Treating oneself to a breakfast of boiled eggs and soldiers at 9 a.m., biting into escargots wrapped in puff pastry when the clock strikes noon, chowing down on a smash burger with extra bacon late at night… All of that is allowed at this cushy café in Montmartre (tiled floors, sixties light fixtures, a big faubourgeois terrace)! That’s where Amandine Chaignot, the chef at Pouliche, prepares comforting retro-bistro cuisine, some of which still had the kinks being worked out the day we went for lunch: reinvigorating herring with oiled potatoes, dressed prettily with herbs and edible flowers – served after a 45-minute wait; a thin fillet of grilled poulet jaune chicken, paired with southern vegetables that were a tad greasy (eggplant, zucchini, pepper…), or a mouthwatering duck and sweet potato parmentier topped with shaved radishes; before a tasty pink praline floating island. Other typically French treats spotted on the menu: oeufs mayo, frog legs in persillade, calf’s head with sauce gribiche, veal with béarnaise sauce, a Poire Belle-Hélène dessert… // Antoine Antoine
FEELING THIRSTY? There’s a somewhat ordinary wine list (including a Rhone Syrah from Stéphane Ogier at €6 a glass), a few revisited classic cocktails (elder blossom spritz, gin & tonic made with a pine liqueur… €12 each) and hard-to-find potions from the Denoix distillery (Quinquinoix, Fenouillette de Brive… €7-9).
PRICE: Breakfast €2.50 to €6.50, set menus €24-28 (weekday lunch), à la carte €27-49.
