Le Gagnage -- Restaurant Review

Address:  46, Rue Falguiere 15eme

Tel: 01 43 22 54 48

Open:  Monday - Closed Sundays and Mondays
Metro: Line 12 Pasteur) 

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)

  3.75 - Star...............................................................€€.................................................................1 - Bell

A friend invited us to join him for lunch, and it turned out it was in the 15eme, cool, in our neighborhood.  We're always looking for new restaurants in our "hood."  It's called "Le Gagnage" meaning to forage.  It's a really cute restaurant maybe 24-tables at the most. As we walked in, I noticed our wait person looked really familiar, so I asked her if she had worked at "Le Gran Pan", also in the 15eme, and sure enough she did, and recognized us.  Her name is Aurélie Michel, she left Le Gran Pan in June and opened up Le Gagnage with Jérôme Michel from Garnier in September.  It's a very cute restaurant and Aurélie, from what I recall, was always so nice and pleasant at Le Gran Pan and carried that cordiality over to her new restaurant.

As we perused the menu, they had some really interesting choices. They had a formule, so for an entrée and plat  it was 27 euros.  They also had the special of the day, entrée and plat, or plat and dessert for 22 eruros. I thought the prices were very reasonable.

Two of us had the Gambas entrée, while one of us had the velouté de chou fleur (cauliflower).  Loved the gambas, seasoned perfectly, but the accompanying greens I found a bit strange. Almost as if it had been sitting around awhile so it lost some of its luster and crispness, but the gambas were EXCELLENT. They were seasoned with espelette, and they were pretty a pretty good size!

As for the soup, wow, that was our favorite entree of the meal. It was creamy, but not too heavy and  you didn't have to guess what it was, definitely cauliflower, and it had a nice slice of bacon on top, how can you go wrong with bacon n'est-ce pas?

For our plat.  One of us at the magret de canard. It was cooked "bleue" rare.  I'm not big on rare duck cause I find it very rubbery. But the person who had it loved it.

As for the sword fish, I found it extremely dry, but the accompanying saucy foam was nice. And the vegetables were good too. I hope this is not a trend that they like to overcook their fish.

Their signature dish is the Andouillette, a tripe sausage. This is the dish that they're known for, it's also hand-made. As many of us know you can get some really bad andouillette.  This was incredibly delicious. The tripe was nice and tender, and although it had the typical smell of tripe, it wasn't overwhelming; definitely a winner.

For dessert Two shared a fondant au chocolat  cake or what we know in the US as lava cake.  They both claimed it was delicious.

I had the cheese plate, and I have to say, the choices were wonderful, but there was one particular cheese that I totally fell in love with, "le Plaisir au chablis".  It was creamy, albeit a little on the smelly size, but I just adored it.





We all agreed that the swordfish was a bit overcooked; however, the few misses were more attributable to individual taste than anything else, example I do not like duck "rare".  We would definitely go back. In fact, next friends who want to go, we'll be happy to accompany you.

With 2 bottles of  Coiffy Pinot Noir and a half a bottle of Regnard, and a coffee, our bill came to about 150 euros for 3-people.