Andrew C.
Yelp
What a fun restaurant! I've been to Paris many times and have had many great meals there over the years...but this was one of my most enjoyable dining experiences and a great surprise (although not sure why it's really surprising).
My wife and I decided to go to Paris to celebrate our wedding anniversary and my birthday. For our anniversary, we went to another restaurant in the 7th District that was recommended by a guide book (I won't say which one) and it was fine, but everyone in that restaurant was American and seemingly had the same guide book. Although the meal was fine and I'm American, I didn't go to Paris to be surrounded by other Americans, so on the way home we decided to look around a little bit for a restaurant for my birthday. We passed by L'Auberge Bressane and when I looked inside, I knew it was where I wanted to go. You could tell it wasn't filled with tourists, but actual Parisians. Not only that, but everyone inside looked to be having fun...and I was jealous!
On my birthday we arrived early. The restaurant opened at 7:30 pm and we got there about 7:35ish, which I understand is very early for Parisians so we were one of the first to walk in the door. Not surprising that there weren't many people there yet, but by 8:45 or so, the restaurant was packed. As travelers, we always give it a go with as much French as we possibly can (which is very, VERY little), but the waiter could obviously tell we were English speakers and made us feel right at home in English. They seem to have a team approach, so we had, if I remember correctly 4 different people help to serve us. Since it's a restaurant that specializes in cuisine from Lyon and Burgundy, they have some REALLY great wines that in many cases are also REALLY expensive. I told our waiter what I was ordering (wild boar) and he recommended a perfect wine to go with it from a list of less expensive bottles. I think this particular bottle of wine was 45 Euros. With some wines on the list up to 500 Euros and many well over 100 Euros, I really felt that the waiter was trying to recommend a good wine pairing rather than sell me a high priced bottle of wine. That was great and a great sign of things to come. The rest of the service was just fantastic. The staff seemed to genuinely be having a great time at their jobs. They were warm, friendly, and fun interacting with each other and the patrons. We sat in the back and it was great watching the wait staff going back and forth into and out of the busy kitchen because they had to kick the swinging door open (since their hands were full of plates, etc.) and there were many "near" collisions with each other as one person was leaving and one was entering.
My wife is a vegetarian, so the Comté cheese soufflé was out of this world for her. HUGE and delish! She got the seasonal mushroom appetizer that was amazing as well. I had the poached eggs in Beaujolais wine sauce with bacon and small onions as a starter.....OMG!!! So good! I love game meats, so I had the Wild Boar. Perfect! We wanted to have one of their soufflés for dessert, because they look so amazing, but we were totally stuffed....buuuuutttt....since it was my birthday, we decided to share the Crepes Suzette Grand Marnier, which they cook tableside with flaming Grand Marnier!!! YUMMY!!!
Finally, as we were getting ready to ask for our bill, and I was chatting with one of the waiters, I casually mentioned that it was my birthday. Well, he said he was going to go get me a glass of Armagnac and that I "can't refuse it". So he brought two glasses...on the house....one that was 6 years old, I think and one that was 12 years old! I ended up drinking both because my wife doesn't like brandy (she doesn't know what she's missing :-P).
Overall, an amazing dining experience. Great people, seemingly not overrun with tourists, and fantastic food. I'd recommend someone order one of the soufflés in your party because they are so amazing. This place has it and I'll be back the next time I'm in Paris. Such a fun experience!
