When I travel, I usually have done a phd's worth of research into the cuisine of the destination…read morebut because French food is incrediblly complex and heavily reliant on meat, it seems like my best bet is to stick mostly with the French classics from the dessert department. As much as I would love to eat pastries for all of my meals, regular food and nutrients do have to come into play at some point so cue the exploding vegan scene in Paris and therefore, cue Soya.
i won't bullshit you, GF found this one so I can't take credit. It is conveniently located close to our hotel and close to a bunch of other bars and shit.
I made a reservation for 7pm because my American/eat at the crack of dawn ass was about to gnaw my hand off at around 4pm.
We were happily the first table to arrive as soon as they opened and we were seated inside their quirky dining room. Contrary to stereotypes as old as time that Parisians are mean, I must say our experiences during the only hours we were awake on our first day (eating, of course) has been the exact opposite. Our waiter was very friendly despite the fact that we can't speak French for shit although GF is a touch better than I.
The menu is limited but it has all that it really needs. Many of their starters looked appetizing so we went with the obvious choice of their mezze sampler which included two delicious dips: hummus and a veggie dip, vegan sushi rolls, soya balls (which were better than sex), some other stuff that I am forgetting, and a bunch of vegetables thrown in there for good measure.
The vegan lasagne was an absolute must with spinach, carrots, typical lasagne things, and a vegan bechamel. The sauce was TO DIE FOR and beats some Italian pomodoro sauce I've had. The bechamel was creamy and decadent. The noodles were al dente and provided a little bite to contrast with the other textures. This was some of the best lasagne I've had in recent memory.
They didn't have some of the dessert items on the menu but our waiter tempted us with something in French that I did not understand other than chocolate which was really all I needed to understand. It was a beautifully presented chocolate ball filled with vegan....ice cream almost...and sitting on top of a crunchy/sticky.......words are escaping my jet lagged brain.
This restaurant was a really wonderful opener for the food that Paris has to offer and I couldn't recommend it enough.