9th Arrondissement

45, rue Saint Georges (9)
Tel: 01-48-78-40-30

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

Experienced diners in every country know that behind a good meal is a team, a complex of factors which either make or undermine an experience. Location, décor, size, format, menu, kitchen, prices, hospitality, greeting and service all part of the mix. A good greeting, and the strong and attentive interest of a working owner can elevate the ordinary to the memorable.

So it is at Le Bon George. Great location in the attractive 9th, steps from the Place St. George metro. An attractive décor inside and out. Only three years ago a new owner cut the lock off a bistro there for decades. Simple, short blackboard menu emphasizing meat. Modest ambition. Largely local crowd. All elevated by caring service led by bilingual host who clears tables, takes orders, delivers food.

FOOD

Asparagus with hollandaise. Roast lamb in four cuts. Fresh strawberries. Proudly served simple food. A blackboard wine list with broad range.

SERVICE

Friendly, caring, informal.

PRICES

A la carte with 56€ wine (many less expensive offered), 156€ for two.

(1x) (2016)

Photo from “Trip Advisor”

15, rue de la Tour des Dames (9)
Tel: 33 1 45 26 21 48

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

Eighteen seats in a nicely redecorated room the size of a bedroom, a chef who doubles as dishwasher during service, and a lovely partner/waitress/hostess/reservationist.  28€ for three courses, at dinner 35€ for four.  Wines by the glass under 10€.  Budget so tight that not even the check carries the restaurant’s printed name, yet in the early days critically noticed and successful.  At lunch, every seat taken.

FOOD

No choice for entrée.  Poached cold leeks with tiny clams and chopped nuts and toasted breadcrumbs with a clam juice cream; either poached fish or roast pork jowl with roasted and puree of turnip, both served with same brown glacé poured over at the table; either polenta cream with dried fruit or blue cheese whipped with cream and white grapes for dessert.

SERVICE

Relaxed, but proper.  Each selection either described or offered as a surprise.

PRICE

28€ for three courses.  (At dinner) 35€ for four.  50€ multi-course tasting.

The small size is not uncomfortable, but energy difficult to find.  Such highly personal restaurants are not unknown in Paris or on this list.  One admires both the ambition and the execution, albeit not for everyone.

(1x) (2017)

35 rue Bergere (9)
Tel:  01-47-70-77-09

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

The restaurant was recommended by a very knowledgeable food friend as his new favorite. He described it as honest, and without pretense. He was right on both, and that the sophistication of the food belied the space and the address in the 9th. But that is not the full story.

There must be hundreds of similarly serious, chef-driven small spots in Paris, restaurants which have settled into their neighborhoods owned by talented, but once more ambitious and perhaps more optimistic chefs hoping for wider discovery. Instead, they come to work every day running marginal small businesses, no longer hoping for discovery by critics, or in this case, even by “Zagat”.

The inventive 40€ formula menu offers unusual dishes, each unique and personal. All of this is undermined by the overly lit, tired and barely decorated small room with 28 tightly spaced seats. Charming it is not. Nor particularly inviting. I guess you are meant to bring your own.

FOOD

The menu and execution are the highlights of the experience. Except for the concert of serving each of our dishes from a bowl (which we are seeing elsewhere in Paris too), the plates look good, sound complex and prove both delicious and unusual.
First courses of slow cooked whole chicken served warm and served with pineapple chutney and confit of cepes with salad, monkfish over caramelized leeks and wonderful stuffed cabbage with chestnuts. Desserts were roast figs with chocolate sauce and ice cream, stewed plum with plum gele and sherbet.

SERVICE

Friendly, helpful, bilingual waiter with well-meaning but inexperienced assistant.

PRICE

40€ for 3 courses, plus a few supplements (meaning 45€/person), plus modestly priced wines. 155€ for 2.

(1x) (2016)

12, rue Papillon (9)
Tel:  01-40-22-01-91

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

Except to make two unrelated points which follow, this was an entirely forgettable restaurant, otherwise unworthy of this Diary or of using a precious night in Paris on.

Observation #1:  Be careful of names.  A friend passed along a tip, a new personal favorite:  Hugo’s.  We went to Hugo in the 9^th.  Subsequent research confirmed it was completely unrelated to Hugo’s in the 5^th, which we were advised to try.  Our Hugo was a bust!

Observation #2:

It was an unseasonably warm night.  We decided to walk, knowing it was a good distance.

We left the 7^th, crossed the river, traversed the 2^nd and entered the 9^th, about 50 minutes through areas we had never been before, at least on foot.  We passed – literally – several hundred eating venues – fast food, slow food, cafes, bars, brasseries, bistros, French, pizza, burgers, tapas, Asian of every type, North African.  Most full of young French people, especially those with outdoor seating.  Virtually not one would fit the taste criteria of “French restaurant”, traditional or modern, high end or simple bistro, which is the focus of this guide.  For reasons of budget or neighborhood, this is not where young people in Paris congregate.  A phenomenon not unique to France.

FOOD

To give the restaurant its due, it was not bad, merely forgettable.

Low a la carte prices, or 39€ three course menu chosen from menus.  Quite good foie gras and salmon tartare, swordfish (unusual in Paris) with roasted potatoes and sautéed vegetables, an unacceptable fruit tart with dough off peak freshness.

SERVICE

One busy maitre d’/waiter/runner did it all for the 15 tables, of which half were full.

PRICE

One of the least expensive three course meals with wine we can recall in Paris, 78€.

(1x) (2018)

37 rue des Martyrs (9)
Tel:  01-53-20-00-67

AMBIANCE/DÉCOR

If you love Paris, maybe you’ve read the recent book, The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs by Elaine Sciolino, former Paris bureau Chief of The New York Times. It is a history of the small market street in the 9th, where she lives. Like other Paris streets, it is a neighborhood.

We went to explore on a sunny and warm fall day, and ate lunch outside at the otherwise non-descript Smiley.

FOOD

14€ 2 course lunch, beef bourguignon and roast chicken preceded by hard boiled eggs with rich homemade mayonnaise and a green salad with cheese. All perfect for the price, with the bright sun and friendly passers-by an unexpected bonus.

SERVICE

Friendly. Casual.

PRICE

14€ for 2 courses. Hard to go wrong. By no means a destination, but if you are in the neighborhood…

(1x) (2016)