Le Servan
32 Rue Saint-Maur
75011 Paris, France
Ph: +33 1 55 28 51 82
Instagram

Le Servan, Paris

For breakfast on my final morning in Paris, Clarice suggested Le Servan. It's a beautiful yet relaxed bistro run by sisters Tatiana and Katia Levha. The sisters were born in Manila and grew up in Paris, and Chef Tatiana previously worked at L'Arpége and L'Astrance, both of which have three Michelin stars. Le Servan also seems to be popular in foodie circles; when I posted on Instagram that I was in Paris, lots of friends and acquaintances commented saying "You have to go to Le Servan!"

Clamato!

Frozen Peach Pisco Sour - peach granita, bay leaf, lemon, Waqar Pisco - €12

The house bread is from 10 Belles, and is so delicious.

10 Belles Bread

Egg mayonnaise, Neuvic caviar - €19

Look how perfectly that egg was cooked...

Egg mayonnaise on the inside

I think my in-laws would have been shocked to know that we spent €19 on a single egg! (Although I suppose if you count each individual caviar sphere as an egg, then there'd be dozens on that plate, heh).

And now, the pièce de résistance, the seafood platter! So beautiful!

Plateau Panache - half crab, whelks, 6 almond clams, 6 palourde clams, 6 prairie clams, 6 natural oysters, with spiced butter, grainy mustard mayonnaise, and aioli - €65

Woooow! The platter included three types of clams (almond, palourde, prairie/Venus), natural oysters, half a crab, and whelks. These were served on ice, with fresh lemon, spiced butter (piment d'esplette I think), aioli and seeded mustard mayonnaise. Amazing. Everything was incredibly fresh and gorgeous.

I absolutely adore clams, and it was such a treat to try three different varieties! Whelks were an unusual but very welcome addition. They're like a sea snail; you dig them out of the shell, dip them in the aioli, and eat! They're a little chewy and very flavoursome. I've never seen them outside of Asia before, and I have vague memories of eating/seeing whelks (or a similar species) at seafood restaurants in Penang and Kota Kinabalu, where you order them live from a tank and they're usually served hot. But back to this platter. Fresh oysters are always lovely too, and crab is a lot of hard work to crack and eat, but totally worth it. With crab, I usually start by cracking a bit and eating a mouthful, then crack another bit and have another mouthful, and then I apply all my concentration on cracking the crab completely and amassing a pile of precious crab meat, which I can then enjoy all at once.

So, remember that bread I showed you before?

10 Belles Bread

It became the boat for the lovely crab meat. GET IN!

Crab on bread, heck yes

As we were hoeing into the platter, it struck me that, of course, the seafood platter here was completely different to a seafood platter you night get in Australia, because any seafood restaurant worth its salt would naturally be going for local and seasonal items.

Not a morceau remaining!

Verjus, Paris

Verjus
52 Rue de Richelieu
Paris 75001
Ph: +33 1 42 97 54 40
Website

Verjus is a cosy and upmarket restaurant and wine bar in the Palais Royale area, in the first arrondissement. Clarice suggested it for a bit of a blow-out dinner for my visit to Paris. She'd visited a couple of months prior for a special occasion, and described it as "it was one of the most amazing gastronomic experiences of [her] life". I was definitely in!

They offer a sensational seasonal five course tasting menu, and I've since learned that chef Hanz Gueco is actually Australian. (Woohoo, represent!) His Insta account is great, would recommend.

We had a 10pm (!) reservation, so we arrived at around half past nine and got a drink in the downstairs wine bar. I loved the atmosphere, and think it'd be a great spot to stop in for a casual drink, even if you didn't want to do the full tasting menu.

Verjus Wine Bar

We, of course, did want to do the full tasting menu. And we did the matching wines as well. Girls' night out! At the time of our visit, the tasting menu was €78 per person, and the wine pairings were €55 per person, which I think was pretty good value considering the quality, quantity, and variety of the food offering, as well as the location, atmosphere and service. (And actually, we asked if we could share the wines and they were super cool about it).

Let's take a look!

Amuses bouche

The amuse bouches were really delightful - fun, and pretty, and inventive without being OTT. The watermelon sticks with mozzarella dip and tart hibiscus powder were lovely and fresh, and I thought the green cucumber and borage sandwiches and the little egg shells were super cute! My favourites, however, were the little crisp chickpea pancakes (like a socca), filled with fresh herbs, and the deceptively smoky and "meaty" carrot and rhubarb skewers.

Place de la République

Dreamin Man Coffee

I loved this cute little cafe! It was super cozy and chilled out, and had a distinct Melbourne vibe. The coffee was excellent too. From pre-trip stalking on their Instagram, I learned they do a gorgeous-looking flan/Japanese pudding. Unfortunately, they only do it on Saturdays, so I couldn't get it. (However, Clarice got one a couple of weeks after my trip, and she said it was awesome!) But not to worry, I was more than happy with my coffee. Aaah... delicious.

Flat White, Dreamin' Man Coffee

From here I went to Clarice's place to drop off my bags and catch up with her awesome boyfriend and their super-cute three-year-old. He's recently started speaking, (the son, not the boyfriend), which is so adorable! Bonus: I was also able to pull out some rusty high school French to chat to him. (For fellow lapsed language-learners, a good thing about talking to toddlers is that they don't care about your terrible accent or horrendous grammar; they're just trying to understand you and make themselves understood, so there's no need to get embarrassed about repeating yourself half-a-dozen times until you understand each other. This also worked well for German conversation with Sandra's three year old nephew, hah).

