Papa Poule Paris Bastille

Wandering around near our hotel near Bastille, we were looking for a place to eat.  We had a place in mind, but we fell in the trap of "restaurant is closed for August".  Hence, we went from place to place trying to find a reasonably-priced, yet tasty spot.  After an hour of mindless walking, I had enough and put my foot down.  We are eating at this place! - pointing at Papa Poule Paris Bastille.  I really had no clue about it and at this point, being hangry, didn't care!

The main draw about this place is that when you get Appies to share, they serve you a huge selection.  Look at all the goodies!  We had some Cold Seafood with rouille, Eggs Mayonaisse, Slaw, Beets & Apples, Bread, Pate and Lentil Salad.  They also have this option for desserts, but we didn't end up doing that since we were so full.  Back to the appies, the seafood was well-prepared with whole shrimp, mussels and conch.  I really enjoyed the lentils as they were soft yet still had a bite.  Good sweetness from the onions.

Onto our entrees, they came in pretty generous portions including the Veal Breast with confit olives, scamorza potato puree and tomatoes.  Oh this was purely delicious as the veal breast was tender and nicely seared.  The potato puree was creamy and cheesy.  Really enjoyed the sauce as it was meaty, tangy and sweet.  It was great compliment to the meat.  Also, those tomatoes were pops of tang.

Beautifully plated, the Duck Breast was complimented by figs.  The duck breast itself (that you can just barely see) was prepared medium with fairly rendered skin.  Hence, the meat was juicy and while the skin was slightly crispy.  It was properly seasoned where the sweetness from the fig puree was a natural match.  Loved the fresh figs on the plate, not only for aesthetics, but also great to eat. 

We ended up ordering the featured fish dish with the Seared Sea Bream with zucchini and peas with a cream sauce.  The fish was cooked perfectly being moist and flaky.  It was a touch buttery too.  The skin was crispy and well-seasoned.  The cream sauce was full of umaminess and was lightly sweet.  Those peas were super fresh and had pops of added sweetness.  Zucchini was slightly charred and still firm.

For myself, I had the Rack of Lamb with hazelnut crust and served with beans and onion tartin.  This was a huge portion of medium-rare lamb that was not as tender as I would've hoped.  It was not chewy though, but a little difficult to eat including the large fat cap.  However, it was seasoned nicely though and the onions added sweetness.  The jus mixed with herb oil provided more aromatics.

We decided not to do the "all the desserts" thing that they have here (maybe regretting it a bit), but they ended up serving us some Gougères anyways.  These featured choux pastry that was light and airy with a bit of crispiness on the ouside.  The cream in the middle was lightly sweet.  In the end, I actually regretted that we didn't do the dessert spread.  This was especially true after Joyce had it and raved about it.  But at least I got to try the appies and the mains.  Those were really good and in generous portions.  Prices were reasonable too.  Highly-recommended.

The Good:
- Those appy and dessert spreads!
- Solid eats
- Generous portions

The Bad:
- For once, I really have nothing bad to say about the place!