Beau-Père had given us a Paris restaurant guide (he loves all things guide books and brochures)...the man even made a laminated book cover for the one he gave us - oh yes. he did.
While Copain was set on going to the 13th for a Pho (vietnamese soup), I didn't want to have to take the metro and hoped instead, to walk to whatever restaurant we chose. That meant staying fairly close to our hood.
We found a few options but the one that stood out the most was a funky little Turkish place, Sizin, near République on rue du Faubourg du Temple...ok. on y va...
When we first arrived, this is what we saw:
They could definitely do with some sprucing up of the terrace
We immediately judged the book by its cover - yikes! The terrace consisted of two weird dudes eating on bare tables with plastic chairs. Not my idea of ambiance. (Though if you look closer you can see that they did put in some effort with that sad little garland up on the wall...).
In any case, just as we were walking away, I decided it would be an adventure - why not? My Dad always says that the best places are the ones where the cockroaches go....and even squirmish Copain (the man who hates the idea of kebab meat cooking on the spit all day surrounded by car exhaust) agreed that an adventure was to be had. (It also helped that the Guide Routard had recommended the restaurant at some point during their existance - thank you Routard sticker in the window!)
Our server offered us outdoor or indoor seating...hmmm, inside please! We were pleasantly surprised to find three full tables of diners. All looking very happy - there were tablecloths, nice place settings, even a little Turkish music for ambiance. This definitely was not the Ritz, but it was clean, well kept, simple. The menu noted that the restaurant had been around since 1981 - not too shabby.
We each ordered a plat (a main dish) and a half bottle of Badoit water:
My dish - ground lamb, grilled meat, yogurt and tomatoes in a spicy tomato sauce, served with blé concassé (cracked wheat)
(Kebab Isi I think it's called)
ps - see that basket on the top right - that is piping hot bread right out of the oven!***
Copain's plat - ground lamp, onions, cabbage & carrots, blé concassé, grilled tomatoes
The service was great - the food everyone else was being served looked delish and my favorite part was the Ah-mazing grilled meat in my dish...seriously, two thumbs up to the chef - sooo sooo good. (They also do stove oven pizzas, baklavas etc...)
All of this (we were stuffed at the end, by the way) came to a total of 29 Euros (3.50 of that is for the Badoit sparkling water).
Restroom side note: it was very clean complete with toilet paper, soap and hand towels (three stars in terms of a Parisian restaurant WC!)
Sizin - super repas! (now please just get a decorator to help you with the terrace situation you have going on).
Sizin
36 rue du Faubourg du Temple
75011 Paris
Metro: Goncourt or République
Tel: 01 48 06 54 03
***Our guidebook says that everything is homemade!
Hey, I've got to try this place! With our hundred kids, we can't even think of going out anywhere else than in cheap places, so thanks for the "bon plan"!
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