Ever since I discovered Taka and Vermo cheese shop on rue Faubourg Saint-Denis in 2016, I now have a monthly ritual. I get my cheap haircut, 8€ instead of 18€ in the Marais, scout new cheeses at Taka and Vermo, and have lunch.
There are over 25 restaurants packed into an approximate four-block stretch, and I don’t know of any other street in Paris that offers such a diverse variety of French and ethnic food. From the Belle Epoque jewel, Brasserie Julien to Turkish soup stands to Mexican tacos to hipster hangouts, the breadth of restaurants on rue Faubourg Saint-Denis is overwhelming.
I thought I would take you along on my monthly trip to rue Faubourg Saint-Denis by sharing my lunch choice with you.
Today it will be Le Daily Syrien, a casual eat in and take restaurant specializing in Syrian food. As many of you know, my grandparents were from Syria and I grew up on homemade Syrian delicacies cooked by my mother and other relatives. Syrian food, although most similar to Lebanese, has its own unique dishes and the shared dishes from other cuisines are prepared in a different way. Over the years, I’ve tried Syrian food in various restaurants stateside and in Europe and have been mostly disappointed. Realizing nothing can compare to home-cooked food made with love, I lowered my expectations.
I went at about 12:45 and Le Daily Syrien was buzzing with hungry diners patiently waiting for their food. I chose the 10.80€ formule, consisting of a choice of sandwich, side dish and drink. While waiting for my sandwich, I perused the refrigerated case with a selection of tempting side dishes including foul(beans in a red sauce), Baba Ganoush, eggplant salad, tabouleh, and hummus. I can never resist hummus and it turned out to be a formidable one, with a smooth but thick consistency, the correct chickpea to tahini ratio, and the garlic not overpowering. I mopped up the hummus with warm, doughy pita while sitting at the long, wood community table in the front of the restaurant.
My sandwich was wrapped in a warm flatbread with crisp edges and inside was kibbe. My experience of kibbe is usually a torpedo-shaped shell stuffed with ground meat, spices and pine nuts. The kibbe inside the sandwich was just ground meat and spices, but authentic in its flavor and texture. I was quite pleased with my meal.
Before leaving I looked at the menu again, enticed by my other favorite Syrian dishes I grew up on and eager to try next time.
See you for lunch next month on the Rue Faubourg Saint-Denis.
Le Daily Syrien
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010
Metro: Chateau d’Eau
Open Tuesday to Sunday, for lunch and dinner
Here's a link to a story from The New York Times that I thought you would like:
Hotels, shops, bars, restaurants — dogs are welcomed warmly just about everywhere. For Pip (a.k.a. Pierre), the prancing was never better.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/travel/dogs-travel-france.html
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I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the
Thank you for your update, Richard, from rue Faubourg Saint-Denis... and the details of your Syrian background and the cuisine. Special thanks for sharing the link to the article about Pip (AKA Pierre) going to France with his humans. Incorporating our canine (and feline?) friends into life is just one more thing that makes living in France so much more civilized. Merci!
Posted by: Vickie Austin | February 26, 2018 at 04:41 PM