We're falling more in love with Tomy & Co. with each visit, and have elevated this to our #1 favorite Paris restaurant for modern & creative cuisine. Chef Tomy Gousset’s cuisine is thrillingly modern, and he's a master of using herbs, acidity and texture to elevate sometimes humble ingredients like beef tongue or tête de veau.
The Pourcel brothers report that the official hunting season opened yesterday in France, so we can expect to see some gibier à plumes (wild birds) turning up on restaurant menus soon, to be followed later in the season by gibier à poils (wild hare, boar and deer).
An interesting detail: while nearly 580,000 deer and 556,000 wild boars are killed each year in France, most of the wild game sold in France is actually imported from New Zealand and Eastern Europe.
Read the full article from Les Fréres Pourcel
Find additional resources in Our Guide to Wild Game in Paris
Practical information
Address: 45 avenue Ledru-Rollin, 75012
Nearest transport: Gare de Lyon (1, 14, RER A), Quai de la Rapée (5)
Hours: Closed Sunday; Open Tuesday-Friday for lunch & dinner and Monday & Saturday for dinner
Reservations: Book a few days in advance
Telephone: 01 43 43 34 38
Average price for lunch: 20-39€
Average price for dinner: 20-39€
Style of cuisine: Classic French
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Reviews of interest
Atabula (2014) “Au programme: nappes épaisses, lourds couverts dans une ambiance mi populaire-mi bourgeoise. Comptez une vingtaine d’euros pour un menu qui fait la part belle aux terrines, rilettes, gibiers en saison, coq au vin, andouillette… Une jolie adresse dont on ferait volontiers sa cantine.”
David Lebovitz (2010) “… hearty and honest French fare… a very respectable Coq au vin. In the dinged-up casserole, you’ll need to drag the spoon through the thick, dark sauce to pluck out a piece of chicken…The fries are some of the best in Paris.”
John Talbott (2009) “… our friend had coq au vin that was about as good as I’ve had since Chez Rene’s went south, and I reveled in the thickly sliced almost raw biche (cooked to my liking despite no instructions) with a rich sauce and a chestnut puree and a ton of (so so) frites…”
Photo courtesy of A La Biche Au Bois’ Facebook page
After reading our Glossary to Wild Game, you're now ready to do a little hunting of your own. But where to find the beasts?
Wild game season is upon us, and we’ve put together this little cheat sheet for those of you who don’t know your biche from your bécasse.
Game season is a special time in Paris restaurants, with gibier à plumes (wild birds) arriving in late Autumn and gibier à poils (hare, boar or deer) turning up in the early winter. For those who aren't quite sure how to play the game, we've compiled some resources to help guide you through the forest of options.