Finding great vegan food in Paris isn't too hard if you know where to look. Finding great vegan food in Paris with gluten-free options can be a bit harder. Luckily, I managed to track down two places in the French capital that can do both.
The first is The Friendly Kitchen. It's an all-vegan place and all the allergens are marked clearly on the online menu. I'd mentioned when I was booking that one person on our table would be gluten-free, and our lovely server talked us through the menu and what options didn't have gluten in. Luckily, there was a lot of good stuff to choose from.
We started off with some seed crackers, something to nibble on while we waited for the main event. The crackers were way tastier than anything so healthy has any right to be, snapping satisfyingly under the teeth - a moreish start to the meal.
With temperatures dropping, the menu had a hearty autumnal vibe - food meant to stick to the ribs and give you a reason to stay indoors on dark, cold nights.
I chose the garlic confit mashed potatoes, which came with fennel slow cooked in verjus, a salad of lovage with kalamata olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade, pickled radish and a sharp balsamic sauce. The bowl of comforting mash playing back and forth with sharp flavours and crunchy vegetables, a deft balance between refreshing and comforting that was just right for the season. It was the sort of food that makes you think of all the goodness of home cooking, but with a deft touch that lets you know you're being looked after by a kitchen that takes those elements and makes them just a bit more upscale.
If you need more filling up after a bowl of mash, I'm very pleased to report there's a cheese course option - a plate of three cheese with fruit and nuts.
However, if you're in need of something sweet after your meals, there's some great choices there too, both with and without gluten.
I felt the deconstructed pear & pecan tartlet calling my name - pear-and-nut flavoured-anything speaks to the part of my soul that doesn't mind the lengthening nights, and wants to eat desserts in front of a roaring fire and wait for the seasons to change. I'm not sure what the deconstructed-ness brings to the dish, but I couldn't fault the flavours - air-light ganache, shortbread, with ginger and lemon thyme curd and pear coulis, with caramelised pecans and candied ginger scattered on top.
Again, the dish pulled off a clever trick - an indulgent dessert that didn't feel heavy and, you might even say, just a bit healthy?
The Friendly Kitchen
8 Rue Popincourt, 75011 Paris
+33 1 43 57 33 42
The next place I enjoyed was
Bodhi Vegan. While The Friendly Kitchen was bustling and a little on the fancy side, Bodhi Vegan is a smaller, more homely eating experience. As you might guess from the menu, everything is vegan, and a good number of dishes are marked gluten free on the menu (it looks like only on the physical menus in the restaurant, rather than on the
online menu, alas, but if you want to get an idea of what's made without gluten a quick Google Images search should see you right). A few of the dishes involve deep fried elements, so vegan coeliacs might want to check if 'gluten free' means no gluten containing ingredients, or if there's a separate fryer for gluten and non-gluten elements (sorry I didn't ask, but if I go back, I'll update this review!)
Onto the food! Bodhi Vegan's menu is pretty long, filled with classic Vietnamese and South East Asian dishes, which makes it hard to order, given how everything sounds so good.
We settled on the Vietnamese pancakes, made with rice flour, coconut milk, and what I think translates as green bean seeds - the last one was entirely new to me, and I'm guessing made the fake-meat floss the pancakes are filled with?
I really enjoyed these dinky little pancakes, served with a dipping sauce I completely forgot to take a photo of.
Most of the mains involve either fake meat or tofu - which makes me very happy, as I love both.
The dish below translates as 'tofu in spicy sauce'. It's a bit of muted description for what actually arrived. The 'tofu in spicy sauce' was a good amount of tofu pyramids, each with the innards scooped out and the void filled with minced soya and mushrooms, and deep fried for a crisp outside. I was expecting 'spicy sauce' to be more a shorthand for something with a lot of chilli heat, but the sauce wasn't hot - it was brick red, rich and umami-heavy.
I love seeing a menu that feels familiar to omnivores made entirely vegan, and I really love a menu that leans into tofu and mock meat. The prices are very wallet-friendly for Paris too, so if you're looking for an affordable, tasty meal, Bodhi Vegan should definitely be on your itinerary.
Bodhi Vegan
23 Av. Claude Vellefaux, 75010
+33 1 42 85 33 87
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