Cafe & Bar Gavroche

Wanted desserts but most places were packed on a weekend night. Ended here and it was cosy with jazzy french music. The profiteroles were good, crusty chox pastry filled with rich vanilla ice cream, you can see it speckled with vanilla beans. Drizzle on the thick warm chocolate and it's a little piece of heaven. Kinda pricey, $12 for 2 pieces. Lemon tart was refreshingly sour and just as sweet. The kind of dessert u can only take 2 mouthfuls before giving up due to its intensity. Good if u are looking for a quiet spot to chat and catch up. Lovely Parisian bar interior.

This is where I would come if I were going to dinner at the brasserie across the street but arrived early and wanted a drink first. It’s casual and comfortable. So we came for lunch today. The kitchen was painfully slow. Our first sign of trouble was seeing how long it took for people who’d arrived before us to get their food, as well as how there would be long gaps between the mains of people at the same table. It was odd because their menu isn’t large and nearly every dish on it is either simple to prepare or something made in advance. I wanted a glass of wine but the wine list is only bottles and they have the wines by the glass on a small chalk board. No explanation of what was what, just sort of thrust out there. I went for the “Beaune” figuring it would be a safe bet that it was a decent Pinot noir. It was. The junior staff seemed a little clueless throughout the meal, while the seniors were better. We ordered a crab tartine to share as a starter. It took 30 minutes. Also, not a lot of crab. We asked the staff if anything was wrong in the kitchen today. The explanation was that the restaurant was nearly full so things were taking longer. But it’s lunchtime. The restaurant is supposed to be full. I suspect the real issue was that the kitchen was short staffed. Knowing that the kitchen was slow, I’d have at least given the tables some baguette and butter or something. Since we’d been waiting for quite a long while and had inquired, they did offer us a dish of olives while we waited for our mains, which was nice. Finally the sandwiches came out. They weren’t bad, but a little meager for the cost, particularly the pulled pork. The bread was tasty enough and the quality of the ingredients was good, but I’d have liked a little more butter on the ham and the pulled pork needed, well, more pulled pork. All in, lunch came to $87 for what you see in the pics (olives were free, $4 if you ordered them), which didn’t feel like good value at all. As much as I like the brasserie, I’m very reluctant to recommend the cafe for more than a drink or two. Overall, I rate them two stars for falling below reasonable expectations.

Walked into this little Paris cafe for breakfast which turned out to be a very nice experience. We had tartine which is a French style open-faced bread with egg, olives and tomatoes. Also had a pot of black French coffee which was great for two! Love the setting, love the staff who were very friendly and welcoming. A great place to relax on a Saturday morning. Will try the backyard with natural lighting the next time!