Paris With a Parisian

Le nansouty, a genuine neighborhood restaurant and a hidden gem

As most tourists will focus on the south side of Montmartre, the north is attracting more and more amazing food talents. Opened in a former boulangerie on what used to be le village Ramey (a typical montmartre street covered with vegetable carriages back in the early 1900s), le Nansouty offers a choice of over 100 wines and an amazing, earthly French cuisine.

It is an initié insight. You don’t bump into the Nansouty. Either you know somebody living in the area, either you read about it. Because the place is discreet. It looks like a tiny café, and has kept its vintage grocery shop twist. Inside, the ceiling still has that victorian decor typical of Paris’s food shops, while the shelves are litterally folding under the weight of exquisite French wine bottles. Cold meats and hams hang in the windows, and an ever changing menu on moveable blackboards hops from table to table.

The keyword here is hospitality. No snobs, no foodies overlooking you because you don’t have the last fashion codes. A genuine 18th district feel (just like me, darn, I live right next door!). The waiters are smiling and knowledgeable, the kitchen is open and you can see what’s happening over there, and there is even a big Table d’Hôte, if you come here by yourself, to be sitted with other lonely guests and create a friendly instant.

The food rocks. Fresh from the market, the Nansouty focuses on the ingredients, let it be fresh Mozzarella, Spanish bellota ham, tasty swordfish or lesser known meat cuts. Everything is served sizzling in some antique Staub oven dishes, right out of the kitchen. A little bit of tradition in the cooking process, a little bit of fuzzion in the mixing of spices and ingredients, a real taste for susprise.

The wine list itself is worth the visit. Not only it is huge, but it is genuine and stems from a personnal relationship between the restaurant and the producers. Most of the wines are Vins Naturels, that is organic wines, made without chemicals and foolowing ancient traditions like the moves of the moon for the harvest… They are indeed different from the wines we are used to, but offers a new frontier of fragrances and texture. The Beaujolais selection is to die for, with these amazing Morgon and Brouilly in a wax-sealed bottle.

The prices remain decent for the quality you get. A main course is around 19€, the wine between 25 and 40€ a bottle. But you will indulge, so expect the “addition” to go beyond what you thought it would be when you sat there in the first place, and remember, it’s all your fault!

It’s a great place to have dinner with friends, or even for a date. And it is open on Monday nights, which is definitely a plus in the City of Lights.

Le Nansouty

35 rue Ramey 75018 Paris

Metro Chateau-Rouge/Jules Joffrin

Tel: +33 1 42 52 58 87