Cafe des Deux Moulins

Could this be the place? IT IS A DUMP! But in the spirit of good journalism I decided to try it. How Hollywood certainly glamourizes things!

Or maybe they just cleaned the place for the film!

The interior is classic and old. The floors are tiled and the walls decorated with mirrors a mural painted here and there. The cafe is lighted with art tall deco lamps with golden colored shades. The ceilings are painted golden yellow with light blue insets. A worn poster from the film Amelie is taped to the back mirror. The ceiling are lined with neon. The table are classic formica topped with red paper sheets and yellow napkins.

The water bottle (carafe d'eau) is gritty as gritty as the environment.

For my entree I choose the Oeuf Mayonaise which is basically classic french appetizer. It's two eggs sliced in half with homemade mayo and a bit of potato salad in the middle. You eat the mayo on the egg then die of cholestoral poisoning. Dead, by satisfied. The dish is good but I have had better. €4.90

This place is popular with the Japanese, who you always see in the cafe, because the film was so popular in Japan. They are so cute with their giggles and watching them trying to translate they menu. They are also very polite as they bow when bidding “au revior”.

The balance of clientele is as gritty as the neighborhood (as is the staff).

There are a variety of specials listed on the chalkboard all priced around €10-12. From what I see people ordering around me, they are simple and basic and look decent. Remember this place is the equivalent to a New Jersey diner, which I never frequent.

For my main dish, today I just ordered the frisee aux lardons. Frisee aux lardon is a salad made with curly endive topped with warm thickl cut bacon and egg derssed with vinegrette. This is a warm salad from the hot bacon and sometimes they even use bacon fat with the oil. I am gonna die. $8.60

The salad is topped with diced hard cooked egg, although in the past I have always had it with a poached egg which is so delicious when the yoke runs onto the salad. I also miss that their are no croutons. Nonetheless, the salad is warm and tasty.

Of course no lunch at a sleezy French cafe would be complete without a creme brulee. I must say it was artful and delicious. The top was golden and nicely encrusted and the creme was light with a decent vanilla flavour specked with seed from the vanilla beans. €5.60

Service here is friendly and real. It's a neighborhood place with neighborhood people. There is no extra charge for inhaling cigarette smoke. Visiting cafe des Deux Moulins also gets you out of glamorous central Paris to see how the other half lives.

To close this out I would change comment in the first paragraph, this is a “dump with character”.

Total bill including one glass of cheap white wine (€5.60, a rip off) was €23.60 (about $26 and another ripoff). For a few more Euro, you could eat somewhere nice.

Cafe des Deux Moulin, 15 rue Lepic, 75018 Paris (a few blocks from the Moulin Rouge, but that's another film).

Don't even try to make a reservation.

Blogging from Europe via Blackberry and AT&T Wireless

Comments

[BARBARAB]

THIS DID NOT SOUND INTERESTING AT ALL, ALTHO I LOVED THE FILM. CREME BRULEE SOUNDS GREAT-ONE OF MY FAVORITE DESSERTS AND DON'T YOU LIKE IT WHEN THE CRUST IS SO HARD. GREAT CRITIQUE!! I TALKED TO JENNIFER AND SHE IS GOING TO E-MAIL YOU. SHE GOT ON YOUR WEB.