OK! From there I said goodbye, and headed out to meet Clarice, making a little detour through Lafayette Gourmet (35 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris) on the way, to stock up on my French favourites - Kusmi tea, Pierre Hermé macarons, salted caramel sauce, Bretagne biscuits and more. I love shopping there! (I'll share the picture of the things I bought at the bottom of the post).

And then Clarice and I met up and went to dinner! We had a 10pm (!) reservation at Verjus (52 Rue de Richelieu, 75001 Paris). Verjus is a cosy little restaurant that offers a sensational seasonal five-course degustation menu. We did the matching wines as well. Woohoo, girls' night out! Clarice had dined here before (just a couple of months prior, actually), but was happy to come again as "it was one of the most amazing gastronomic experiences of [her] life!" I'll blog the dinner in full, but wanted to share a few highlights.

My favourite of the savoury courses was the lobster risotto, which had a base of red camargue rice, tomato, loads of herbs, and summer truffle. It was perfectly balanced and so delicious!

Tomato, Lobster, Summer Truffle with risotto of red camargue rice; Wine: Fattoria San Lorenzo, Marche, Le Oche 2015

The dessert was a lovely peach melba, with ice-cream, peaches, fresh raspberries and fresh raspberry sauce, encased in a beautiful crisp meringue dome.

Peach Melba, Verjus

And the petits fours were these beautifully presented corn and caramel macarons. The shells were made with cornmeal and had a wonderful texture to them, complementing the caramel filling, which itself had little pops (hah) of popcorn inside. Divine!

Corn macarons, Verjus

And actually, we were gifted an extra petit four from the chef - some dried muscat grapes enrobed in Valrhona Guanaja 70% cocoa chocolate. (I think he must have noticed me from my extensive pre-trip insta-stalking and enthusiastic commenting, hehe).

I would definitely recommend Verjus if you're in Paris. I loved the cosy, intimate atmosphere, the food was wonderful, and the staff were really lovely. They all seemed to speak multiple languages as well (we heard French, English, and Spanish), so I think it would be a low-stress option for non-French-speaking visitors to Paris as well.

Clarice had splashed out on some super-fancy high-end pâtisseries for our dessert - a Yann Couvreur mirabelle rum baba, a Yann Couvreur mirabelle tart, and a Pierre Hermé Paris Brest. Wow!

Pastries: Pierre Hermé Paris Brest; Yann Couvreur Mirabelle Rum Baba; Yann Couvreur Mirabelle Tart

It was such a treat to have mirabelles, especially in such a fancy presentation. The rum baba was well balanced and not too strong (unlike the paint-stripper strength rum babas I remember from French restaurants in Melbourne many years ago), and the mirabelle tart was a joyful combination of crisp, sweet, cakey, and fresh. Simple and perfect. And the Paris Brest was absolute heaven! It had a wonderfully roasty deep nutty flavour, a really crisp shell, and super smooth cream. (Fellow Paris-Brest fans, other great versions are at Bistrot Paul Bert and Jacques Genin).

Ok, so Sunday morning! Clarice made a little pick-me-up of coffee and carrot juice to kick-start the day.

Coffee & Carrot Juice

We had breakfast at Le Servan (32 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011 Paris), a gorgeous yet relaxed little bistro run by sisters Tatiana and Katia Levha. The sisters were born in Manila and grew up in Paris, and Chef Tatiana previously worked at L'Arpége and L'Astrance, both of which have three Michelin stars (source). Le Servan has just started serving breakfast, and was reasonably quiet when we got there bright and early on Sunday morning. Again, just sharing the highlights here as I plan to blog the meal in full.

Comté Brioche with Sage Butter €6, Le Servan

Comté brioche with sage butter. Four of my favourite things, together at last! I couldn't NOT order it. This brioche was warm and soft and melty and delicious!

Noodle Soup with Pork Wontons €12 Salmon Brioche with raw cream €13

We also shared a wonton soup, and toasted brioche with smoked salmon and raw cream. I wouldn't normally think to order an Asian dish while in Paris, but I'm so glad we got the noodle soup. After having been in Germany for nearly three weeks, I was totally missing noodles and chilli! The salmon brioche was mega indulgent - the brioche was nice and fluffy, with a light char on the edges. I'd never had raw cream before ("crème crue"), and it was incredibly rich and decadent with a gorgeous tang. I think I'm in love.

Clarice knew that 10 Belles Bread (17-19 Rue Breguet, 75011 Paris) was just around the corner, so we headed straight there after breakfast. You may remember that I'm a fan of the original 10 Belles coffee shop near the Canal Saint-Martin, and we'd loved the 10 Belles bread at Clamato, so I was super keen to check out the bakery! Unlike the tiny bolthole coffee bar, 10 Belles Bread was huge! They (obviously) bake all the bread there, and there's a little courtyard out the back if you want to eat in.

10 Belles Bread

They sell bread by the kilo (€9.50-11 per kilo depending on the type), and Clarice bought some to take home. (She had some with scrambled eggs the next day and said it was excellent!)

10 Belles Bread Bread

Marché Bastille

Marché Bastille Cheese