Dinner at La Bastide Odeon

After realizing how difficult it is to play it by ear in the Paris dining world, because we wanted some spontaneity in our trip, we went on a dinner hunt around Luxembourg Gardens, reading through menus posted outside the numerous establishments. A lot seemed to play to the tourist notion of French food, with less then creative version of the standards. It was just when L was jokingly eyeing Quality Burger as an option that we came upon La Bastide Odeon. The menu looked incredible, but what really peaked our interest is the waft of slow cooked food and warmth, when the door opened. The restaurant was full, so it seemed unlikely but the Chef was willing to seat us if we were willing to wait a mere 15 minutes. Standing outside, we couldn't resist a little googling of our choice.

Hubby ordered Creamy soup of artichoke with dry figs and ginger bread, goat whipped cream, followed by Sea bream fillet and black olives, roasted pumpkin and grilled “chorizo” sausage and I had the Roasted pork breast (a very direct translation of Pork Belly) cooked in a covered saucepan, raw and cooked parsnip salad (pictured). Just thinking about the pork belly now makes me hungry - the sauce was exquisite. After some struggle with the translation, I found that it was cooked down meat jus with a bit of honey and cumin, that reached the viscosity of cream.

We couldn't agree on just one dessert so we had both the Rhubarb tiramisu and the pictured, baked to order, traditional millefeuille with vanilla cream. The picture does not do it justice, this was a six inch high cloud of delicate pastry.

Overall, it was a superb meal, and great service.