Amazing gratin!
Most satisfying meal in Paris!
The best gratin, bar none…
Read the online reviews of Bistro Des Augustin in Paris and you’ll be hooked. There’s no way to overstate the simple deliciousness of the gratin at this humble little restaurant at the corner of the Pont Neuf and the Seine river in Paris, on the Left Bank.
Also billed as a wine bar, Bistro Des Augustin is known primarily for its gratins and provides a nice selection of them, from vegetarian with tomatoes or eggplant, to duck breast or chicken, to smoked salmon. But the one that four of my colleagues chose on a recent summer evening after work (on a business trip) was the Bistro Gratin.
As you can see, this dish is swimming in creamy, cheesy goodness, browned to perfection on top and sprinkled with extra herbs of Provence. Bits of bacon dot every bite of the perfectly cooked potatoes. All four of my colleagues who ordered this meal were close to swooning with the goodness of it. I realized after begging a bite that I had made a huge error in judgment by ordering a (very good) smoked salmon and goat cheese salad, copying our only French colleague in the group and trying to eat healthy. Mistake! The salad was lovely, fresh and flavorful, but the Bistro Gratin far surpassed it – it was downright heavenly. You know those dishes your grandmother made waaaaaay back when you were a child and no one has ever been able to reproduce, no matter how hard and how often they tried? That’s the taste in this gratin; it’s grandmotherly good, an instant and permanent deep-seated taste memory.
The menu lists the ingredients for the Bistro Gratin: potatoes, cream, egg, bacon, herbs de Provence, garlic and Emmental cheese. I haven’t been able to find a recipe with this precise mix of ingredients on the internet, but I am on a mission to recreate this cheesy, rustic masterpiece.
I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough, and noticed in the online reviews that many of the testimonials include a mention of eating there two or more times during the same vacation! In addition to the mouth-watering, jealous-making (if you didn’t order it) gratin, Bistro Des Augustins has a Parisian homey charm and an authentic, true sense of place. Did I mention that it is tiny? There are perhaps a dozen tables, half inside and half out.
Here’s one final shot of the Bistro Gratin, until I can replicate it at home and share it with you here.
Resources
- Bistro Des Augustins Facebook page
- The closest recipe I could find on the internet: Potato Gratin Dauphinois
- More Paris-related posts from Glover Gardens
Copyright 2017, Glover Gardens Cookbook ~ with thanks, again, to my colleagues for sharing their time, their photos and those bites of gratin (from just the one) ~
This sounds wonderful, great description! I wish I’d known about the restaurant when I was there in March. Still there’s always the next time!
With Paris, there’s always a “next time,” right?!!! I love your blog, by the way.
Too true…always a next time! Thanks for the comment about my blog.
Your photos have me salivating! This place is definitely on the list for my next visit to the City of Light.
Sharon, thank you! And I hope to see some photos when you visit Bistro Des Augustins and indulge in the gratin. A friend of mine from high school is in Paris right now and may be going there tomorrow night – so I’m a little jealous and salivating, too!
I stayed at an apartment right next door to this place in May. We walked by it at least 8 times a day. The fact that we never stopped for a meal makes me very sad. We were never looking for a meal when we walked by. I saw it, I smelt it, I blew it. We should of stopped
Derek – there’s always a next time for Paris, right?! Especially if you have a friend with an apartment next door… 🙂
And also, Derek, who blew it worse – you for not going in when you had the chance, or me for not ordering the gratin??? 🙂
Well I wouldn’t say a friend. Friends would of given me a break on the rent, but I did love staying there. No regrets
I get the impression you liked the gratin 😉
I would love the vegetarian version.
Looking at this makes me miss Paris, so much amazing food. Thank you for sharing the restaurant!
Thank you for responding to it – as a blogger, you know how great it feels when your words and pics and experiences strike a chord with others. Paris calls you back, again and again, doesn’t it? I had a ten-year gap and missed it terribly, but it still welcomed me like a long-lost family member when I returned this year.
Inspiring!
Yes! And if I ever conquer this dish, Glover Gardens Cookbook followers will be the first to know. 🙂
I ate there in April and am craving the gratin now and looking recreate it at home. This is how I found your blog! Did you recreate it successfully? Any tips?
Hi Laura, I’m glad you landed here! I haven’t perfected this in my kitchen yet, but I think they cook or par-cook the potatoes first. The recipe link in the blog is pretty close if you add ham and the Herbs de Provence (or at least thyme; I think that’s the predominant herb taste). But next time I make it I will definitely boil the potatoes first, then slice them and assemble the recipe.
If you make it, please come back and let me know how it was. I’d love to get pictures, too, and do a follow-up post, or link to yours if you have a blog. I’ve been back to Bistro des Augustin more than a half-dozen times in the past couple of years, and it is always just stellar.