Just shortly before our 7pm reservation, I strolled up rue du Nil, spied Gregory Marchand in his office attached to Frenchie To Go, and gaped in amazement to see the excitable queue outside Frenchie Bar à Vins rushing in as soon as the door slid open. Luckily, I had secured a table at Frenchie restaurant a couple of months ahead (yup, that long) on La Fourchette, but what, or rather, whom, I was missing was my dinner companion. F had left his office a little later than planned, but on his way nonetheless.

Decided I’d be polite and not deemed as a no-show, I popped in quickly to let the staff know that I was here but would prefer to wait outside for F. It was all therefore very strange when she told me that if he was not here before 7.15pm, the table would be given away. Surely my level of French wasn’t that bad that mentioning a wait outside would be misunderstood as I planned to pull a disappearing act because F was late? I decided not to dwell on it and stepped outside anyway, and sure enough, F hurried along to greet me shortly thereafter. We even had five minutes to spare.

We took a high table by the door, and were promptly given the simple but intriguing menu, of which the set of 3-courses was priced at €48. Decision making was a breeze really, as there were choices of two starters, two main courses, and two desserts to pick from, so one of each, please! We decided to forgo the pre-starter, and the cheese option too, even though we love cheeses, simply because the desserts appealed to us more. I was particularly exciting with my choice that included bacon ice cream. Yup, bacon, ice cream.

But let’s not get too far ahead. To start, I lightly dug my fork into a beautiful and flaky portion of trout, served with perfectly cooked asparagus and thinly pared cédrat (or citron, which is not lemon). The dish was bright in appearance and in taste, and we were off to a good start when F confirmed his liking for his dish, which was braised lamb shoulder, served with artichoke, feta and green mango.

We were careful to eat up only half our dishes, and perhaps to horror of some, we openly swapped across the table for the other dish. (Man, have I corrupted F or what?) Now I got a taste of the lamb, and it was a succulent and hearty entrée to which I enjoyed very much too. While we ate, Gregory Marchand himself was busy looking after the couple seated right next to us. They needed a quick meal before going to the theatre and had chowed down their first two courses in record time, and Marchand was darting over to Frenchie Bar à Vins to grab desserts for them.

Next up, our main courses, which we also split half-half. I began to wonder if I’d ever be allowed to dine here again in the future with such uncouth manner! In one plate, we had a juicy slice of medium-cooked duck, paired with kumquat and spring vegetable. Like my earlier course, the clever use of citrus fruit perked up the dish, and now I wish I did not have to share it with F.

Luckily, there was something special with his dish too. Pan-seared hake served with clams, chorizo, herbed potatoes, and more importantly, a sauce of wild garlic. Oh my, oh my. I would certainly like more of the sauce please, but I understood too that it would be best to ration it a little, for otherwise, it would overpowered the delicate sweetness of the fish. Well balanced.

Soon, it was time for the much-awaited sweets. The bread and butter pudding was unlike any other that I had had, but still delicious despite its unconventional texture. Its accompaniment of candied bacon, bacon ice cream, and salted butter caramel though – wow, they blew me away! Now I really would like a second helping of this, or not share with F at all, but I did not want him to miss it out either.

Off for our last swap, where I got F’s dish of rhubarb in exchange. Just the right amount of tartness to creaminess to crunchiness, no complain at all. It’s just, by comparison to the bread and butter pudding, it didn’t hold up quite as magnificently. Deep down, I wished I was spooning up the bacon ice cream with salted caramel.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, and thought it was very good value given the quality of our meals. We would happily return and bring guests with us, so if only it doesn’t require so much advance planning… Maybe next time I could dare myself to join the queue at the no-reservation Frenchie Bar à Vins (although Ann didn’t particularly enjoy her previous experience) given my reasonable luck so far with the Frenchie eateries. I may well score a hat-trick!

Frenchie
5 rue du Nil, 75002 Paris
Métro: Sentier
Tel: +33 (0)1 40 39 96 19 (although easier to book online)
Monday to Friday, two seatings, 7.00pm and 9.30pm