Le Procope: oldest restaurant in Paris doesn't disappoint

The oldest continuously-open restaurant in Paris is Le Procope on rue de ‘Ancienne Comedie near Metro Odeon on the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli from Palermo, Italy, opened Le Procope in 1686 as a coffee house when the street was called rue des Fosses Saint-Germain. It became the first literacy cafe when writers, poets, and playwrights were frequent visitors. Everyone from the arts and politics went to Cafe Le Procope: Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais, Balzac, Hugo, Verlaine, La Fontaine, Diderot, Robespierre, Danton, Marat, and even Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. Bonaparte left his iconic hat there, which is now mounted behind glass.

For lunch I started with bread and canard buerre (duck butter) and six escargot de Bourgogne (Label Rouge Burgundy snails). The traditional snails were served warm in their shells on a copper platter in garlic and parsley butter. They are eaten with a specific fork and snail tongs. The main dish was merlu espagnol avec poivrons rouges et jaunes et pommes de terre (Spanish-style hake cooked with red and yellow capsicum and potatoes). For dessert I had chocolat et croquant des griottes (chocolate and Morello cherry crunch).

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