There are lots of great-looking restaurants down rue du Cherche-Midi, but this one caught our attention with their ad for patisserie classes and held our attention with their rather delicious food…

all photos (c) jasonw


Now that our Hotel Ferrandi is just down the street, we have made it our business – our duty even – to eat in every single restaurant on the rue du Cherche-Midi. Life is just tough that way sometimes…

The Artisan de Saveurs doesn’t look like anything particularly special from outside (or indeed inside), but their menu sounded interesting, and apparently they have been a staple of the area for over ten years now, so we decided to check them out. In retrospect, I think we made the right choice.

They actually bill themselves as “restaurant / salon de thé / brunch”, meaning that they are open all day from midday to 6.30pm (7pm Saturdays), and . We went for lunch and each decided to opt for a Pensée Gourmande, what they describe as being halfway between a main mail and a salad, served between midday ad 2.45pm (3pm on Saturdays). Everyone was very please with their choice…

This is the rillettes de saumon au citron vert (a sort of minced salmon paté with lime) served with a bohémienne de légumes aigre-douce, a selection of sweet ‘n’ sour vegetable. The little toasts were great for the salmon and the salad helped refresh the palate during mouthfuls. A great mix and very finely done.

Next choice was a terrine of foies de volaille (poultry liver paté)…

Third up, rabbit fricasseed in Marsala wine…

And finally we went for the gâteau de perche, a sort of cake made (partly) of perch (and a lot of what seemed like omelette-style egg) served in a velvet crab coulis and accompanied by three types of choux (cabbages): cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.

Everyone found their main dish to be delicately tasted, with a good mix of flavours, some of them quite surprising, but all of them succulent. Although the menu implied that the dishes were to be less copious than a normal full meal, we found the portions to be quite well-dosed. Especially as… we wanted dessert!

The chocolate tart with partly-conserved kumquats was heavy and intense, served with a little crispy cone of cream. Yummy !

The macaroon served with expresso-flavoured ice cream and roasted coffee beans was soft and melting as you would expect… and quite big!

The pear and vanilla charlotte is good if you have no teeth (very easy to chomp through!)

But the most impressive presentation was for the fondant de marron, a chestnut-flavoured soft dessert served with a piece of waffle, whipped cream and maple syrup. Impressive stuff…

We finished off the meal with a black coffee served with a delicious melting chocolate truffle. The restaurant definitely deserves its reputation for desserts, so even if you’re just in the area for shopping one afternoon you could pop in and sample one to get your energy back up! Several upmarket magazines have also written reviews about the place, and we think we will definitely be returning… once we’ve sample all the other restaurants in the area 😉

There are also their patisserie classes that sound delicious. On Thursday nights after the restaurant closes, for 60 euros each, you and some friends (maximum 5 people for a chef) can learn how to prepare choux pastry, chocolate & orange cake, pear charlotte… it all depends which evening you book for (telephone 01 42 22 46 64). Of course there’s a tasting session at the end of the evening!

To sum up, the meals are inventive, the staff are lovely and they know their wine, but the main attraction of l’Artisan de Saveurs has to be the desserts. Not to be missed.

Don’t forget to check out all our other photos in the special Flickr gallery here!

The Artisan de Saveurs is at 72 rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris 6th arrondissement. Métro Vanneau (line 10), Rennes (line 12) or Saint-Placide (line 4). They are open every day except Sundays from midday to 6.30pm (7pm Saturdays).

Bigger map here