Sunday, February 03, 2008

Les Fines Gueules


Excellent tuna rolled in sesame seeds and accompanied with avocado purée and Joel Thiébault salad

Killer steak tartar


Nice surprise. Wine bar/bistro behind the Banque de France. Most probably the best steak tartar I've ever had. (Desnoyer meat au couteau with pesto, parsley and aged parmesan, and a side salad with Joel Thiébault veggies). Wine list is a little limited and I wish I hadn't seen the guy who worked in the kitchen leave the bathroom without washing his hands, but hey, we're in France..and it's still a great bet for getting drunk on a Sunday afternoon eating raw meat.

Or, as my GOGO review says:

Les Fines Gueules

Steak tartar with grenade potatoes, 17€

Located just off of the place des Victoires, this wine bar/bistro was a pleasant surprise during a recent Sunday lunch. Raved about in the French press when ex-Bistral owner Arnaud Bradol took over last year and gave the small, three-floored eatery a major makeover, their continuing success is due to a simple idea: offer the best produce cooked well. A plate of delicious charcuterie, sliced on a vintage hand-worked machine started us off just right, followed by a starter of juicy tuna, rolled in sesame and served with an avocado purée. The piece de resistance (which pretty much everyone in the restaurant was having) was a superb steak tartar au couteau , made with top grade beef from Desnoyer, mixed with persil and aged parmesan, and served with roasted grenade potatoes. The pear tarte tatin with fresh cream was a delightfully decadent ending to a satisfying meal.

Open daily for lunch and dinner, 43 rue Croix des Petits Champs, 75001, M° Pyramides, 01.42.61.35.41

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

i live right down the street from this joint and was thrilled to see the place spring up in the most beautiful location in the neighborhood. unfortunately i had a nasty experience with two girlfriends when we went there. we found that a fish dish smelled a bit off, and mentioned this to our waitress who was super rude and practically insulted us. after telling the owner about it, he still seemed not just unapologetic but super rude!! i mean, where i come from the customer is always right but these jerks seemed quite xenophobic and ornery.

Adrian said...

True, they're not the smiliest of restaurateurs-but they are French....

Amy75 said...

My husband and I ate there on Sunday. Later that evening (and the next day) we were both vomiting. I assumed it was a result of eating there as these were the only dishes we had in common in the preceding days. Reading this hasn’t helped exonerate them.

Adrian said...

Everything I had there was more than fresh. Being sick depends on a lot of things. I've thought certain restos have made me sick before, then figured out it was actually the gastro I got or something else. All I can communicate are my experiences... voila.

Mike Rupp said...

We ate here last week. I'm glad to read that the staff was rude to French people as well. While the waiter wasn't directly rude to me, he told the couple sitting next to us that he was tired of having to speak English.

That being said, the food was the best that we had on our trip to France. The steak tartar was really well done. The hand cut beef was done to perfection.

Anonymous said...

I would like to say this, too - my husband mentioned that the waiter was mad he had to speak English to us... but my husband ordered everything in French (ok, it's been a few years since he took French in school, but he can do menu French) so there was no need for this waiter to say - as loudly as possible - " seems like I have to talk English to everyone now". Cmon. We dub our movies in French for you. Anyway, begrudgingly, the food was amazing. The poulet was slightly sweet and with a crisp sear. The tartar was a wonderful texture and cut, like on tuna poke, but more firm. Yes, I would go back, accept the rudeness, and eat another wonderful meal.

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