallops which looked sensational. But when a gentleman behind me ordered the veal on mash with a truffle sauce I was immediately sold, the smell alone was captivating.

Ken in turn was keen on a fish dish and ordered the bouillabaisse with a lion fish, that while it was nothing like any bouillabaisse he had ever had before was absolutely delicious and the best food he had eaten in the 12 weeks of being in France.

A casual lunch was a delicious success, we drank a good burgundy (Savigny-Les-Beaune) and the whole meal was very reasonable.

I think the thing I liked most was the bread chopping board which has clearly done some substantial service as it is now ground away almost all the way through, this is a place when things are good they stay the same. I went looking at online reviews as I wrote this and many going back to 2009 and 2012 describe much the same experience I had. I hope that it will still be the same in another ten years because this a place to keep on your list.