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I'd read a positive review of this restaurant and its ability to
accommodate gluten-free needs from somewhere on the web
when planning our recent trip to Paris. In general, finding
restaurants that are aware of Celiac Disease and are
comfortable preparing a gluten-free meal is challenging in Paris,
and when you're a mom, like me, looking out for a Celiac child,
you don't want to take any unnecessary risks. So I'd asked our
resort concierge to confirm that the restaurant did indeed
understand our needs, and I was happily told that yes, they did.
We had a reservation here on the first night we ventured into Paris
(we were staying just outside the city). We were also planning
to meet up with old friends from Germany for this special
dinner. We arrived at the restaurant via cab, with a bit of
trouble finding it, because it is in one of those very narrow alleyway streets (very quaint). The restaurant was someone
hidden by some scaffolding due to work being done on the
building. But inside it was darling...small, intimate, lit with
candles, romantic. We were the first ones in the restaurant,
having made a 7 pm reservation. We had a nice round table in
the corner...the restaurant is small, with probably only about 10
tables upstairs. There is supposedly a charming vaulted room
downstairs in the basement as well, but I'm not sure they were seating that room the evening we were there. We used our very limited
French to greet the owner (I think) when we arrived, but he
didn't speak much English, so there was just a lot of smiling between all of us! But we
had given him our name, and he clearly was expecting us and
knew of our needs. He was very nice and then sent an English
speaking waiter to our table to take care of us. We had to wait
until our friends arrived about 20 minutes later to be offered
menus or anything to eat, but we found service is much less "urgent" and "rushed" in France (that's probably a good thing,
but not necessarily when you are starving!). The meal
turned out to be wonderful. They were pretty much willing to
tailor just about anything on the menu to be gluten-free. We
were sitting next to the small, somewhat open kitchen, and the
few people working there really hustle! Our sons -- still in the
stage where they like things pretty plain and basic -- opted for
steaks, which were high-quality and perfectly prepared. They
were served mashed potatoes and salad with that. The rest of
us had equally delicious meals, which wouldn't appear to
necessarily contain gluten, but due to some sauces and other
things, were not necessarily gluten-free. I had a wonderful
beef dish, served with a decadently rich parmesan polenta (or
was it risotto -- I can't recall) served in a very creamy sauce. I
had a scallop and pork appetizer that was delicious, and my
husband had the scallops as a main course. I remember that
they could have done scallops gluten-free. Our son loves
scallops, but he opted for the steak and then a night or two
later wanted scallops when we were someplace he couldn't get
them. Typical! We did not order dessert here, because at this
point in the evening -- 10:00 now -- our kids (and we!)-- were
exhausted and just wanted to begin the journey back to our
resort outside the city. But I'd highly recommend this
restaurant for excellent food, warm hospitality, a romantic
atmosphere, and most of all, an eagerness to help us with our
special dietary requests. Thank you, Le Reminet!
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