Traditional French food in a traditional décor.

The traditional Parisian brasserie décor is still there, you’ll get a welcoming smile when you arrive, and the food is great.
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir used to meet at the Balzar.

The menu is made up of a selection of different French classics, and dishes from the various regions. Fresh, traditional ingredients and a real “savoir-faire” for French gastronomy.

A fizzy aperitif with olive paste spreads to get your taste buds going.

Next up, first courses with varied tastes; succulent oysters served with small pieces of buttered toast and a shallot sauce, a generous Flo salad with tasty south-western products, and a Galantine salad with poultry and morel mushrooms.

In French, main course is “plat de résistance”, and you’d have to be pretty resistant to stand up to these huge dishes! There’s lots on your plate, and lots of great tastes. If you like your meat or fish, you’ll be in heaven with the buttered skate or beef with cooking salt.

A first visual temptation with these dessert pictures…

The profiteroles are a disaster for anyone trying to resist temptation, with the waiter smothering in chocolate before your eyes.

A rum baba is a natural choice, a three-in-one pleasure with Corinthian grapes, whipped cream and rum to add as much you want. The idea is to remain less soaked in the rum than your baba. This was our favourite part of the meal, and a speciality of the restaurant that is not to be missed.

And there’s nothing like a good coffee to finish off a meal and help all that go down (although taking it with slices of chocolate cake is not necessarily a good idea for your waistline!)

We would suggest ending the meal with a walk around the Latin Quarter, or a visit to the Museum of the Middle Ages at the Hôtel de Cluny, almost opposite the restaurant.

Brasserie Balzar
49, rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris
M° : Cluny La Sorbonne
Parking : Ecole de médecine, Soufflot
Tel : 33 (0)1 43 54 13 67

It’s best to reserve in advance. The restaurant is often as full as its customers’ stomachs! Hunngry after the theatre? The Balzac has a special “Night Hunger” menu (Menu Faim de Nuit) for 20,50 euros that starts at 10pm, consisting of a first course and main course. Handy if you’re starving late at night.