Rue Mouffetard near our hotels is known for its old-school Paris vibe, its market, its cobblestones, its bars (and perhaps even for its bowling alley or its cinema)… but not really for its restaurants. Here, people generally queue up for a kebab or takeaway Greek food, but there are very few good sit-down restaurants.

Flocon is a welcome exception. Created by chef Josselin Flocon (who was only 25 years old at the time) three years ago, it offers French cuisine with local, seasonal produce, and a wine list favouring responsable agriculture.

The place is quite small (around thirty seats) and the interior design in neutral to say the least – think white with a hint of beige and light brown. Being charitable, let’s say that it’s probably to help you concentrate on what’s being served…

We were given seats at the bar, just opposite the kitchen – the restaurant was kind enough to call us in advance to make sure this wasn’t a problem. Quite the contrary!

From our comfortable stools we were able to watch everything that usually happens behind the scenes. In the kitchen are the main chef, two sous-chefs, a pastry chef and one person on washing up duty. It’s rare to have so many people working at a place of this size, and we appreciated having the dishes composed just in front of us, under heat lamps to keep everything warm.

While the service is serious and well organised, there’s also a good atmosphere among the staff. They remain calm even when busy, smile, laugh even… It’s great to see a team enjoying their work.

As for the cuisine, the menu has very little choice, but – and this is rare – it changes every week. This means you can return to Flocon regularly and always find something different to eat! Also, the prices are pretty reasonable.

Here’s what the menu looked like the night we went down for dinner, plus a sincere message from the chef, in which everyone on the team gets a mention…

For a starter, we chose to share a dish composed of slices of ‘celery’ (actually celeriac) served like a little nest on pureed parsnip, topped with dill and little flowers. Very cute and agreeably bitter.

Afterwards, for the main dish we ordered the confit of potatoes, peppers roasted in thyme, spinach coulis, green tomates, gremolata and pistachio, and a Brittany skate wing meunière, green crab sauce, butternut, roasted pumpkin and croutons.

The potatoes formed a sort of colourful mound, with the pesto / gremolata as a base and a mix of interesting tastes. It wasn’t as crunchy as we were expecting, but the presentation with the onion flowers was very well executed.

The skate wing almost looked like a piece of meat. It was quite long, melt-in-the-mouth, and the crab sauce taste wasn’t overpowering. The butternut puree and cubes of pumpkin were cooked to perfection, adding an almost sweet taste to the ensemble.

It was only after finishing these two delicious dishes that we saw something that intrigued us. It’sprobably the first time that we have seen the term “pre-desserts” on a menu, and the opportunity was too good to miss.

And so we ordered ‘bread ice cream and gin’ (which was actually ginger bread ice cream and a crumble infused with gin – amazing!) and two generous pieces of creamy Brillat-Savarin cheese, with apricot confit and some very nice bread.

Despite initially seeming a little indulgent, we had absolutely no regrets!

And then it was time for the actual desserts. An almond milk rice pudding with greengage cooked in sage, and (not listed on the menu above) a herb and red fruit soup with ‘flowers from Sylvie’, cinnamon ice cream and hot pepper.

The almond milk rice pudding was subtle, surprisingly creamy, with grilled almonds to give it a crunch. The second dessert was a real work of art, with various fruits (including tomatoes) under a cinnamon wafer, all swimming in a light soup spiced with hot pepper and topped with flowers. A new experience – gorgeous to look at and exciting in the mouth.

What a great meal we had at Flocon! The menu is creative without being pretentious, the team are adorable and the prices aren’t excessive. Can’t wait to go back!

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Flocon (here) is open for lunch from Friday to Sunday, and for dinner from Wednesday to Sunday

Closed Monday and Tuesday

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Online booking here

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Une publication partagée par Flocon (@restaurantflocon)