Bouillon Pigalle

Bouillons were once comparable to what Fast foods are today: popular and economical restaurants, except that their menus were filled with dishes taken from the great classics of traditional French cuisine, which some would call bistro cuisine.
This address was created by the Moussié brothers, respectable and well-known actors on the Parisian scene (Café Jannette, Brasserie Barbès, Hôtel Providence). It serves up to 1800 covers a day at unbeatable prices.
You have to arrive early. During the week, the queue is quite fast, whatever the time in winter. But in the summer, on weekends, you have to arrive at the very beginning of the service.

The decoration, very inspired by the Bistrot style of the Belle Époque period, is quite neat. There is a room on the first floor that is a little more intimate, opening onto an enclosed terrace that will be very popular in summer.
The room is not very noisy considering the affluence.

You will find in the menu all the well-rehearsed standards at particularly good prices: The inevitable egg mayonnaise (2€50), the leek vinaigrette (3€40), the bone marrow (4€20), the 6 snails with parsley butter (7€00)... then the sausage with knife, mashed potatoes (9€60), the brandade of cod with olive oil and almonds (9€90), the beef bourguignon with smoked bacon and coquillettes (11€20), the fried steak with roquefort sauce (11€80)...
See the Menu:
https://bouillonlesite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/BouillonPigalle_UK.pdf
We started with an onion soup, served hot but nicely gratinated and quite respectable, even though there was only one grilled crouton, the others did not seem to have been.
 

We went on with a Basque blood sausage purée. This recipe is based on offal and pork blood, onions and Espelette peppers. Even if its presentation would gain to be more engaging, the taste and the texture are quite convincing. The purée, which we would like to be richer in butter, is crushed.
 

We finish with a great classic of the bistro cuisine: A profiterole which did not seduce us with the blandness and the excess of its vanilla ice cream, a very flat and not very crunchy cabbage.
This meal is washed down with a quarter of a very correct Côte du Rhône at a price that is just impossible: 3€60
The service is courteous and efficient even if the delivery of the dishes suffers a little in delay.
 

A bill that reminds us of the amounts we used to pay in the 20th century.
In short, at the price we say, it's a bargain to be had.