Grandcoeur Restaurant & Brasserie – Paris (review)

After my rather unsatisfactory experience at an Ethiopian restaurant in Paris, my faith was restored when my colleagues and I visited GrandCoeur in the Marais district of Paris.

We’d spent the day together action planning for 2016 and were all rather exhausted, but immediately perked up as we entered the beautiful restaurant, which was quiet when we arrived but quickly filled, demonstrating its popularity.

It turns out the Head Chef Mauro Colagreco makes his own olive oil, and we were invited to try two versions with some delicious fresh bread, warm from the oven.

Bread is my weakness and I do try not to stuff myself with it before a meal, but I could not resist it, or the delicately flavoured olive oil.

I preferred the ginger and lemon version, but some of my colleagues were more taken with the mandarin flavoured oil.

For my starter I chose a crab crepe (although I struggled with my choice as I basically wanted to eat everything!). I often find crab in restaurants disappointing, as the portion can be stingy, but this thin and light crepe was absolutely packed with delicious white crab, and topped with a light sauce and crispy salad vegetables.

Odile had chestnut soup with ravioli and I couldn’t resist a picture (or a taste) of that either: it was delicious.

Next up was a main course of lamb shoulder with sweet potatoes and walnuts. The lamb was succulent and fell apart as soon as my fork touched it. The sweet potatoes and walnuts had slightly caramelised in the pan and were sticky and not too sweet.

I felt it was essential to end the experience with a dessert even though I was not remotely hungry. There was a quince tart on the menu which was served with raw milk ice cream. I am not a fan of milk so asked for cream instead, and got a whopping portion. I could barely manage a third of the tart but luckily my colleagues were able to assist me.

I didn’t see the final bill, but the prices shown on the menu were very reasonable and I will certainly be going back there with Andrew next time we’re in Paris. It’s definitely worth a trip, and will put memories of Ethiopian food completely out of your head.