Les Résistants — Restaurant in Paris

I'm not giving this review lightly, but even though I appreciate the effort in terms of produce sourcing and the location - which I found cozy and beautifully decorated - I was overall disappointed by Les Résistants.

Service-wise you could tell that the waitresses were making a real effort and were very courteous indeed, but it was overall hard to get a hold of them. We were waiting for some friends who ran late and wanted to start ordering drinks, but didn't manage until they arrived 30 mins later because the waitresses were nowhere to be found.

We ended up ordering a bottle of Pinot Noir, maybe I didn't read carefully, but I didn't realise it was a vin naturel, which I generally don't like much. I gave it a go anyway, trusting the waitress advice on letting it sit for a while, but I personally didn't like it. More in general I found the wine list quite expensive. Even though all their wines are no-sulphites, locally sourced from small producers, I'm sure there are some - good - cheaper options out there.

The biggest disappointment though were the dishes. You could tell that the products were high quality, but the cooking spoiled instead of sublimating them. I ordered the three entrées instead of a main course and none was up to my expectations. The lentils and fennel salad was too salty, as was the tomatoes velouté. The latter's taste was way too 'punchy' (too much onion maybe? Not sure), you could barely appreciate the tomatoes, and was served a bit cold to my taste. The peas croquettes were too dry and would crumble on the tzatziki sauce underneath which, once again, covered up all the flavour.

I tried the beef from my friends and the meat was onestly excellent, but it was way overcooked for most of them, despite asking for medium rare or rare.

I didn't try the desserts, but from my friends reactions they must have been very good.

All in all, also considering the price, I wasn't happy with my restaurant choice and wouldn't...

Short review : Incredible value and creative food with a menu that changes every single day. Three courses for €22 flat, and great service.

Proper review: Visited in late-October of this year (as apparent from my photo of the menu), but finally mentioning this gem of a place.

One of the best lunches I've ever had, and incredible value. For €22 you get a starter, main course, and dessert. Bread is also sourced daily from a bakery - it's really good as well.

The concept itself deserves acclaim: a daily-changing menu, crafted depending on the day's ingredients. You usually choose between 2 starters, 3 mains (meat, seafood, vegetarian from what I noticed), and 2 desserts. Sustainability in action.

The menu was in French, but while I was trying to parse it with Google, a kind and patient waiter also helped to explain everything in detail.

I went with a plus one, so we got 1 of each to experience the full menu.

Our starters were a beetroot salad, along with a squash soup garnished with pomegranate to great effect. Main for me was a potato and hake fish(mashed, along with the potato) with leek and greens - sounded odd, but incredibly good. The other main was pork cubes in a complex sauce that included beetroot, beans, onions, and capers.

Dessert was a granola + sago + cream, and a beetroot dessert; I'm guessing a lot of beetroots were there on the day.

Throughout the meal, I noticed they favour more earthy and rustic notes - didn't really taste anything too zesty or sweet. Appreciate the consistency despite a menu that literally changes every day.

Of course, quality can't be guaranteed if dishes change daily, but the technique, creativity and ingredients are certainly to be trusted from my visit as well as the other reviews.

Definitely...

This is a very interesting close to République in central Paris. My general feeling was that the food was very hit and miss - hence my three-star rating for the food. For example, there was a really good raw fish (bonite) in a grape and chilli pepper sauce. However, then run out of bonite and tried it with some other fish (vieille), which was not good at all. Someone in my party simply couldn’t finish it. It didn’t really feel like all the dishes were really tried and tested. They say they change the menu everyday, so I think that in the race for daily creativity some mistakes can happen.

Then there were some decent dishes, like roasted duck. There was an amazing desert (riz au lait) - classic, with some extra touches like a little smoky flavour from some grilled rice grains on top. The wine was amazing as well. The products were fresh and responsibly sourced - which is also a big plus.

In terms of customer service, they were very good - hence my 5 star rating for the service and 4 star overall service. They made a small mistake at the beginning with our booking, which they quickly corrected. Then they were very responsive to our questions and very attentive to our table in general. My only suggestion would be to reduce the waiting times, as the time between our arrival and the entrées was long and the time between the entrées and the main dishes was long as well.

Overall, I would potentially recommend to try it if you’re looking for new places but it would be unlikely that I visit again. This likely varies according to what menu you get on the day...