PlainGeets

It’s not easy to find a restaurant that checks all your boxes, especially when you feel strongly about the ambiance, cuisine and price-point of a place. The food has to be good, interesting and different, but not necessarily experimental. The place has to have a good vibe, but not be one of these trendy places that feel like they could be anywhere in the world. A good French vibe, but neither uppity like some Parisian bistrots, nor the working-class of a bouillon, or the neighbourhood brasserie. Comfortable, warm and welcoming. And of course we don’t want to feel impoverished at the end of the meal.

I put my hands up in defeat this weekend, and left the decision to T, who decided to trust Google. As we got ready to leave for lunch, I was told that the restaurant was near Gare du Nord. Woe behold!

Highly suspicious of the location, I immediately started lining up fall-back places in my head. For the uninitiated, this is the area where you find shops from the Indian sub-continent and Africa, and tends to be crowded, dirty and very unlike the clichéd Paris streets of our dreams. The metro staton is infamous for being a chaotic transport junction with insane crowds and pickpockets, so when we emerged from the Gare du Nord station, I was grumbling under my breath (and sometimes quite vocally). I followed T up one street and down another, past shops selling spices and exotic products, and finally stopped at a place called « L’Entre Deux » which definitely did not tick any of the boxes.

Ho-hum, was it time to start talking about Plan B? – Not so quick, my dear!

A quick check of Google informed us that (fortunately) we were at the wrong place, and our destination was « Café Les Deux Gares. » We walked on, past the kind of shops that I’d never enter even in India (go on then, call me a snob) till we turned around the corner at Hôtel Les Deux Gares and looked down a road with at least three Indian sweets stores! By then, I was quite convinced that Google had sent us on a wild goose chase, but just as we were about to give up, we spotted « Café Les Deux Gares » just across the street. Hallelujah!

It looked nice enough from the outside, so I relaxed my demeanour and entered…into a classic French bistrot. Instantly charmed, we happily took a corner seat, and were presented the menu on the blackboard, with some very unique choices.

We had the échine de cochon (pork shoulder) served with potatoes and radish, and the vegetarian dish of courge kabocha (winter squash) and chou rôti (roasted cabbage) served with candied kumquat and a delicious mushroom sauce, washed down with a refreshing, natural red wine.

It was one of the most memorable meals I’ve had in months – copious, packed with flavours and artfully presented. The decor was simple, sticking to the classic French bistrot style tables and chairs with some vintage posters on the walls, creating the ideal ambiance – relaxed, casual, yet French bistrot chic. The staff was courteous and friendly. Bonus – they are fluent in English, since most of their clientèle is British!

The Café Les Deux Gares is a hidden gem that should be on your go-to list for a meal whenever you’re in Paris, and looking for something that’s very French, but away from the usual trappings of a typical / touristy French restaurant in Paris. It definitely pays to explore beyond the usual hotspots; a culinary delight might be hiding around the corner, in a nondescript alley, or a seedy neighbourhood.