Le Brun -- Restaurant Review

95 Rue Saint Honoré, 75001
Metro line #1 Louvre-Rivoli
Tel: 09 54 00 10 47
For hours of operation and entertainment information check their website
https://le-brun.fr/

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 (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

3.5 - Star......................................................€€......................................................... 3 - Bell

Note: noise level will be high when band is playing. So if you want a quiet romantic dinner, this is not the place for you. 

This restaurant is somewhat located in a tourist area on "Rue Saint Honoré", but tonight I would say it was about 1/4 tourist and the rest French.  The restaurant is deceiving because it's quite large, it extends to the back, and downstairs there are more tables.

As we entered it was very warm and inviting. There was a bar and it looked like they stocked up pretty well. And unbeknownst to us there would later be a duo performing, one on a sax and clarinet, and another on the piano. It made dining so much more enjoyable since the kind of music that they were playing was "crooner" type of music.

If you make reservations ask for a table in the main dining room, so you can see the actual performers. If you are downstairs, although cozy, there are no windows, so the ambience is a little different.

We perused the menu and it looked really interesting. They gave us an English menu, but I asked for a French menu, because oftentimes the translation from French to English make no sense.  So for example in English it said "larded prawns" which actually meant prawns cooked in bacon.

Also note a little trivia. You see the little house emblem at bottom right hand page, that means everything is made on premises or "home made" (Fait Maison). As I mentioned in earlier blogs, many restaurants buy pre-made food from "costcos" for chefs (e.g., Metro) and claim it as their own So, the new laws are getting stricter this days. It lets you know if it's just being heated up or they actually cooked it on premises, I think this is a very good law.


ENTRÉE

Octopus carpaccio.  I have to say we were not very fond of this entrée. It was too confusing. We all agreed, separately the items would've been lovely, but together, you want scream out and tell the chef, "less is more". The mango gave the octopus an almost fluorescent yellow color. Not sure why the pomegranate seeds were added. Sometimes simple is more. The combination of textures, flavors was very confusing. It's like asking, "what the hell do you wanna be when you get older?' So, not a hit.






PLAT

Pork. The pork was confit'd, it was delicious. So moist and not at all dry. The fatty portion of the pork was melt in your mouth delicious. Although the rosemary was added I think as a garnish, I actually broke it up and used it to further flavor the pork. Overall, this was a simple confit'd pork and it was delicious. So, this dish was a hit.







Since I did not take pictures of the other main dishes I will not review then, but I did taste Jack's risotto and it was delicious.

We opted not to have dessert, but continue drinking and listing to this fabulous duo who crooned away.

WINE.  CHÂTEAU HAUT SELVE ROUGE 2015.  A Graves red wine with tassting notes of black fruits and peonies. Jack and the rest of the gang loved it. I drank a rosé from Provence.

















SUMMARY

I thought the ambience and the setting was quite lovely. The service was very good. They didn't rush because they knew that there would be entertainment for us later, and they didn't disappoint with this wonderful duo "crooners" who made our dinner special. Now onto the food.

Entrée of octopus, although not bad, was way too confusing for us. Did it want to be a simple entrée or was it fighting to be a fruit salad. Personally, I thought they should have gotten rid of the pomegranate, the texture against the octopus was not pleasant. It's not a horrible dish, but just poorly composed.

Plat. We had the pork, and I have to say the confi'd pork was excellent, tender and succulent, and the pieces of skin just melt in your mouth. So, this was a hit for me.

Although, I didn't like the entrée, overall it's a restaurant worth going back. I rated it higher because of the service, entertainment and the excellent plat.

We had 4-entrées, 4-plats, a bottle of wine, 3-glasses or rosé for 4 people and our bill came to 193€or 48.25€ a person. Very reasonable, considering you're also being entertained.