The Common Café at Hotel Rosalie

As I mentioned on Monday in the Parc de Choisy post (CLICK HERE to read if you missed it) that I was in the 13th arrondissement to check out a new hotel and outdoor terrace last weekend. 

I was intrigued when I read about a new garden terrace, The Common, near Place d'Italie, on Vogue.fr 

 

Always looking for new things to write about here, I decided to check it out last Sunday for lunch. Place d'Italie is a busy circle/hub with many metro lines, much like Columbus Circle in NYC. Getting off the metro Vincent and I had to make our way through about 6 intersections until we arrived at a quiet, dead-end street, Avenue de la Sœur Rosalie. I was curious about the odd name, and I did some research, and found out it was named after Sister Rosalie in 1868, a selfless nun who cared for the poor.

Walking through a narrow passageway, we arrived at what looked like a handsome, new building made of stone, with some neo-classical touches and Roman-like, stone female statues on the top floor. The Common was on the lower level of the hotel and the outside garden terrace was a delight, decorated in cheerful, navy and white, wide striped couches and chairs, slatted, aluminum dining chairs, metal tabletops in leaf green, white fringed, canvas parasols, and a beautifully planted garden with ferns, flowers, ivy, and moss. We arrived at about 1pm, thinking the place would be full for Sunday lunch, but it turned out we were the only ones there. It was probably a combination of the hotel only being three months old plus it was a day short of being August, when the Parisians take their vacances.  

The appealing menu had a choice of lunch/brunch specialties leaning on the vegetarian side (the ingredients are all organic) and included a quinoa bowl, red lentil dal, and Chakchouka baguette, a baguette with red pepper cream, zucchini, eggs, melted cheddar and coriander. We ordered the Veggie Open Sandwich, and the Colorful Salad to share, and savored the calmness of the garden while we waited for our food. A few moments later the dishes arrived, prettily presented on a royal blue, oval ceramic plate, and a clear glass bowl with scalloped edges. The sandwich had a mound of arugula sprinkled on top with thin slices of red peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and feta underneath and it was so good, I could have eaten a second one. The salad was equally good with greens, radishes, sweet, cherry tomatoes, and sweet potato rounds topped with grilled goat cheese, which was such a clever idea, that I will make them as an appetizer for my next dinner party. The food was excellent and super fresh, but our only complaint was the portions were too small, and we craved more. 

After our yummy meal we were so looking forward to dessert and were disappointed that they were already out of most of the desserts on the menu. (I never understand that irritating thing at French restaurants when they tell you they are already out of things, even though we were the only people in the restaurant). By default, we chose the silky, tofu chocolate mousse, expecting some chalky, tasteless concoction but we were pleasantly surprised by the silky, smooth texture and strong chocolate taste.

 

 

 

 

 

When we finished lunch, I requested a tour of the hotel and one of the staff members kindly showed me a compact room on the top floor which extended the garden motif of the hotel with cheerful, flower-patterned wallpaper and carpeting and stunning views of the rooftops and the city. 

On the fourth floor was a delightful roof garden, only available to the guests of the hotel, similar in design to the terrace at the restaurant.

The Common also has an indoor dining room and is open Monday to Friday from 7am to 3pm, and Friday and Saturday until 10pm, for breakfast, brunch, and lunch.

8 bis Avenue de la Sœur Rosalie, 75013

https://www.hotel-rosalie.com/en/

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3 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.

https://eyepreferparistours.com/

Comments

[Peggy Bilbro]

What a lovely place! I wish them luck!