Food Society Paris — Restaurant in Paris

First the good:

Food Society Paris is an excellent concept. Its premise is to offer a diversity of cuisines and dishes in one space (for example, Korean, Syrian, Italian, and French staples like fruits de mer). The service is friendly and outgoing, and staff are able to speak fluent in English, which is nice for a visiting tourist like me.

This was my last meal in Paris as I’m flying off the morning after and I thought it would be a great way to experience Paris’ culinary diversity.

However, my last meal was also my worst meal in Paris.

So here we go:

The halloumi was served cold, hard and lifeless. Mind you, this was supposed to be a pan seared cheese to be served hot or at least warm. I couldn’t swallow more than one piece of it — I reckon car tires with the right type of salt taste better.

The oysters were not fresh or shucked properly. How could this even go wrong? There’s an E.Leclerc supermarket in the same building — the oysters there are fresher, which is saying a lot about how the kitchens manage their produce.

The smoked beef was passable. I ate the most of this since I was hungry, but the flat breads were dry and had as much vitality as a dusty sock.

The best part of the meal? My glass of Coke Zero.

Honestly, the owners of this place need to have a good long think about why this space exists. As it stands, to have the audacity to serve such shoddy quality of food can only mean one thing: the lack of sincerity on your part. I left the restaurant dismayed that this was my last meal in Paris.

Thank you for this...

I visited several food hall/courts in Paris, and this one felt the most like a food court as I've known and used them in the past. You scan a QR code and create an account to browse the menus from a decent selection of different food cuisines, and then order accordingly. You are given a notification on your phone when the food is ready.

I opted for a double smash cheeseburger, as the pic shows. A little on the small size perhaps, but it was pretty damn tasty. I'm not usually a fan of pickles and have my burgers without them, but this time the pickles were incorporated into a sauce with something else, and it was actually very nice. The fries were also really nice, super crispy and they has a subtle flavour on the coating which I couldn't quite place.

The actual collection of the food could be much improved however. There were areas at each of the food stalls to pick up the food once ready, but in practice our food never made it there and we had to go hunt for it. It was also the same with the drinks.

Good food, the actual collection...

Have been a few times to enjoy the convenience of co-working in a food court. I have ordered food at some point during each visit, but I have also seen other people bring food from elsewhere or simply work without eating.

After arriving at Gare Montparnasse mid-morning, I came to work then have lunch before meetings in another part of Paris. A very rude woman approached me and only me (despite several other people sitting for about the same amount of time) to tell me I had to order something. She claimed the entire space was a restaurant and "you can't just sit." It felt like she was accusing me of being a bum. When I said I was actually waiting for the food stands to open, she accused me of lying in a very superior tone. It felt very targeted (why was I specifically seen as a loiterer?) - again two other people sharing the same power strip arrived at about the same time but did not get the same speech.

Cannot say I recommend based on...