BKWine Pick: Au Vieux Comptoir, Bar à vins – Restaurant, Paris 1

Au Vieux Comptoir, Bar à vins – Restaurant, Paris 1

A popular restaurant on a side street to the busy rue Rivoli. Nice atmosphere and very friendly and helpful staff (well worth underlining!). At lunch time you can have Today’s Special for 14€, traditional French cooking, e.g. a ‘hachis parmentier’ (a gratin of mashed potatoes with minced meat), excellent to try in winter when you need to warm up. If you like beef you should try their tempting côtes de boeuf, a giant ‘beef chop’ from cows of the Maine Anjou race (but you should be two persons sharing – it weighs in at 1.4 kilos!) with sauce béarnaise. Or try the excellent charcuteries from Alsace, the Jura of the Basque countries, the veal from Corrèze or the scallops. All is made from prime raw material. They have an interesting wine list with, unusually, many wines served by the glass. A bistro one will come back to!

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