L'Escudella, 41 avenue de Ségur, Paris 7
In early 2017, my late friend John Talbott awarded L’Escudella (it means “bowl” in Catalan) one of the highest evaluations I’d ever seen from him. L and I soon tried it and had a couple of excellent meals, if not quite at the heights John had described. We were then took friends of ours who have an apartment not far away in the seventh arrondissement; the meal was disappointing, and the wine list, which had been very good and at reasonable markups on our previous visits, had become less good and at much higher markups. That experience crossed the restaurant off our list. I don’t know if there was a change of ownership, a change of chef, both, or something else, but life’s too short and the number of outstanding restaurants in Paris is too large to have wanted to go back.
Then, this past January L and I had an excellent lunch at L’Évadé in the 9th and learned that it was the sister restaurant of L’Escudella, Rémi Poulain being chef at both of them. It seemed that a revisit to L’Escudella was in order.
The restaurant has an inconspicuous front on a leafy street in a very bourgeois neighborhood that is dominated by monolithic buildings of UNESCO and the French Ministry of Health.
The interior is narrow but warm with no crowding:
I chose to sit outside on an evening that was spring-like, but not yet warm.
The carte at dinner was appetizing, if somewhat standard:
The wine list is excellent at all levels of price and the wines are at reasonable markups. The wines by the glass were reasonable, too:
but it is really some of the bottle selections that would tempt me to come back.
As an amuse-bouche, I was served a purée of carrot that seemed to have some rye in it and also bottarga, a very good combination; and a focaccia with olive oil that was also very good.
I chose to start with the gambas fried in a crust with ramps and tzatzki with yuzu. This was an excellent choice, with all the ingredients being of excellent freshness and very flavorful.
I took a glass of 2023 Sancerre blanc from Alphonse Mellot, my first 2023 from the area, and while acceptable, it was a little too ripe — possibly a problem for the region in that vintage.
For my main course, I took the pork cheek, shallot, and tiny potatoes, not entirely as described on the carte, but good and with balance and precision of flavor.
With that dish, I took a glass of 2021 Sancerre rouge (from Pinot Noir), also from Alphonse Mellot. Alas, just as the 2023 blanc was a little too ripe for my palate, this wine was a little bit underripe.
I would have loved to have had a cheese or dessert, but the truth was, I was full already, so I passed.
Nevertheless, I was provided with a delicious mignardise, a hazelnut pastry filled with pastry cream and with white chocolate cream and lemon confite on top:
The bill, reasonable for the food quality and the neighborhood:
On the way back to the Métro, I passed this alterations shop with cute mini-mannequins in the window:
I’d sooner go to L’Escudella’s sister restaurant L’Évadé than to L’Escudella because L’Évadé (1) has somewhat more contemporary food and (2) is closer to where I live. That said, L’Escudella will provide you with a quality meal to relax over, and even better if you want to choose a good bottle of wine.
L’Escudella
41, rue de Ségur, 75007 Paris
Tél: 09 82 28 70 70
Mon-Sat lunch and dinner
Métro: Ségur, Saint-François-Xavier, École Militaire