A Bistronomy is a classic bistro restaurant that seeks to bring an eating experience rivalling or even surpassing the classic gastronomic restaurants on a vastly more moderate budget. It does so by stripping away some of the more expensive extras normally associated with these restaurants and more or less only focus on the food. There's no army of waiters, the dining rooms are packed much tighter, ...
Comptoir du Relais Saint-Germain
Destination
Telephone
01 44 27 07 50
Adress
9, carrefour de l'Odéon
Avg. rating
95%
Le Comptoir du Relais is the restaurant belonging to the Hôtel du Relais Saint-Germain in the Left Banks of Paris. The chef is Yves Camdeborde, a legendary bistro chef which started the first Bistronomy with La Régalade and once worked for Christian Constant at the Crillion. Le Comptoir du Relais has now picked up the spot as the hippest and most popular place to eat Haute Cuisine on a budget.
The restaurant is small and Art Déco inspired, they have a single dinner seating on the weekdays with a 5-meal menu for €40. Before 6pm on the weekdays and on weekends they have a brasserie menu and tables can't be reserved. The restaurant opens for lunch at 12.00, be there a few minutes earlier and place yourself in the queue thats beginning to form. If you want to experience the dinner, reserve your table well in advance (a couple of months or so).
Metro: Odéon
Reviews
Reviewed by Anders Zakrisson on 2008-11-24 Rating: 95%
Since I failed to reserve a table (I only started to plan my trip 2 months before I actually went to Paris), I had to chance on getting a seat at Le Comptoir through a cancellation or by taking a lunch or a weekend dinner there. Since the multi-course menu is only served on weekdays I decided to take my Saturday lunch there. When I arrived at 11.50pm I and my companion were number 15 and 16 in the line. The other ones waiting were a combination of singles, couples and a few parties of 2-4 persons all of varied age. Not much tourists though and many greeted the staff in a familiar way.
We were swiftly and friendly seated on a two-person table in the middle of the room, our neighbours were close but we had at least a gap between the tables. The daily specials are written on the big mirror on the centre wall, they are written in French as is the menu. The staff willingly answers questions and a few of them were really fluent in English. The room is mostly in yellow tones and set in an art déco theme. The bistro menu is all about going back to the roots and perfecting classic French food, we chose a beef with vegetables for €20 andlamb rackson achili salad for €18.
Both dishes were beautifully displayed and perfectly cooked. The vegetables and own sauce made the beef taste more and stronger, this was all about the beef and it was perfect, one of the best I've ever tasted. The salad of large chilis provided just the right amount of sweetness and flavour, although not much spice and bite, and thelamb rackswas so tender I couldn't believe it. The portions were big, you won't be leaving hungry.
After second thoughts about not ordering entrées after two of the best main courses in my life we decided without hesitation to go for desserts even though the clock was 12.30 and we had a five-course dinner planned later in the evening. A personal favourite of mine is the Crème Brûlée so I decided to test their €7 version with some arabica coffee in it while my partner took the milk sorbet and mixed nut ice cream. The brûlée was the creamiest and most delicious I've tasted; no temperature differences and a small hint of coffee. The crust was irregular and had the right thickness but was a little tuff and sticky in the teeth. The ice cream was very good as well, it felt home made, creamy and crunchy.
What struck us was how fast the chefs must have worked, every dish to every person were delivered without seemingly any delay at all. I can't wait to go back the Le Comptoir and experience the fixed dinner, I just have to remember to book in time.
We were swiftly and friendly seated on a two-person table in the middle of the room, our neighbours were close but we had at least a gap between the tables. The daily specials are written on the big mirror on the centre wall, they are written in French as is the menu. The staff willingly answers questions and a few of them were really fluent in English. The room is mostly in yellow tones and set in an art déco theme. The bistro menu is all about going back to the roots and perfecting classic French food, we chose a beef with vegetables for €20 andlamb rackson achili salad for €18.
Both dishes were beautifully displayed and perfectly cooked. The vegetables and own sauce made the beef taste more and stronger, this was all about the beef and it was perfect, one of the best I've ever tasted. The salad of large chilis provided just the right amount of sweetness and flavour, although not much spice and bite, and thelamb rackswas so tender I couldn't believe it. The portions were big, you won't be leaving hungry.
After second thoughts about not ordering entrées after two of the best main courses in my life we decided without hesitation to go for desserts even though the clock was 12.30 and we had a five-course dinner planned later in the evening. A personal favourite of mine is the Crème Brûlée so I decided to test their €7 version with some arabica coffee in it while my partner took the milk sorbet and mixed nut ice cream. The brûlée was the creamiest and most delicious I've tasted; no temperature differences and a small hint of coffee. The crust was irregular and had the right thickness but was a little tuff and sticky in the teeth. The ice cream was very good as well, it felt home made, creamy and crunchy.
What struck us was how fast the chefs must have worked, every dish to every person were delivered without seemingly any delay at all. I can't wait to go back the Le Comptoir and experience the fixed dinner, I just have to remember to book in time.
