If you go to the restaurant Argile, and I strongly recommend that you do, just don’t arrive 10 minutes before the time of your reservation. On a bitter cold evening, I made that mistake and was rebuffed by a heartless server who wouldn’t even let me sit discreetly in a corner until the restaurant officially opened at 7:30. Luckily, there was a café on the corner where I could have a drink while waiting.
I was a bit worried about further encounters with her, but luckily everything went smoothly when my friend and I returned. She was a thoughtful wine steward, decanting our slightly fizzy natural wine and remembering to pour it for us as soon as our glasses neared empty (the decanter was too big to leave on the small table). The fizz disappeared, by the way, and we ended up enjoying the wine after our initial dubiousness.
A heartwarming introduction to the food was the arrival of the bread – “made every morning by our chef” (Romain Lamon, previously of Polissons) – and accompanied by whipped butter discreetly flavored with lemon. A blissful combination that risked spoiling my appetite.
We decided to split two starters. Since they were at opposite ends of the taste spectrum – one light and refreshing, the other strongly flavored surf and turf – it was hard to say if one was better than the other, but we loved them both.
The roasted octopus was toothsomely tender, with bacony bits of guanciale and a rich cream of Parmesan sauce.
The other was a carpaccio of daurade (sea bream) with trout eggs that burst in the mouth like little beads of fishy joy, further brightened by coriander and a creamy sauce with an acidic touch.
A great start, but more joy was to come, first in the form of wonderfully tender roasted duck breast in a sweet and sour sauce accompanied by a rectangle of fried polenta.
The glazed roast pork was another delight, complete with its crackling, served with pointed cabbage and grated boutargue (salted, cured fish roe).
For dessert, we shared a luscious millefeuille, more like two desserts in one, since it included a diplomate flavored with orange blossom, white pistachio praline, hazelnuts and orange blossom ice cream. It was so delicious and went so fast that we had to restrain ourselves from ordering a second one.
Before we left, we had another run-in with the same server who had kicked me out of the restaurant earlier but who had been friendly and efficient during the meal. While paying the bill with a credit card, we saw that the machine required us, American-style, to click on the amount we wanted to tip: 10, 15 or 20 percent. We found that a bit excessive considering that a 15 percent service charge is included by law in every restaurant bill in France. She denied it vehemently.
I hope she will be better informed by the time you go there. And you should. Just don’t arrive early.
See our Favorite Restaurants by Arrondissement page to find a good restaurant in the neighborhood where you want to eat.
Your art exhibition section is a godsend for planning my stays in Paris. It saves me a lot of time reminding me of the opening times and what’s on, so I don’t miss anything. I also find the restaurant tips useful. But the octopus dish in your review of ARGILE put me off it. Anyone who has seen the Academy Award winning documentary, My Octopus Teacher will never eat octopus again. While diving, Craig Foster, a filmmaker and founder of Sea Change Project forms a surprising relationship with a female octopus, reminding us to keep our eyes open to unexpected teachers in all forms. Octopuses live only for a year during which time they show great intelligence evading their predators. At the end of the year, they mate and die. So if killed before they mate, the stock is depleted.
Thanks for your comment, Joyce! We will all think twice now before ordering octopus.