I was licking my lips when I heard last spring about a new restaurant opening on the rue Saint-Roch. It’s an area where travelers (a certain kind of traveler) spend a lot of time, tucked between the Louvre and the fancy shops along the rue Saint-Honoré. For a neighborhood with such immense foot traffic, there aren’t a ton of good places to eat.
Keep your eyes peeled for our guide to eating near the Louvre, coming soon.
I first visited 19 Saint-Roch (another restaurant named after its address) last May. I had a good experience, but it felt a little too new to include at that time. I just returned for lunch and am now more convinced that it’s worth your time. Not because of the food. Or rather, not only because of the food.
There are restaurants where the food is so exceptional that we tolerate poor service, excessive noise, uncomfortable stools, slim wine pickings, garish decor and other front-of-house sins. At 19 Saint-Roch, there are no front-of-house sins. None that I could detect, anyway.
Over two visits, I found the service to be saintly: ultra-attentive and kind to both locals and foreigners. This was true whether dining with a group or eating solo at the counter.
Decor is very of-the-moment, with matte black floor tiles and walnut tables. Wine bottles in a refrigerated case illuminate the back wall. A well-placed mirror tries to enlarge a space so narrow that, in one stretch, diners can only sit side-by-side.
It may be small, but it’s very comfortable. The lighting and music are soft - Otis Redding and other soul standards. Also soft: the contents of the “Ladies Box” in the restroom. Datil offers something similar, and we ladies say merci.
Back to the dining room, here’s a page from their delightful wine list. It leans natural and includes some insider references, but there are plenty of highly drinkable bottles in the 30-50€ range.
There’s also an interesting selection of N/A drinks, including this cold infusion of the day, a very mossy and delicious green tea.
Shall we talk about the food?
Chef Pierre Touitou, formerly at Vivant 2 and Déviant, leads a calm and capable open kitchen. There have been hits and misses at each visit. I’m in love with about 70% of what they do. And when they miss (this is of course subjective), it’s not disastrous.
The menu includes a selection of hors-d'œuvres that range in price from 5-9€. At lunch, there’s a choice between two starters for around 16€ and a choice between two mains in the mid-thirties. At dinner, there are twice the number of options and prices are a little higher, but not by much.
Here are some hits:
Main dishes are massive, comprising a large portion of protein and a substantial side plate. Pork shoulder came with a side of head cheese. Duck arrived with a side of gizzards. As much as I’m a sucker for potato purée, I really love that the sides weren’t simple starches. These were uniformly delicious, as were all of the hors-d'œuvres I tasted. The small number of dishes that elicited a shrug were under-seasoned starters. My advice would be to order quite a few hors-d'œuvres, skip the starters, and jump straight to the copious mains.
If you go for dessert, I might steer you away from the ice creams. I didn’t learn my lesson in May and was doomed to repeat my befuddled spooning in September. It’s not that I disliked the spicy smoked chile flavor of the ice cream - I thought it clashed utterly with the under-ripe peach in the dish below. That was my impression of the turmeric-strawberry pairing in May. Weird ice cream flavors are fun, but their pairings need some work.
In May there was a delicious Île flottante made with smoked Bukovo pepper and sesame praline for 13€. The square-shaped presentation was really quite striking. Perhaps it’s best to order the non-ice-cream desserts?
The crowd is a fun mélange. At lunch, it feels like a mix of people who are working or staying or shopping nearby. At night, it’s more of a Fooding crowd. And this does feel like a trendy sort of restaurant, plucked from eastern Paris and plopped down a few paces from the Louvre. For those who are searching for that vibe but unwilling to leave central Paris, 19 Saint-Roch might be your new favorite.
Good for solo diners and adventurous eaters. Not great for groups (it’s tiny) or for vegetarians.
19 SAINT-ROCH
19 rue Saint-Roch, 75001
Open Tuesday-Friday for lunch & dinner
Closed Saturday, Sunday & Monday
Reservations online or at +33 1 40 15 00 89
I understand that restaurants in Paris - or is it in all of France? - are required to serve water and bread to anyone who enters, a requirement since the Revolution. Is that truly the origin of this custom?
Oh Meg, that sounds delicious even délicieuse!, I just booked our next trip !!
Brett in Perth