Bombance, 40 rue des Blancs Manteaux, Paris 4
Bombance (the name means “feast” in French) opened in August 2023. Chef Guillaume Campion previously has worked in Paris at le Grand Véfour and le Lancaster, and in Provence at le Château de Berne, among others. The website describes the cuisine as bistronomic, and the carte changes frequently to reflect current, fresh seasonal ingredients.
The restaurant is located in the Marais, not far from the Pompidou Center, the Hôtel de Ville, and the Musée Carnavalet, among other places. Based on this initial visit, it provides very good food and exceptional value, and is most worthy of your exploring.
Our lunch was on a Friday during a week that featured two holidays. Many French took advantage of that situation to take the whole week off; as a result, there were few Parisians in town, but many French visitors from outside Paris; plus it was still too early in the season to have many non-French in Paris.
At lunch one can choose from a 23/28€ formule, which includes the first courses and the desserts from the regular menu, with only the main course set.
L and I each chose the formule, which had lieu jaune (pollack) with vegetables for the main course.
The wine list is not studded with names that will be familiar to anyone other than a wine professional (although there is a supplemental prestige list that includes wines from the likes of Lafite-Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild, Chave, and de Montille), but it is well-chosen and the markups are fair. It is heavy on organic and biodynamic wines.
Starting as an aperitif and continuing to the first course, we each took a glass of 2019 Saumur blanc (Chenin Blanc grape) La Guichardière fromDomaine Regnier David. The wine was not bad, but for the 2019 vintage, I expected a bit more flesh on it.
For her first course, L chose the assiette Saint-Germain, a salad of roast beef, mayonnaise with red cabbage, garlic crouton, and capers. She was very happy with it.
I chose the pig’s foot (pied de cochon) with red cabbage and vinaigre.
I am a huge fan of pig’s foot, and this did not disappoint — it was light, crisp, and flavorful with just the right contrast offered by the red cabbage.
If one takes the formule, there is no choice for the main course, so we both had the pollack with red and yellow carrots, spinach, and herbs and capers.
The generous serving was cooked perfectly and the fish was light and flavorful — a true delight. Along with that, I took a glass of 2019 Mâcon-Clessé from the esteemed Domaine de Bongran.
The wine was rich and full-bodied, although lacking in finesse and precision. Overall, it was satisfactory, but nothing more.
For dessert, we split the pistachio financière and ice cream with kiwi tartare.
The dish was far better than it looks — in fact, it was delicious with precise flavors and not too much sweetness, although the kiwi didn’t really add anything.
The bottom line for two formules and three glasses of wine was 80€:
This represents exceptional value for high-quality, sophisticated cuisine, and even more so considering that it is located in one of the hearts of Paris’s tourist areas.
Bombance
40, rue des Blancs Manteaux, Paris 75004
Telephone: 01 45 35 44 62
website: bombanceparis.fr
Métro: Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville, Chatelet
Wednesday-Saturday lunch and dinner