Sublime soufflés @ La Cuisine de Philippe, Paris (France)

We are back home in Hong Kong, after two glorious weeks in Europe! As mentioned previously, we were in France for a week, and then we spent another week in Italy. I took more than 1000 photos in that two weeks, so I will be quite busy sharing about our trip for at least the next two months! But first, I present to you our very first meal in beautiful Paris, which also happened to be one of our best and cheapest meal we ate in Paris!

Entrance to La Cuisine de Philippe:

I found La Cuisine de Philippe through various internet sources while researching for places to eat in Paris, and this little place got consistently good reviews in both the English and French languages everywhere I looked. A plus was that this charming restaurant is located close to the hotel we stayed at, and I didn't hesitate to send off an email to our hotel to help us make reservations for lunch time on the Saturday that we arrived in Paris. The restaurant is located next to Jardin du Luxemburg, so after strolling through the lovely garden, we arrived at 12pm on the dot when La Cuisine de Philippe opened for lunch. We were the first customers, and the lady who greeted us was very friendly and most gracious in answering all our questions. She didn't even mind at all when our 4.5-year-old boy quit practicing proper dining etiquette within the first half-hour of being seated.

Cosy restaurant:

The menu was in French, half of which I could understand from my limited French knowledge, but the lady serving at the front (who I assume is Chef Philippe's wife) could speak some English to clarify anything that was unclear. Ordering was straightforward: either order a two-course meal (entree + main, or main + dessert) for 23 Euros, or a three-course meal for 27 Euros. There were four choices for each course from the regular menu, or you could select from the plat du jour (daily specials) board. A glass of wine was included, and the white that hubby ordered was pretty darn good - not too strong-tasting or dry, and we found that all other house wines we had that week in France weren't as enjoyable as that first glass of white we had at La Cuisine de Philippe. The house specialises in soufflés, which hubby adores, so it should come as no surprise that half of our meal consisted of soufflé dishes.

Hubby chose his entrée from the daily specials board - Soufflé Chèvre Frais et Basilic (soufflé with goat cheese and basil). This had an amazing flavour, and the goat cheese wasn't overwhelming at all. The basil lent a fresh herbal note, and this was a rather enjoyable savoury soufflé:

I got the Oeufs Poché en Meurette, Petits Lardons et Croûtons (eggs poached in red wine with small pieces of bacon and croutons) for my entrée to share with my son who loves eggs. The eggs were perfectly poached (runny yolks were perfect with the slices of crusty baguette), and the sauce was rich with the earthy flavours of the mushrooms and the salty meatiness of the bacon:

Hubby's main was Hachis Parmentier de Canard (duck shepherd's pie), which was tasty in a homely manner. I loved the presentation of the sliced vegetables (background) which looked like a floral arrangement:

Check out that tender duck flesh:

I ordered the Filet de bar à l'Americaine (sea bass fillets with sauce americaine) from the daily specials board. The fish flesh was sweet, and I loved the sauce which was full of umami seafood flavours:

Hidden underneath the vegetables that accompanied my sea bass plate was a lovely savoury soufflé-type pudding:

For dessert, hubby chose from the daily specials board, the Soufflé Framboise (raspberry soufflé), which was quite gorgeous and luscious on the palate:

For my 'dessert' course, I went for something savoury (and thankfully the restaurant was fine with that selection!) and ordered Soufflé aux Champignons (mushrooms soufflé). It was fantastic! This is an excellent choice for mushroom-lovers:

That was a lot of soufflés in one meal, but we enjoyed everyone of them. We highly recommend including La Cuisine de Philippe in your Paris food itinerary! It is only a small restaurant with about 10 tables, so it is better to make reservations especially for dinner-time and weekends.

La Cuisine de Philippe
25 Rue Servandoni
6th Arrondissement
75006 Paris
France
Tel. +33 1 43 29 76 37