There are some places you just instantly like, and Bouche B is one of them…

Bouche B is a play on words in French (“bouche bée” means “mouth open wide”), and we are indeed slightly in awe at the courage of Fred and Olivier who have dared open a restaurant in the dead centre of town… dead as in “very quiet in the evening” or as is “Google Street View didn’t even bother going down their street”. you’ll find rue de la Tacherie by looking hard between Hôtel de Ville and Châtelet, and between the noise-sensitive neighbours and the general sleepiness of the area, they certainly have their work cut out for them. 🙁

Luckily, the restaurant has an awful lot going for it. It’s a high-ceilinged space in the tastefully ‘distressed’ style that suits Paris so well, with exposed stonework and exquisite, flea market chandeliers. The lighting is warm and low, candles flutter on every table… as soon as you walk in you feel at ease.We’ve been to the restaurant a few times now; for it’s opening drinks do, for a meal before the definitive menu was in place, one just for mojitos (it’s a bar/restaurant, they say) and again recently to see how the new chef was doing. It’s obvious that there are a few rough corners still, but there’s also a lot of promise.

The menu is supplemented by daily suggestions and a selection of daily ‘bouchées’ (bites), small dishes with daring mixtures of flavours and interesting styles of presentation, all displayed on a large blackboard.The wine list is varied and reasonable.

We decided to try some of the day’s special ‘bouchées’ and one standard starter, with the first test being the gratin dauphinois, a French classic that many a restaurant gets wrong. It should be creamy, cooked for a long time in the oven until the potato becomes all melty, the top perfectly crispy and with just a hint of nutmeg (not a whole pot). Our gratin passed the taste test with flying colours. Delicious!

We were already pretty optimistic for the next servings…  Poached egg in a creamy morel mushroom sauce, a mini-casserole of scallops, mushrooms and pesto (with lots of lovely garlic), and a crunchy bread slice with guacamole and salmon, well smoked…The main dishes were also appreciated: creamy risotto with ratatouille like it’s supposed to be, and scallops with a creamed chorizo sauce (with ratatouille again), both served with excellent crusty bread, not as easy to find in French restaurant as you would think (we think it really show that a restaurant likes its customers when they serve good bread). Our guest went for duck breast with mashed sweet potato, a sweet ‘n’ savoury mixture that worked very well.Despite the great food, some things weren’t perfect. Our dishes were sometimes only luke warm, making the food itself not as hot as it could have been. Also, the presentation of the various dishes was always the same (albeit tasty), with a swirl of chutney around the edge of the plate and paprika sprinkled on top. We think that these small hiccups will quickly disappear once the restaurant is up to speed.

Although we were now far from hungry, we (dutifully) decided to order dessert. The tiramisu turned out to be a sloppy disappointment, but the orange cheesecake (with no biscuit base) was incredible, and the mille-feuille of chocolate mousse between layers of crunchy biscuit was spectacular.As you may have gathered, we really like Bouche B. They may need a few more weeks to get everything completely perfect, but they’re nearly there (don’t be too harsh on them, OK?). We’ll be going back regularly to check out all the different food on offer, and we’re sure that word of mouth will make the place a great success very soon!

A three-course meal with wine and coffee will cost you about 40 euros in all (not a bad deal at all).
The restaurant is open for lunch weekdays from midday – 2.30pm and for dinner from 7pm until 2am (except Monday nights, when they’re closed)! They’re also open on Saturdays nights from 7pm until 2am again (gosh!) and there’s a brunch every Sunday from midday – 4pm (with a house music special once a month).

For more info (mostly in French), you can be their friend on Facebook. Their Google Maps page is here. And if the landline doesn’t work, call Olivier on 06 78 90 87 29.

To check out all out photos, click the play button below, then click the four small arrows bottom right to go into fullscreen mode (much better for viewing!.