French Restaurant Review: Rosette, Clichy
Homey and honest cooking can be found at this recently rewarded restaurant located just outside Paris intramuros
Curiously, very few visitors to Paris ever venture beyond the périphérique, the beltway that encircles the French capital, to discover its inner suburbs. This is partly because the service network of the RATP (Paris transit authority) never really privileged destinations further afield, but it’s also linked to an historic Parisian snobbery, which says that everything beyond the périph is plouc (for hicks). Recently, however, the RATP has been continuing its expansion of Paris’s excellent transport systems, which is how I found myself staying at the Voco, a new hotel in Clichy, the night before a trip to New York.
Travelling to Paris from my house near Uzès in the south, I didn’t want to stay in an airport hotel because they are invariably sad, expensive places with bad food. So the affordable Voco caught my eye, because it was an easy direct shot on the No. 14 metro line from the Gare de Lyon and I’d be right on the edge of the highway to the airport the following morning. With my Paris place rented out, I was looking for a pleasant, affordable room but nothing extravagant, and here Voco more than fitted the bill. The room was clean, comfortable, attractive and had a beautiful view of the new Tribunal de Paris, the main law court of Paris, which I think is one of the most beautiful modern buildings in the capital.
Arriving at the Voco at noon, I was famished, and although the hotel’s restaurant looked interesting, it was packed with executives from the nearby offices of L’Oréal, so I asked the friendly front-desk clerk if there was anywhere within walking distance that I could get a good and affordable lunch. “Rosette,” he said, “But let me call and see if they have space, because it’s always packed.” As luck would have it, they had a table for one 15 minutes later, which had me walking through several streets of pleasant low-rise 1880-1940 buildings, that reminded me of what so much of Paris felt like when I first moved to the city from London in 1986. Arriving at Rosette, Camille Aldon offered a warm welcome and showed me to a cosy banquette table in a willow-green niche, a perfect setting for my solo lunch. Chatting with her, I learned that she and her chef husband, Arthur Auguy, were originally from Lyon but have worked in a variety of Paris restaurants, including the Mandarin Oriental, Lasserre, Le Meurice, Le Saint Sébastien Paris, and Substance before deciding to branch out on their own.
“We looked at a lot of places, but we fell in love with this space and Clichy,” Aldon told me when she came to take my order. The menu was thoroughly enticing, so it had taken me a while to make my choice. Finally, I ordered a slice of the homemade pâté en croûte and a hanger steak with seasonal vegetables. The pâté en croûte was fully flavoured and wonderfully emollient, the absolute definition of what this ur-Gallic concoction of pâté cooked in pastry should be. The steak was outstanding, too, perfectly cooked rare – this is a cut of beef that should never be ordered well-done – in a beautifully deep, bovine, mahogany sauce of drippings, butter and wine.
So happy with this food and relaxed in my own company after a very busy week, I found myself thinking that this was exactly the type of homey, honest, generous French food that had seduced me the first time I came to the country on a family holiday. I became obsessed by the food while everyone else was avid to visit yet another museum. I love museum-going, too, but there’s nothing like a first visit to Paris for a fledgling food-lover, since it was a non-stop experience of little ecstasies I never knew existed, everything from croissants that would shatter into buttery crumb in the morning, to delicious little pots of jam, runny omelettes filled with chunks of cep mushroom and country ham, oysters, onion soup… and for five blissful, life-changing days, it just never stopped.
I finished this purringly good meal with a sublime chocolate mousse, and if I hadn’t already arranged to meet a friend at another restaurant in the heart of Paris for dinner, I’d have come back here. As it is, I look forward to my next stop here, and congratulate this delightful young couple for having just won a richly-deserved Bib Gourmand, an award from Michelin that signals a place serving excellent, good-value cooking.
Rosette, 77 Rue de Paris, Clichy, Tel. (33) 01 47 72 67 51
From France Today Magazine
Lead photo credit : © Alexander Lobrano
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