Le Timbre

You know, just hangin' out with Christopher Wright,
head (and only) chef at Le Timbre.
Just your average Saturday night. Oh wait...

Oh Le Timbre, how can I express my love for thee?

Seriously though, how do I describe in words the fantastic experience of my sensations while eating Christopher Wright's delicious take on French cuisine? Quite the impossible task, and sadly, I do not have photos to illustrate the beauty of the food before I inhaled it. However, I will give a brief rundown of the experience and highly recommend that you dine at Le Timbre during your next trip to Paris. Student or not, this is one not to miss -- and at 30 EUR for 3 courses at dinner, you can't get a cheaper, and dare I say better, michelin rated restaurant.

Le Timbre is exactly what it's name suggests: a small postage stamp- sized dinning room with a kitchen big enough only for 2 people. Luckily, there are only 2 people in this kitchen that opens up into the dining hall: one of them is Christopher Wright himself, the head and only chef at le timbre, the other is the dishwasher. The third member of the Le Timbre crew is the hard working hostess/ waitress who manages 24 customers all at once.

You have to make reservations to even get seen at Le Timbre due to its size, and we made ours for Saturday night at 9:30 pm. Upon arrival, we scooted snuggly into the table selected for us. We were offered an appératif of champagne which we couldn't refuse. Sipping on our champagne, we got to sneak a peak at what the diners around us were having. I heard the woman next to me raving over something that looked and smelled delicious, and I was sold before I even saw the menu.

The menu came out and as we looked over the wide and tempting selections, the waitress translated it into English and announced the specials.

The menu at Le Timbre tonight.

Jay and I made a pact to order different things and sample each other's dishes. Here's what we ordered:

Jay's selections:
Effeuille de haddock aux endives
Magret de canard, choucroute de navets
Queielles de chocolat, crème au jasmin
My selections:
Croustillant de hure de chochon aux capres
Plat du jour: confit du canard aux lentiles
Millefeuille du timbre

Jay said his favorite dish was the haddock, and I have to say, it tasted (in the words of barbara streisand) "like buttah." I have a really hard time pinpointing my favorite dish, but I remember that the confit du canard slid right off the bones, tasted like heaven, and made me feel like I could eat nothing else for the rest of my life that tasted so good. Ok, so perhaps I did have a favorite. But the millefeuille and croustillant were also delicious.

We each took a glass of wine that the hostess/ waitress recomended to us to accompany our dinner. 2 hours later, we were a pair of full and satisfied customers. I even told Jay that we should come back for lunch sometime, when the price goes down to an even more managable 20 EUR/ meal. We congratulated Mr. Wright for a meal well done and thanked him profusely for making our night. I'm sure he was exhausted, but he even let us take photos with him.

Jay with an exhausted Christopher Wright --
the endurance on this guy is amazing!

We left 85 EUR on the table tonight, though our bill came to 82 EUR. That's two three-course meals at a michelin rated restaurant, with 2 glasses of champagne and 2 glasses of wine. I know this is not quite "budget" food, but for the quality of the meal, I would have paid easily twice as much. I will remember this meal forever.

Total damages today:
greek pita sandwich and french fries: 5 EUR
dinner at le timbre, 1 glass of champagne, 1 glass of wine: 45 EUR