Restaurant Review: Les Galopins, Bastille, Paris

Whole shoulder of lamb

While we were in Paris we met one of my childhood friends for dinner. Kathryn is currently living in Paris for work, and by total coincidence, we rented an apartment just one street away from her.

On the Tuesday night we met up for dinner and headed to Les Galopins, a venue Kathryn takes all of her visitors. It was good to try somewhere recommended by a local and firmly off the tourist trail of restaurants.

The menu and wine list were on chalkboards (which seems to be a bit of a Paris bistro theme). We didn't really need to look at the mains as Kathryn had already recommended we go for either the whole shoulder of lamb or the côte de boeuf to share. We opted for the lamb. The only thing we therefore needed to decide upon were the starters.

Beef ravioli with fois gras

We decided to share a couple of entres. The first was the beef ravioli with foie gras and spices with a sauce cocotte (€7.50). The pasta was nicely cooked, but I couldn't taste any foie gras or spices and the sauce cocotte tasted like a lukewarm bechamel. It was a shaky start.

The goats cheese, pear and walnut salad (€8) started moving this up. It was a relatively simple salad made with some quality ingredients and brought together by a mustardy salad dressing.

Goats cheese salad with pear

The whole shoulder of lamb (€44) was advertised as serving two, but it comfortably fed the three of us. The lamb was wonderfully tender and just fell of the bone. There were bits of crispy skin too. I found the meat needed a bit of salt and a sauce on the side would potentially have been welcome, but otherwise it was fantastic. The potatoes and girolle mushrooms were the perfect accompaniment.

It was such a simple dish with only three ingredients, but one that would have me returning regularly.

Café tres gourmand

We really didn't need dessert after polishing off the lamb, but couldn't help ourselves. One to share somehow became too, but I learnt some new French along the way which surely must counteract the calories......

Our first dessert was the café tres gourmand (€7.50). I thought this just meant a big coffee, but Kathryn enlightened us that it was a coffee which comes accompanied by a dessert tasting plate. At practically the same price as a regular dessert we just couldn't pass over it. On our tasting place was a tiramisu, nutella flavoured cream, creme brulée and rice pudding.

Our final dessert was the giant raspberry macaron (€8). Macarons were everywhere in Paris and we couldn't leave without trying one. I'm no connoisseur of macarons, but it did come filled with lots of lovely raspberries.

Raspberry macaron

The food came to €75 for the three of us which was excellent value. I'll definitely return next time I'm in Paris for more of the lamb shoulder. Or perhaps I'll try the beef next time?

Les Galopins
24 Rue des Taillandiers
75 011 Paris
Tél. : 01.47.00.45.35