bkeats
Senior Insider
What an absolute diamond in the rough this place is. I have not read a lot about it. We were walking around St Jean and were thinking of going to Le Piment for a light dinner but decided to try Le Papillon Ivre instead.
It doesn’t look like much. A view of the car park as the sign in front of Hideaway used to say. There’s a bunch of tables tightly packed on the terrace. We didn’t have a reservation but they had a two top available.
We looked at the menu on the chalkboard. Very extensive with probably 20+ choices. They’re all small plates priced in the teens to mid thirties. Everything from salads to carbonade and foie.
If you like wine, you will love this place. The somm was a delightful woman. She came to the table and asked for our preference between white or red. We wanted to start with white. So she brings out tasting glasses and 4(!) bottles of wine. She poured a bit of each for us to taste. Once we settled on one, she brought out big goblets and poured. My lovely wife said she was going to get drunk just tasting. Makes sense with the name of the place.
How was the food you ask? Fabulous. So good I forgot to take pictures. I was too busy eating. How expensive the night out is depends on how much you eat and drink. Could be a bargain or a black hole in the wallet.
I noticed that most of the tables had people speaking French as opposed to English. The music was mostly French too. Plus or minus depending on your sensibilities. I’m not sure how I feel about French covers of some songs.
Just a great place for food and wine. Ignore the lack of a pretty place setting. There’s inner beauty here.
It doesn’t look like much. A view of the car park as the sign in front of Hideaway used to say. There’s a bunch of tables tightly packed on the terrace. We didn’t have a reservation but they had a two top available.
We looked at the menu on the chalkboard. Very extensive with probably 20+ choices. They’re all small plates priced in the teens to mid thirties. Everything from salads to carbonade and foie.
If you like wine, you will love this place. The somm was a delightful woman. She came to the table and asked for our preference between white or red. We wanted to start with white. So she brings out tasting glasses and 4(!) bottles of wine. She poured a bit of each for us to taste. Once we settled on one, she brought out big goblets and poured. My lovely wife said she was going to get drunk just tasting. Makes sense with the name of the place.
How was the food you ask? Fabulous. So good I forgot to take pictures. I was too busy eating. How expensive the night out is depends on how much you eat and drink. Could be a bargain or a black hole in the wallet.
I noticed that most of the tables had people speaking French as opposed to English. The music was mostly French too. Plus or minus depending on your sensibilities. I’m not sure how I feel about French covers of some songs.
Just a great place for food and wine. Ignore the lack of a pretty place setting. There’s inner beauty here.
ray1:
