Panurge, 24 rue du Sentier, Paris 2
Panurge, which opened about three weeks ago, is the bistrot sister of Pantagruel. The latter started at this same location, and over the years, chef Jason Gouzy evolved Pantagruel more in the gastronomic direction. With Panurge taking over the location, Pantagruel will soon re-open on the rue de Richelieu in the space once occupied by Zébulon, among other restaurants. If you loved Pantagruel, which opened in December 2019, you will love its successor, Panurge.
As I indicated above, Panurge is essentially the reincarnation of the earlier Pantagruel, and one sees that immediately upon entering the restaurant:
Virtually nothing has changed.
For our lunch, I believe we were the only non-French customers, and most people seemed to be in the 30-50 age range.
At lunch, you have a choice of a menu or the same à la carte offerings as in the evening:
As tempting as the à la carte offerings are, we could not resist the 30€ three-course lunch menu, an incredible value. (Don’t worry, I am returning soon to test the evening offerings and will report back.)
The wine list is all or almost-all natural wine producers in the sense that they are organic and/or biodynamic. The list is notable for the excellence of its selections and its breadth. At the bottom end, markups can be a little high, but not unduly so, and as one goes up in price, the percentage markups over retail seems to decrease.
The by-the-glass wine selections:
With our meal, we chose to take a bottle of 2022 Pinot Noir reserve from Meyer-Fonné in Alsace.
As I’ve mentioned before, with climate change and improved viti- and viniculture practices, Pinot Noir from Alsace is coming on very strong, and often offers much better quality at the same price point than Burgundy.
The wine was excellent, with richness, balance, and elegance. As is so often the case, though, we had to ask for an ice bucket to cool the wine down from room temperature.
We started with the green bean salad with hollandaise sauce:
This was an outstanding dish with the hazelnuts and the sauce making texture and flavor contrasts to the green beans, and everything being fresh, pure, and well-defined.
Next came Provençal zucchini filled with veal :
The dish was outstanding with well-defined flavors and an overall elegance to what could have been a rustic dish.
Dessert was a rhubarb and strawberry vacherin:
Vacherin is perhaps my favorite dessert, and this was a superb rendition with the ripeness of the strawberries and the rhubarb coming through and blending seamlessly, and complemented by the whipped cream and the meringue.
The bottom line for two outstanding lunches plus a full bottle of excellent wine, and of course tax and tip:
Lunch at Panurge is proof that even in today’s central Paris, you can get food at a very high order of cuisine for a most reasonable price. I highly urge you to go.
Panurge
24, rue du Sentier, 75002 Paris
Monday-Friday lunch and dinner
Tel: 01 73 74 77 28
website: https://www.restaurant-panurge.com/
Métro: Grands Boulevards (lines 8 and 9), Bonne Nouvelle (lines 8 and 9), Sentier (line 3)