Are there a lot more Italian restaurants in France than there are French restaurants in Italy? I often wonder that when I see another Italian pizzeria in Paris. This one at least is kind enough to have something for those who have a ton of money to splurge, as well as for those who are on a somewhat tighter budget.
The menu did include some items that went over twenty-five euros, but because I didn't have that much to spend for dinner (and probably never will), I ordered a "Napolitaine" pizza for ten euros. The name by itself is meaningless to me, but the menu did indicate that the pizza contains tomatoes, mozzarella, anchovies, and olives. Wait, anchovies? Yes, that's right. It's a pizza containing that very salty fish. Who doesn't love going to a foreign restaurant to try out new food?
Like a lot of pizzas that are served to you in France, this one felt like it was fresh out of the oven. The perimeter of the pizza wasn't a perfect circle, so what they did while cooking this was probably just flatten some dough without so much regard for the shape. The cheese looked like it had been mostly melted and was very runny and salty. It's kind of fun being able to use a fork and knife to play with the cheese, but I'm supposed to be an adult so don't tell people I said that! I don't know how much of the saltiness of the cheese comes from the anchovies. The anchovies were pretty salty themselves, but it wasn't excessive. Even if the saltiness is too strong, there's always water. But I think with the inclusion of the olives, the cooks here really managed to get the flavor right. The pizza doesn't appear to come with any more than those four "toppings" on top of dough, so it still manages to remain simple. The pizza isn't very big for ten euros, so it's best to count on having a little more if you're expecting a full meal here.
Luckily, one of my friends ordered escargots here just for fun. There are six of them on a metal tray, and they're honestly not all that exciting. They come with a utensil for clasping and picking the shells up with one hand so you can dig/scoop out the meat with a narrow fork thing using the other hand. If you've never tried escargots in France before, then you can get them here without having a lot of them go to waste if you decide you don't like them. Otherwise, there's nothing new to see with these snails if you're familiar with eating them. One other thing you can eat here is the bread; it appears to be sliced baguette in a basket for everyone at the table to share. I guess you're just supposed to eat it plain. And of course, it's complimentary. That's about all there is to it. There are better restaurants in Paris, but this one is enough of a treat that you wouldn't want to skip over it if you're in the area. read more