I’m always hard pressed to find good restaurants in Saint Germain des Pres. Yes, there are the famous cafes, Les Deux Maggots and Café de Flore which are great to go for a coffee, but not to eat at, and Le Comptoir and Semilla are easily the best restaurants in Saint Germain, but other than that, the neighborhood is sorely lacking.
Nicolas Paradis is a wine specialist and entrepreneur in Paris. He owns the very successful wine tasting venue O’ Chateau and Caves de Louvre, a unique space which houses a wine museum, wine cellars, tasting room and a wine making facility.
Nicolas emailed me recently to promote his latest venture, a restaurant in Saint Germain des Pres and invited me to have dinner.
Hoping to finally have another address to go to in Saint Germain, I eagerly accepted his invitation.
I went with Vincent to Mordu, which is located in the Marche Saint Germain, once a sleepy, almost hidden food market, now transformed into a hotspot for gourmet food shops.
The dining room with high ceilings and low lighting was elegant but not stuffy.
Chef Baptiste Trudel has trained in formal restaurants such as Le Grand Vefour and the Cristal Room at Bacarrat, but also at more casual venues including La Machine à Coudes at Yard, and Iratze in Paris. Trudel’s versatility is shown off with an eclectic menu.
Although it was an odd choice for a cold winter’s night, I enjoyed the vitello tonnato, which I frequently eat in the simmer. This version was light with thinly sliced veal and the tempura fried fresh capers were a delightful surprise. Vincent’s dish listed on the menu as smashed potatoes, was unidentifiable, when presented. It looked like an order of oysters with black shells perhaps because of the dim lighting. Once Vincent figured what it was, he told me I have to try it. I did, and it was the best part of the meal. The texture of the potatoes, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside along with a wasabi mayo was sensational. When I ordered my main course, filet mignon of pork, which was served with potatoes, I asked the waiter if he replace them with the exact potatoes, and happily he said yes. The pork medallions were tender and juicy and served with braised romaine lettuce and horseradish cream, another wonderful taste and texture. Vincent, who can be a picky eater, was happy with John Dorey served with gnocchi (one of his favorite dishes).
The limited wine list is all organic and Vincent had a red 2016 Sancerre from the Loire, which was light but had a bit of body.
There was only a choice of two desserts, so we opted for the chocolate ganache with a crumble of hazelnuts and salted butter caramel. To say this dessert was rich is an understatement, and in fact history was made that night when Vincent and I could only eat half of the one dessert. We have the highest thresholds for desserts of all the people we know, so this came as a surprise.
The wait staff was friendly and laid back.
When I left, I demanded that they keep the potato dish on the menu permanently, as they change the menu frequently.
Mordu offers a two- course lunch for 26€, three courses 30€.
2 rue Felibien, 75006
Open Monday to Saturday
Tel. +33 (0) 142 39 89 27
The potato dish!
I am pleased as punch to have my friend Lisa Anselmo as my guest on A Bite of Paris. Lisa is the founder of Save the Paris Cafe/www.savethepariscafe.com, a website which celebrates the Paris café and the preservation of them, which in recent years has been threatened by rising rents and cultural changes.
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Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Looks amazing! Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Cheryl | January 14, 2020 at 04:55 PM