Mon Vieil Ami is a Parisian outpost of the Antoine Westermann empire although I booked it because it was in an area I wanted to visit and, unusually for Paris, you could book a table on-line. It is in a great location on Ile Saint-Louis close to Notre Dame Cathedral. The menu emphasises the use of vegetables as a focus for each plate and is based on the seasonal availability of ingredients.
The restaurant is on the ground floor in the centre of an elegant stone apartment block. The dining room is small but tall with dark wooden panelling and furniture. As you enter the dining room the left hand side of the room has a high continuous dining table for communal eating, the centre of the room has the main serving station decorated with large vases of lilies and the right hand side of the room has small tables for individual diners. At the far end of the room is a white painted stone wall and a passage through to the kitchen.
The restaurant is on the ground floor in the centre of an elegant stone apartment block. The dining room is small but tall with dark wooden panelling and furniture. As you enter the dining room the left hand side of the room has a high continuous dining table for communal eating, the centre of the room has the main serving station decorated with large vases of lilies and the right hand side of the room has small tables for individual diners. At the far end of the room is a white painted stone wall and a passage through to the kitchen.
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The menu is a mixture of daily specials, market specials and the a la carte where the appetizers, main courses and desserts are priced consistently. Wonderful crusty bread was served with a wrapped pat of butter to kick things off.
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The chosen starter was Hazelnut based on the translated English menu. The full dish was listed as hazelnuts, green apple & potatoes as a salad with herring and acidulous cream. This was a huge starter and arrived in a tureen so that you could serve yourself at the table. The nuts were actually walnuts and they were combined with the potatoes, radish, chives and apples and dressed with an oil & vinegar mix. The herring & sour cream were placed on top of the salad. This was a very nice mix particularly as the herring seemed to have a gentle smoked flavour. It summed up as a pleasant start to the meal. Nothing outstanding, just a solid dish.
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The main was Parsnip Mousseline served with fried Sea Bream fillet and a red wine sauce. The dish only consisted of these listed items with a small dressed beet leaf garnish. The parsnip and red wine sauce were both very strong, rich components and the dish could not have worked if the fish did not have the strength to stand up to them. The bream was seasoned and cooked perfectly and overall this dish was just outstanding, despite its seeming simplicity.
Chosen dessert was vanilla and honey pannacotta with mango & passionfruit. Contrary to expectation this was a pannacotta served in a glass with a topping of mango and passionfruit seeds. The pannacotta was sublime and spooning into the dessert meant that the passionfruit juice blended with it to make it a really superb combination. The mango cubes were refreshing but didn’t really add too much to the dessert overall.
Overall verdict.
This was a very nice place to spend a Sunday lunchtime. The food was unspectacular but the dishes were good overall.
Would I revisit Mon Vieil Ami?
Definitely. However, it’s one of those restaurants that I would not make a priority of going back to. I’ll just keep it in mind if I’m in the area.
Overall Rating - 3.5/5
This was a very nice place to spend a Sunday lunchtime. The food was unspectacular but the dishes were good overall.
Would I revisit Mon Vieil Ami?
Definitely. However, it’s one of those restaurants that I would not make a priority of going back to. I’ll just keep it in mind if I’m in the area.
Overall Rating - 3.5/5