We’ve rated La Table de Colette as GOOD with two stars * *
You can find all our rankings in the Restaurant Index
La Table de Colette is a sleek restaurant with a sincere approach to sustainable dining. It’s tucked into a small Latin Quarter street, just a stone’s throw from the Pantheon. There’s a lovely garden for outdoor dining in nice weather.
It’s a good restaurant to have on your radar. As an omnivore, I would happily return for their plant-based lunch deal, especially if I could sit in that beautiful garden. I’ll also remember it for dining with a vegetarian friend on their birthday. Vegans and gluten-free diners can be accommodated if these needs are noted when reserving.
Let’s first take a look at the food, and then I’ll tell you why I’ve rated La Table de Colette as “good” and not “great.” Here’s what was included in the five-course menu for 75€:
The amuse bouches were amusing impersonations of non-veggie canapés. Carrot and beet were smoked until leathery and charcuterie-adjacent. An oyster leaf was rolled up and served with pickled shallots - it really did taste like an oyster with mignonette sauce.
The first course was a soup made from Hungarian blue squash topped with a cromesquise (fried ball) and charred apple purée. This was decorated with a (momentarily) crisp cracker doily. A touch of algae kept this from veering too far into dessert territory.
The next course was my favorite of the day. Celery root was served as a blackened steak with a side of buttery celery root purée, both bathed in a delicious celery root jus. A tart citrus gel kept everything from tasting too earthy.
On the side they served a “bowl” of truffled celery root risotto. This risotto (made from riced celery root) was phenomenal - I want to steal their idea for a home-cooked version.
Cauliflower was cooked in butter and then served with a mild “Breton curry” with black sesame. More crackers!
It was served with a sliver of trout that was dotted with cauliflower relish. This was the “sea” portion of the menu, and I was not impressed. The condiment was off-putting (raw shallot + oil + raw cauliflower, as far as I could tell) and it overwhelmed the delicate trout. I left half of it on the plate, contributing to the food waste they’re working so hard to manage.
The pre-dessert, served in nostalgic bowls bearing kids’ names, tasted of citrus and dill. It was fine.
The real dessert was a delicious choux puff with chocolate bunny ears, praline and buckwheat crumbles. More of that citrus gel.
Chef Josselin Marie seems genuinely excited by the produce he’s working with (watch him in this Instagram video), and some of his creations are inspired. I really did enjoy La Table de Colette, but there are few things that keep it from being great:
Service is anxious and overly-formal. This place would benefit from a warm and welcoming host, or from the chef’s presence in the dining room. He seems like a joyful teddy bear.
I don’t understand their carbon calculations, or need to see them on the menu. In deciding what to eat, we were presented with a lot of numbers. Three courses count for 2750 grams of CO2. Five courses including fish have a “footprint of less than 1600 grams of CO2,” somehow less than the smaller menu. Seven courses have 2200 grams. I appreciate their ethos, I genuinely do, but I don’t need to see the math. Calculating carbon is about as appetizing as reading calorie counts.
That trout dish was really unpleasant. If we had ordered the three-course menu, we might have been spared this knowledge.
None of these concerns are major. La Table de Colette is a good restaurant, and they should be commended for all the work that earned them the “most committed restaurant 2024” prize awarded by Ecotable.
I recommend going with modest gastronomic expectations (they will likely be exceeded) on a gorgeous summer day. Take a stroll through the Latin Quarter after lunch, maybe all the way over to the Luxembourg Gardens, and feel good about your carbon footprint. Whatever the calculation, it was probably a little lower today.
Find all our favorite restaurants in the Latin Quarter
LA TABLE DE COLETTE
17 Rue Laplace, 75005
Open Monday-Friday for lunch & dinner
Closed Saturday & Sunday
Reservations online or at +33 1 46 33 18 59
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I ate at LTDC two years ago. I recollect that one of the courses I got in the five course option was off-putting and it was not included in the three courses others got. Their mission is solid, but I agree that the food is good and not great.
I’m also going to borrow the celery root risotto bowl idea!