Entrecôte de Paris is one of several famous Paris entrecôte steakhouses. It’s located on the corner of rue de Marignan and the Champs-Élysées, opposite the Italian pizzeria, Dino’s. The restaurant is spread over three floors, the bottom (or basement) best avoided for two reasons, (a) there’s no view and (b) it’s also where the toilets are located so your meal will be constantly interrupted by a stream of…um, toilet traffic.
We sat upstairs, lucky to find a table by the open window looking onto the busy Champs, and were served by a smiley young man of middle eastern origin, Nabil. The interior of the restaurant is typical French brasserie, casual and unpretentious, with Gingham ‘Vichy’ tablecloth and old style wooden chairs.
Entrecôte de Paris has a set menu for €22 per person which includes a small walnut salad, grilled sirloin with its famous sauce, and fries. I found the salad shockingly small and unkept, a few pieces of dried walnuts (not even grated or crushed) the only indication it was a walnut salad.
We ordered our entrecôte steaks done medium-rare, medium and medium-well, and got them exactly how we ordered them. And because of our super-fussy daughter, we asked for the sauce to be served, untraditionally, on the side.
FYI, the steaks are usually served on a bed of sauce. Note, it is advisable to order your steaks a doneness down from usual, e.g. if you normally order medium, order medium rare because the steaks will keep cooking on the hot plate it is served on.
In addition to be being cooked perfectly, our steaks were really good, not fantastic, simply really good. Having visited so many entrecôte restaurants all over the world, Geneva in particular, we were expecting a little more from the Paris original. We left feeling a little underwhelmed. Let’s see, we shall try Le Relais de l’Entrecôte next to see if the French can recover some entrecote honour.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.