Finding
the Best Tripe in
Paris
Great Restaurants for Offal in
the French Capital
Love it
or hate it, pigs' feet is an audacious dish.
Like a majority of offal dishes, it usually
elicits a strong reaction from everyone,
including British tourists, who don’t
necessarily hold the dish in the best
regard.
Likewise,
to enjoy tripe is a secret pleasure—a pleasure
chiefly from the Mediterranean, which is
highlighted by Alexandre Dumas: “Seven cities
have fought among each other to have the honor
of being the place of Homer’s birth. France
and
Italy have disputed that of having
discovered the preparation of beef
tripe.”
African Lounge
20 bis, rue Jean-Giradoux, 75116
Paris
Tel: 01 47 20 58 14
In Africa, tripe is sautéed slowly and heavily
spiced, but the meat remains firm and almost
crunchy, as it can be found at the brand new
and elegant African Lounge in Paris’ 16th
arrondissement. Here, two African chefs and a
young French chef work together to familiarize
us with the flavors of Cameroon and Senegal in
West Africa.
Moissonnier
28, rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard, 75005
Paris
Tel: 01 43 29 87 65
Le Petit Mâchon
123, rue de la Convention, 75015
Paris
Tel: 01 45 54 08
62 A dish
hailing from
Lyon, breaded tripe consists of the
thinnest strips of the paunch, one of the four
compartments in bovine stomachs. The cuts are
marinated in white wine, fried and served with
vinaigrette of boiled eggs, capers, pickles and
herbs. This figures on the menus of both
Moissonier in Paris’ 5th arrondissement, and Le
Petit Mâchon in the 15th.
Le Quincy
28, avenue Ledru-Rollin, 75012
Paris
Tel: 01 46 28 46 76
Specializing in a genre of cuisine that existed
before the advent of
nouvelle cuisine, and thought to have
virtually disappeared off the culinary map, Le
Quincy, adorned with trinkets and checkered
tablecloths, triumphs in its preparation of
tête de veau, or calf’s head, and
pieds et paquets marseillais or
trotters and sheep’s tripe from Marseille. The
owner, a very talkative native of Franche-Comté
dressed in butcher’s garb, can go on about the
merits of totally cooked tête de
veau—much more flavorful—as compared to a
rolled preparation of the
same. The new
chef, Laurent Josépiak, from
Benoît in Paris’ 4th arrondissement, is a
perfectionist. The pieds et paquets
marseillais, on Le Quincy’s menu all year,
are as good as those of Reine Sammut à la
Fernière in Northern Provence. The trotters are
blanched and flambéed, while the tripe is
garnished with a hash of ribs, garlic and
parsley; and the sauce made more flavorful with
a hint of cayenne pepper.
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La Bastide Odéon
7, rue Corneille, 75006
Paris
Tel: 01 43 26 03
65
This restaurant, with Gilles Ajuelos at
the helm, maintains the Marseillaise
tradition of serving sheep tripe, with
the dish regularly featured on its
menu.
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Le Bistrot d’à côté
10, Gustave-Flaubert, 75017
Paris
Tel: 01 42 67 05 81
This restaurant, run by Michel Rostang, also
follows the Marseillaise tradition of including
sheep tripe on its menu.
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