La Gare Restaurant, Paris

We decided to go out for lunch yesterday, to a restaurant near us, La Gare, built in a previous railroad station (hence the name). It is a lovely little building on 19 Chaussee de la Muette. We thought it would be small, but the building is used only for the bar and the restaurant is down some stairs behind and is quite large.

It has a glass center roof, making the space very light and airy and it also has an outside covered section. Really nice design and decorating. They have a nice wine list, Lisa noticed they had a Pinot Noir and Merlot which is a bit unusual in Paris. The staff was friendly, attentive and spoke English. The chef trained with Guy Savoy, Pierre-Alain Garnier.

I ordered the prosciutto and melon, in the US you usually you get honeydew but I have not seen that in the produce stores here, the cantaloupe was a welcome change. I also got two large leaves of broadleaf Basil which were enough to add to each bite, a nice little taste addition to the dish.

Lisa had cold green beans with sun dried tomatoes and lots of Parmesan. The French love their haricot vert and these were cooked perfectly.

I had the Salmon pasta with peas and asparagus tips. The salmon appears to have been poached and then seared on one side to give some color. It was some of the best salmon I have ever tasted. Moist and perfectly cooked, it just melted in your mouth. The farfalle pasta reminds me of a recipe I got from Jamie Oliver, it was al dente, the peas were firm and the asparagus was delicious.

You can see the sear on the salmon better in Lisa’s dish, the plating is beautiful with the minced tomato, cucumber and carrot salad for color and deliciousness. She also felt the salmon was the best she had ever had, moist and soft, melt in your mouth good. I forgot to mention that this was Scottish salmon. The mashed potatoes were really good, they had added fresh dill and I think black sesame seeds. I’ll have to try that at home.

No question this was the best restaurant we have been to so far in France, we will be back. Lisa really liked the light fixtures in the bar, they look like exploding light bulbs.

While I am on the subject of restaurants in train stations, we went to dinner at Le Flandrin the other night with my friend Jean Luc. No pictures of the food since we were with friends but it was very good. His wife Nancy had an excellent cold lentil salad which she shared, I had the poached Manta Ray with butter and capers which Jean Luc assures me is a very Parisian dish. The fish was delicious, very soft and mild, with a large bone on the middle that was easy to remove. I would definitely have it again. Of course we had a side of haricot vert which were very good. For desert we had one of my favorites, pots de creme which was a trio of chocolate, vanilla and coffee. This is another restaurant we would go back to, very good service, excellent food and of course wonderful company. When it is not raining, the chairs outside are usually packed, so I guess the neighborhood agrees.