This little restaurant nestled in a little street close to Notre-Dame (and our hotels) seems like a good choice if you’re looking for French cuisine. So how did our visit go?

There’s a lot to explore in the tiny Left Bank streets near Notre-Dame, and finds to be had, like Le Reminet. It’s a restaurant that looks fairly standard from the outside, with a long but small room with around ten tables, a bar at the back and the kitchens just behind that.

The interior design is understated and fairly chic (the white fabric tablecloths lend it an upmarket air). The tables are all pretty close to each other, so if you like to dine somewhere cosy where the hubbub of the room is part of the experience, you’ll like it here.

It’s still a comfy space, but when we arrived to take our table we were a little disappointed to be led right to the back to a staircase that descends to a cellar room. Although the ceiling is still decently high and made of stone, even the multitude of mirror can’t hide that it is tiny, with euight or nine tables packed in, and very ordinary floor tiles.

Let’s just say that it has a lot less charm than the ground floor area, and of course the only view you’ll have is of your neighbours or a wall. 😢

Our booking was made through the site thefork.com which was offering (and at time of writing, still offers) a 50% reduction on the à la carte menu, which is quite the bargain, because without it a three-course meal would come to an eye-watering 70 euros. 35€ for three courses seems a lot more reasonable! (Perhaps even a little too cheap)

We started our meal with the crunchy ‘bonbons’ of parsley-infused snails, cream of avocado and light whipped cream with wasabi, and for our second hors-d’œuvre, a cheese plate (admittedly usually served between the main course and dessert, but there was no other vegetarian option).

The snails were perfect, prettily presented and as crunchy as promised. As for the cheese, it’s lucky we had our reduction because no four pieces of cheese in the world are worth 16€, especially when served so sparingly.

For the main course we chose octopus grilled with ‘aromas of the Mediterranean’, sliced marinated peppers, new potatoes with red curry and an ‘intense seafood and coriander sauce’, and for the second dish salmon with a crunchy parmesan and garlic croûte, mashed sweet potato, touches of sorrel, sunflower seed and a Caesar sauce.

Both were very, very good (with a special mention for the exquisite batter on the salmon), beautifully presented and showcasing clever and subtle mixes of avec tastes and textures. Were they worth 35€ each though? You tell us…

For dessert (we couldn’t resist), we ordered a red fruit cheesecake with pine nuts, syrup of red fir and bog pine jelly (wow), and the chef’s special tiramisu (a classic choice, but with a real piece of gold leaf on it!). Both were gorgeous to look at and sumptuously light in the mouth. We were not disappointed.

Our meal came to an end, and we have to say we quite enjoyed our dinner in a windowless basement!

If you want to try out some authentic French cuisine, served by a team that is genuinely welcoming and smiley, Le Reminet is a good choice.

And with 50% off from The Fork, it’s pretty much a no-brainer. Go down and have a taste! (And ask to dine on the ground floor if possible)

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Le Reminet (here) is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner

Online booking here

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