This place was on my Paris Bucket List -due largely to the review in The Paris Voice regarding Paris' Swinging Gypsy Jazz Scene - Our schedule was tight - the Manouche is only on Friday nights alas, we had previously booked a " Dark Heart Of Paris" tour all the way back on the other side of town at 9:00 PM. Knowing we would only have just under an hour to spend there we decided to take the metro (Métro, Bus et RER à Gare du Nord ) about a 30 minute trip from all the way from the Latin Quarter anyway -
Le Bouquet du Nord is situated on a busy intersection corner - We arrived around 7:45 PM to find the classic scene of patrons sitting at the tables outside, we were immediately greeted by an enthusiastic waiter. We informed him we were in a hurry and wanted to listen to the music - as we assessed the situation the waiter keenly sat us inside to have a better vantage point and so we could actually hear the JAZZ Trio (Thierry Paul & Emmanuel Fozzani on guitars, and Alain Rolland on violin ) aside from the trio, bartender and waiter, we were the only patrons inside the cafe.
The clock was ticking - this place is known to have good steaks but we decided there wasn't enough time and both opted for the chicken salad - which we thought would be quicker.
Meanwhile the trio was playing - a little girl wandered in (her parents were at the tables outside) and started dancing to the music and our salads arrived. - I have to tell you - this was the absolute best memory of a meal we had in Paris - the chicken was succulent, & the celebrated 9 minute eggs with what appeared to be the most divine mayonnaise on top... OMG
Unfortunately, the band takes a break around 8:00 to eat - so we didn't get to while away the rest of our meal listening to the wonderful manouche - no matter we came for the music and accidentally experience the best meal and memory ever -
Our friendly waiter and bartender quickly provided the check - we received smiles & hugs and were back on our way in a record 40 minutes to Pont Neuf to meet up with our tour after experiencing a slice of true Parisian culture -
je reviens...
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