One incredibly warm day while out exploring Paris, the boy and I stumbled into Champeaux Restaurant, part of the Alan Ducasse empire. We’d been checking out the Les Halles area and required sustenance and I just happened to recognise this restaurant from one of LTL’s IG posts from a while back. The feature wall of the restaurant has the menu displayed on those old school train schedule boards, fitting as the restaurant is right above the Chalet Les Halles metro station.

We couldn’t resist ordering the French onion soup ($12) after spying it at a neighbouring table. It was a deliciously soul warming soup packed with a truckload of sweet translucent onion. A slice of cheesy bread came on the side instead of floating in the soup and getting all soggy but ah how I wished there was a layer of melty cheese in the soup!

I had my heart set on a souffle, there was the option of a cheese souffle ($10) but the flavour of the week was the Lobster souffle ($12) which swayed me.

The waiter poked a small hole into the souffle before quickly pouring in the lobster bisque. The aroma of the bisque was just so incredibly heady and fragrant. The souffle is tall and impossibly light, I gleefully dig into the ethereal cloudlike innards with spoonfuls of the intense lobster bisque before all too soon it is demolished.

The 180g Charolais beef tartare ($21) was a good sized portion compared to other restaurants we had been where it’s normally a whole mountain of raw meat. It was nicely seasoned and we appreciated the side salad and hot chips but wished we had some bread to eat it with.

The Duck leg Parmentier ($18) wasn’t quite what I had in mind, I guess I just saw the word duck leg and assumed I’d be getting the duck whole but instead the dish was served more like a shepherd’s pie with morsels of shredded duck. It was fine but it was so incredibly rich and I was struggling to make a dent in this and had to admit defeat which meant not being able to try the chocolate souffle -_- woe is me.

Champeaux Restaurant
Forum des Halles
Porte Rambuteau
75001 Paris

Trading Hours:
7 days: 12pm – 12am

Have you ever chosen to dine at a restaurant solely because of one item you’ve seen on the menu? That’s what happened when we spotted the Twice baked souffle with roquefort sauce ($21) and decided to visit Bistro Guillaume. I friggen love cheese souffles and this a must order. The souffle was the very definition of a cloud. One deliciously cheesy cloud! The souffle was so light and fluffy with a base hit of salty roquefort sauce. The souffle does come in different sizes and I definitely recommend getting the larger one especially if you’re sharing 😛

I’m not sure why but there was just something I couldn’t quite put a finger on why I didn’t like the Chicken liver parfait with pear chutney ($20). I think partly because of the texture as it wasn’t firm enough and felt a like it was on the verge of dissolving into a puddle of liver liquid. And maybe I was crazy but it tasted super metallic and bitter to me hmm moving along now

Our waiter knew we were sharing all the food so while it was nice of them to split the Grainge Signature 300 Day Grain Fed Steak Frites ($48) for us (and we’re pretty sure we got more fries than normal), I kinda wished the steak arrived whole because um FOR THE PICS but also lol when the tiny piece of steak arrived I was like Oh… It’s so smol. But the steak was great! It’s been ages since I’ve had a good steak and Bistro Guillaume nails it! Nicely seared on the outside but with a tender and juicy medium rare. While I love eggs, for some reason I have issues with bearnaise (and also hollandaise) sauce and for once it’s not a texture thing. But scraping the sauce to the side is an easy enough fix so I could enjoy the steak in all it’s true steaky form.

The Confit duck leg ($42) is a beauty with juicy and incredibly tender meat and a tile of perfectly crisp skin. I sneakily dug around for the roasted brussel sprouts buried under the duck and loved the fresh pops of pomegranate.

The Cauliflower gratin ($15) was a pretty generous serving, and oh so cheesy with a deliciously tasty breadcrumb crust.

But the Paris mash ($12)! My god please bury me in that mash! Ridiculously smooth and buttery and just so delicious I could eat this forever.

There’s just something about a dessert trolley displaying perfectly arranged treats that speaks to me. Everything on the Petit fours trolley was $2 each and a definite must order is their salted caramels! Perfect balance of sweet and salty, it’s chewy but it won’t stick to a molar and remove a filling.