You wouldn’t believe how tough it is to find a decent restaurant open on a Monday, especially one where the French cuisine is well prepared and not excessively priced, and where the staff are all super super nice. 🙂

Well we found one! Here’s our review of Les Botanistes…

We have to thanks our friends the Germanopratines for introducing us to the restaurant Les Botanistes, tucked away in a little street juste 30 seconds from the Bon Marché department.

It’s an unpretentious Parisian bistrot with simple (almost plain), traditional décor, but where the waiter’s genuine smile will instantly make you feel at ease. They’ll even willingly chat with you if time permits (they speak great English), and their relaxed attitude and sincerity is a refreshing change. Actually, it changes everything.
The menu is short and changes every day – the night we dined there were five starters and five main courses on offer, but the little lines on the left of the board suggest that sometimes there may be more.

We decided to start by sharing some small red peppers filled with fresh goat’s cheese and basil. It arrived promptly, with an impressive combination of colours (thanks to the salad). As for the taste, it was all we expected – soft cheese, crunchy salad and just the right amount of seasoning.
For the main dishes we chose the two fish on offer – fresh roasted cod with homemade mashed potatoes, and a filet of stone basse cooked à la plancha with braised fennel. Although the dishes aren’t revolutionary, and the servings not huge, they are obviously prepared with skill using fresh ingredients.

The presentation is also fairly classic, with no extraneous flourishes, but prettily done. And the fish was perfectly cooked, not too soft. We particularly appreciated he buttery mashes potatoes and the light bitterness of the fennel.
At Les Botanistes, they are big on their desserts, in fact there are more dessert choices than anywhere else on the menu!
After the reasonably-sized main dishes, frankly we were ready to eat any of the desserts on offer, but our choice went to the financier cake with cherries and pistachio ice cream, and a pear and raspberry crumble.

The financier was laden with butter and almonds, and very sweet (as it should be). As for crumble, it was absolutely great – it’s odd how the taste of pears can be so close to that of apples once cooked. A very fine end to our meal!
Apparently, Les Botanistes is in a few guide books as a lot of tables were taken by English-speakers dining early (for the French). At 8pm, when many French people are considering getting ready to sit down for their meal, most of the other tables had practically finished their main course.

Once we had finished, the room was all but empty, something that we actually quite enjoyed. The staff weren’t in a hurry to chuck us out, and we took our time to digest and chat – it’s part of the dining experience, after all.

When we did decide to make a move, the smile from the waiters was just as genuine as before. Together with the very decent food, it’s probably what gives the place its deserved reputation!
Les Botanistes (here) is open every day except Sunday for lunch and dinner

Telephone : +33 (0)1 45 49 04 54

Website: lesbotanistes.com

To see all our photos of Les Botanistes, click here.