Au Petit Sud Ouest Levallois, Paris – food memories
It was quite a few years ago, on our second visit to Paris, that we stumbled across a great local eatery on the left bank, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, before we could visit again, it had closed down. This trip, however, we discovered it had re-opened in a new location.
Au Petit Sud Ouest Levallois is not that far from another great Paris landmark, the Arc de Triomphe – a 40-minute, reasonably leafy walk west into the suburbs.
There are lots of similarities; the same toasters on the table, the same ‘tiles’ from various great wine houses on the wall and pretty much the same menu.
What’s missing though is the delightfully kitsch red-and-white checked tablecloths – and the charming host Chantal and her husband who held court on the restaurant floor. They’re nowhere to be found, presumably enjoying a well-deserved retirement.
Instead of a well-heeled avenue, this restaurant is on a nondescript side-street, down from some offices on Rue Baudin in the Levallois-Perret area of Paris.
We’d read online that English isn’t exactly embraced here, so Greedy Girl trotted out her best schoolgirl French and we ordered pretty much what we had on our first visit.
But rather than have a serve of foie gras each, we decided to share the seared foie gras with black truffles. Instead of hefty slices of truffle on the top, it came out like this:
Pan seared foie gras with truffles
It tasted fine but there was certainly no hit from the truffles.
Last time, Greedy Girl had a duck confit to follow (the menu remains steadfastly devoted to duck). This time she took a duck caesar salad with roast potatoes and big slices of ewe’s milk cheese. It all went together surprisingly well.
Duck caesar salad
Of course, gluttonous husband wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have cassoulet. It came out, as hoped, in its own little copper saucepan (pictured at the top of this post).
And here it is. The sausages were delightful but he was a little disappointed he didn’t get more duck confit. Still, the sauce and the beans were heavenly.
Cassoulet
We both washed everything down with glasses of Bordeaux red and were quite content.
Still, the food and the ambience missed the flair, the comfort and the welcome of the previous restaurant. We had to try it, but some food memories should remain as fond reminisces.
If you’re interested you can read the original blog on Au Petit Sud Ouest here.
Au Petit Sud Ouest Levallois
4 Rue Baudin, Levallois-Perret, Paris
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