Le comptoir de la traboule — Restaurant in Paris

LE COMPTOIR DE LA TRABOULE

My son had been in Paris for his honeymoon several months ago (2023) , and he had suggested that we try LE COMPTOIR DE LA TRABOULE for dinner one night. He was very enthusiastic about his experience there, and he made reservations for us. “You’ll love it,” he told us, “It’s non-touristy, casual.”

So, in typical American fashion, we arrived promptly at 7PM, as the restaurant - not far from the Eiffel Tower- slowly opened. It was (as the name suggests) a small restaurant (a counter) in an alleyway-a side street.

We were greeted and, as we requested, seated outside.

After an initial conversations with our server (born in France, raised in LA, return to France “when things in the US got nuts…”), I began to realize why my son enjoyed this experience.

“What’s good?” we asked. “Everything,” she replied. Turns out, she was right.

When we both showed interest in the crispy cod dish, she bluntly told us, “Each get something different…you’ll want to share.” Cod or pork bell, each was delicious.

By the time we got to dessert, we knew to order separately. We would need two desserts in order to share!

Instead of taking pictures of the meals as they arrived, I ended up texting photos of our cleaned plates to my son. “This was the arancini with mushrooms and cornflakes,” and “nothing left of the watermelon salad!”

As for the atmosphere? During our meal, she kept us informed of the France vs. Belgium match, made suggestions for wine, and chased away an eager accordion player who tried to serenade us.

We did mention our son’s experience…but she was not sure if she remembered him.

Later, when I told my son how much we enjoyed our meal, he remarked, “I should have told you that we had tried almost every dish on the menu! She may have remembered that!” Maybe she will now.

In summary: The food at LE COMPTOIR DE LA TRABOULE ? Delicious! The service? Casual and confident. Not...

Gut feeling never let you down! When one has few days in a city, one doesn’t want to waste any lunch/dinner opportunities. I did some cross checking and booked a lunch before flying back to Stockholm… being married to a Swedish wife, we travel with a panzer as a baby stroller, being French, I don’t want to be a burden. What does Jess(ica) tell us when we arrive “don’t worry, we ll figure it out”! Smooth, friendly, professional AND caring. The daily formula at 22E for 2 and 28E for 3 dishes were some of my first picks (my wife took it) but I wanted to try the more seldom/technical alternatives (as a sthlm living… therefore the haddock, and the sweetbreads). My god! Everyone was good! Jules (the head chef) knows his French cuisine/bistro dishes BUT he tries (with success) to wake them up, twist them, so you aren’t lost but you think “aaaaaaah haaaaa”. As we say in French “il ne s endort pas sur ses Laurie’s”, as he input/use/leverage on a spice, an herb, an ingredient that really bring something to the table, as fusion should be. Not to show off but to spread its horizon… like the tamarin with my sweetbread! He is just really talented at balancing saltiness, sweetness, acidity, bitterness and umami… During this lunch the team still found the time to speak with us and we discovered that we had common friend in stockholm, that led us to talk even more about food! Jules sent us his oysters (with a roscoff onion consommé, with anchovies mayo and pickled kumquat), that achieved to “me chavirer”. I am already looking forward to our next visit, and in a city populated by tourists trap and médiocre places, it s good to find affordable & brilliant places with such a lovely team!...

LOVED IT, I went today with a friend after visiting tour Eiffel (it's nearby), and it was amazing! What a great choice! Savoury food in a nice atmosphere with friendly service, excellent presentation of every plate, good wine selection... What I would highlight most is the way flavors and textures were played with- many ingredients of the dishes we had are commonplace, but were used in such creative way, and condimented so innovatively, that they created a completely different experience from the ones we'd already had with those ingredients. For example, we had a new dish with white asparragus- I have never liked white asparragus, but, to my surprised, really liked the dish! I enjoyed it so much that I would order it again (I'm still shocked at myself for this). We also had the ravioles de lieu, the watermelon (you might think it would be uninteresting, but it on the contrary, it an exiting explosion of flavours), the delicious chocolate mousse and citrus pavlova, and the candied egg yolk with smoked haddock mousse as a starter which surprised me more than I can explain, I would recommend this starter to everyone who visits this restaurant. I felt that I was taken on a gastronomic journey, and am...