After a week in London I’m back to writing in full speed! I have so much to write about! Where I left off was already two weeks ago, so here we go.
Within my Paris Restaurant Marathon I took two very unrelated friends of mine to an evening together at Le Troquet. I had so many restaurant reservations this week that I mixed up the times and thought we’re meeting at 21:30 instead of 21:00. I apologized but they had to meet and start talking without me. Unfortunately one of the waitresses didn’t take it as nicely as they did and was a bit rude. The other waitress was very nice and even joked around with us a little.
This place is so authentic French, looks like it got stuck in another time. Basque-French classic kitchen with a tiny bit of modern touches.
The ambiance:
Simple and crowded dinning room with pictures and decor from another time
Bar like you can imagine used to be 100 years ago, classic!
The menu came in the shape of the blackboard, 3 course menu for 32 euro. We ordered 3 of each to share, and I admire Eran and Arielle for being to open-minded about rotating the plates!
Piment d’espelette and olive oil on the table, why not?
And some jambon (Jamon) hanged just above the coats hangers (I did not get to hang my coat because I arrived late! But yes, it was raining that night)
Entrées:
Fine Tarte de parmesan, tomate et jambon de pays
Thin tart of parmesan, tomato and ham
It was a thin tart crust with parmesan. I remember we made something similar in school. On top bits of parmesan, tomato and raw jambon. little drops of pesto around. It was really good.
The fallen building
Poêlée de chipirons façon Troquet
Pan-fried squid Troquet way
The squids were swimming in a sauce, tomatoes, capers, bits of ham and olives. The bad: bad quality olives (pitted and maybe even canned ones???). The good: all the rest in this dish.
Cochon de lait, salade de roquette, vinaigrette aux girolles
Suckling pig, rocket salad, vinaigrette with chanterelles mushrooms
This dish was more like a charcuterie dish, which is very traditional, it was more like an interesting salad to begin with
The Crazy thing I never saw before was this hole in the table meant to slide the napkin in and cover better my dress. Time machine or what?
Everyone was happy with the wine, it was not bad!
Plats:
Our table after receiving the main courses
Canette dorée, polenta crémeuse aux olives noires
Golden duck (female), creamy polenta with black olives
Unfortunately the same bad quality olives on the polenta. Polenta is always good. Everyone loves polenta.
The Canette is a bit tougher and smaller than the fatten duck we’re used to eating here in France but it was intense in flavor and well cooked. Very tasty.
Rumsteck poêlé, purée de pomme de terre
Fried Rump steak, mashed potatoes
The purée was a real one, a bit chunky in a good way
Eran with the rump. I would not order this dish but I’m glad he did because it was a good steak and looked beautiful! Maybe a little too small?
He asked “à point” and this is what we got, amazing! Not overcooked!
Maquereau poêlé en croûte de moutarde et semoule
Seared mackerel with mustard crust and semolina
Lovely Arielle with the lovely mackerel
I like mackerel. Many people don’t because it’s so “fishy” but it’s a cheap fish that I rather like. The semolina was like couscous with larger bits and again we got these nice crunchy capers with tomatoes. Very basque indeed.
Desserts:
We took a fromage this time!
Fromage de Pyrénées, confiture de cerises noires
Pyrenees cheese, black cherry jam
A tasty cheese, very strong like an aged comté but more savory with a nice sweet sweet cherries jam.
Compotée d’abricot et pêche, quenelle de chocolate
Apricot and peach compote, chocolate quenelle
Not too heavy dessert with some fruits of the season. The chocolate could be stronger or darker. For me that was a bit too mild, more like a custard than a ganache.
Gelée de café au moelleau mascarpone et cacao
Coffee jelly with fluffy mascarpone and cocoa
This was like tiramiso but with jelly coffee instead of biscuits soaked in coffee. It was this bit of modern touch, I liked it. It came with a small cookie which was not that great though.
Conclusions: it was a good meal, and basque for a change. Very traditional, maybe too much for me. The dishes were simple and starchy when it comes to side dishes, instead of a verity of vegetables we see in modern restaurants. It was very much like going back in time and it was a nice ride! I still can’t get over these bad olives though. Recommended for a classic cuisine and basque experience.
seems to me that the “hole in the table” was meant for the perforated paper of the old style dot-matrix printers – 80s style – certainly old… the food style looks pre-80s… or maybe 1880s????