Ambassade d'Auvergne - Paris Comfort Food At It's Best

I have many favorite comfort food restaurants I love in Paris and one of my all time favorites ( I desperately hope it never changes) is the restaurant that features the cooking from the Auvergne ( central France) area.

Located in the Marais in an ancient house (two floors) it has been running since 1968. Comfortably spaced tables, the service is well rhythmed, the welcome warm and the prices moderate and the food, absolutely delicious, made up of hearty peasant dishes to showcase the quiet pleasures of the French cooking.

This is stick-to-your-ribs food, no fou fou here. Start off by trying a large bowl ( that call it a salad – but no greens here) of brown PUY lentils seasoned with vinegar, a large amount of creamy goosefat, nice chopped thin onions and chunks of very thin Auvergne bacon all mixed together – served warmed and you spoon as much as you wish on your plate. Maybe slices of Bon de coche de la Chataigneraie, one of the world’s finest hams. Rubbed with salt and aged for 6 months in a smokehouse over a chestnut-wood fire.
For your main, I like the Guinea Fowl stuffed with cabbage, but just a stuffed cabbage is also a star here. One of the best dishes here is the sausage and cabbage served with aligot. Aligot is a staple of the Auvergnat region. It’s a blend of whipped potatoes, young Tomme cheese and garlic and it provides a bit of old-fashioned table side theatre, since the waiter brings it to the table in a thick copper pot and whips it a few times, holding his wooden spoon high so that you can see that is has the surprising texture of molten latex and is it good! Not, make that great! Even if you don’t order it, ask them to bring you a sample, they will.

Talk about comfort food, this is the place.
Located at the North Corner of the centre Pompidou.