Le Precope

We were looking for a lunch spot. We sat at a seemingly nice cafe across from Parliament but it just didn’t offer anything new. We moved on. While walking through the Saint Germaine neighborhood (one of my favorite areas) we glanced down a small alley and saw a quaint view. And based on that alone, and now practically starving (ha ha), we walked down to the first cafe we found.

Turns out that we had stumbled upon Le Procope. One of the most famous cafes in Paris and founded in 1686!

The cafe was the first to bring coffee to Paris! Frequented by Voltaire and an active center during the French Revolution, home to the the idea of the Encyclopedia, and the cafe where Benjamin Franklin prepared the “project of an alliance between Louis the XVI the and the new Republic”.

Converted to a library and artist studio and meeting place under Louis XVI. It became a revolutionary center. The table that Voltaire used, served as an altar during the passage of his ashes in 1794, then held the coffins of Lepeletier and Marat on their way to the Pantheon.

All of that, and what did we know? The prefix luncheon was three courses appetizer, main and dessert, for £30. This was the French meal that we had hoped to find all along. The shrimp with avocado was light, and the ravioli appetizer was rich and cheesy. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the meat dish with gravy and carrots, most perfectly French. Capping off the meal was a splendidly light panna cotta with a fruit topping.

It wasn’t until we went to the w/c that we discovered that in reality, we were seated on the back terrace (the original little alley that drew us in) and the majority of the restaurant was on multiple levels indoors and the front entrance was on the opposite street!

Even without all of the history, we were so pleased to have found the restaurant. Highly recommend if you are ever in the neighborhood, but be sure and enter through the back, and take a seat in the alley as the ambiance starts there.Baca lagi