Restaurant Review: L'Ebauchoir

This is the first edition of a little sub-blog I've decided to try to do, restaurant reviews of local restaurants I've been to. I've been wanting to do this from the beginning, but, just never got my act together...Well, that changes now!

The first place that I've decided to talk about now is a little local place called l'Ebauchoir (sounds like "leh-boach-warre" does that make sense?). It's in my arrondissement, the 12th, on rue de citeaux. There's not much around it, so when walking to it at night, you get the feeling you are going the wrong way, but, don't worry, you are probably on the right track. It's definitely more of a local, neighborhood place, which is one of the things I like about it.

I first heard about it through a Paris Guide my freshman year French prof, Dr. Pappas, who lived in Paris for several years. Her abridged version that she sent me includes a list of a few of her favorite restaurants. This is what she said about it: "An absolutely fabulous French bistro. A great place if you want to try authentic French food (they also have unbelievable seafood if you can’t take the focus on red meat…) A real neighborhood place—lots of regulars."

So of course I was intrigued, and the fact that it is walking distance from where I live didn't hurt either. When my uncle and aunt cam to Paris for a visit, this was one of the restaurants I took them to, or I guess, they took me :) I also went again when my mom visited, because of the great meal I had had the first time with my aunt and uncle.

The first time I went, I got the scallops, and for dessert, the apple tarte. My uncle got the lamb, my aunt got the fish, and for desert they shared a roasted mango with lemon sorbet and almond mousse. YUM. We all loved everything. And the staff was so friendly, and spoke English very well.

The second time we had a very good meal as well.

In the sidebar there are links (under "places mentioned") to the restaurant's webpage, as well as the restaurant's blog, which is where it puts its menus and pictures of its dishes. The restaurant's website is very impressive, when you roll the mouse over different people in the background, you can hear what the people are saying...it's kinda hard to explain. Also, WARNING: A visit to the blog might result in mouth-watering and extreme hunger.

Information:
English-Friendly
Price: Dinner, 3 courses for 25 EUR, 2 for 22.50
(33) 01 43 42 49 31 for reservations
Closed on Sundays
43-45 rue de Citeaux 75012
Metro: Ligne 8, stop Faidherbe-Chaligny OR Ligne 1, stop Reuilly Diderot

Pictures taken off of the l'Ebauchoir blog:


Mango dessert


Scallops