tod

I LOVE Chinese/Thai food and have a few places we like to eat at when in Paris, but never before have we ventured into a Moroccan/Algerian restaurant.! The closest we came to a meal was walking down Rue Des Fosses Saint Bernard and was handed a menu pamphlet by "Downtown in Beirut", a small place but absolutely immaculate. It was late afternoon and we were not hungry.
I would like to share my intended restaurants with other Fodorites, who like me have never given 'Foreign Food' a try for one reason or another! These two look neat and welcoming.

Please could you add to the list of "possibilities "with your suggestions accompanied by a web link so we can see what the restaurant looks like. Here are my 2 so far:

L'etoile Kabyle, 93 Ave de Paris, Chatillon. Metro Chatillon.
http://letoile-kabyle.com/galerie.html
(Serves alcohol, Maybe a nice destination for lunch)

Les 4 Freres, 37 Ave de la Villette, 75010.
http://www.les4freres.com/
(no alcohol)

grandmere

Wally le Saharien, 36 rue Rodier in the 9th.

Years ago it was on Ile St-Louis, and that's where I dined.

Can't find a website, but phone # is: 01 42 85 51 90

StCirq

Moroccan:

Miz Miz
6, rue Monet 75011

Tunisien:

Le Tunisiana
4, rue Caulincourt 75018

Doubt either has a website.

tod

Wally le Saharien: http://tinyurl.com/yeyyobh
Zagat also reviews this restaurant.

Thanks Grandmere! Keep 'em coming!

tod

Thanks StCirq! Found a website with Le Tunisiana, 4 rue Caulincourt, 75018: http://tinyurl.com/ycjfbsf

StCirq

Actually, it has its own website: http://www.letunisiana.fr/

And boy am I hungry now! I love Tunisian food, and the brik à thon there is just outstanding, as is the octopus salad.

MargrietVanderBanck

We loved the atmosphere at Le Souk (Moroccan) in the 11th. To enter, you push back a curtain and pass through an anteroom lined with jars of spices. The food and service are very good. It's been busy the times we've been, so you may want to reserve.

LE SOUK
1, rue Keller
75011 Paris
Tel: 01.49.29.05.08
Metro: Bastille or LeDru Rollin

kerouac

Actually, Ziryab, the restaurant on top of the Institut du Monde Arabe (with a view just as good as the Tour d'Argent) has always been good. It's a Moroccan restaurant, but I have not been there since it was taken over by the Noura Lebanese chain.

People need to realize that couscous is the #2 favorite dish in France, comparable to pizza in the U.S., just in case anybody is thinking "how can a foreign dish rate so high?" It is regularly on school menus as well as being one of the most popular offerings in company canteens. Even my mother gets served it in her nursing home, and we're talking about old French women (mostly) between the age of 75 and 105.

For people who are afraid of such a restaurant being too weird, Chez Bébert is a Parisian institution and everybody in the Paris metropolitan area has eaten there more than once. At least that is true of the older generation, because they used to have restaurants all over Paris but have now downsized to just three locations.

http://www.chezbebert.com/

Pvoyageuse

Morocco :
Le Caroubier
82 Bd Lefebvre
75015 Paris
01.40.43.16.12

Weadles

We love L'Atlas Restaurant, 12 blvd. St. Germaine. Phone is: 01 46 33 86 98. We've had wonderful couscous of all kinds, great Algerian wines, and pastries.The dining room is small but gorgeous- lots of beautiful ornamental tiles and plasterwork. Service has always been very good. The restaurant is about a 15 minute walk from the heart of the 6th, which is where we've often stayed. Have fun!

ellen75005

Another vote for L'Atlas on St. Germain. I can't remember exactly what we had, but both dishes were delicious. Great atmosphere, too. Here's their site: http://www.latlas.fr/.

Bon appetit!

StCirq

I think Ziryab is overpriced, especially since there are so many inexpensive places to choose from. But yes, the view is spectacular.

mado67

I like the couscous in the restaurant near the mosque of Paris. I don't know if it is moroccan or algerian, but a really good couscous though I haven't been in many years so it might have changed.
http://www.la-mosquee.com/htmluk/entreeuk.htm (check the pictures)

kerouac

One of the ways that I have been taught to distinguish Algerian couscous from Moroccan couscous is that the Moroccans put raisins in the semolina; the Algerians do not.

d_claude_bear

We have dined twice at an out-of-the-way Moroccan restaurant in an alley near the Rambuteau metro in the 3e, but neither of us can remember its name. We liked it a lot--enough to go back on a later trip to Paris. If I can find the carte de visite we got from it, I will post the name and location.

tod

This is great! Kerouac thank you for the bit of background to Moroccan/Algerian/Lebanese couscous.
I am hoping that you will report back about Les 4 Freres before I leave home in July! I hope I won't have a problem getting rice or bread in place of couscous as my DH is not a fan but I am. He wants to try the tagine part of the meal which has meat & vegetables but would prefer no couscous.

Grateful for ALL the suggestions from everyone! More, more, more!

kerouac

Couscous is a stew. There is a platter of semolina, a platter of meat and vegetables, a bowl of broth and a bowl of chick peas. You can combine the ingredients on your plate however you wish. (In some restaurants, they will serve you, but everything will generally remain on the table.)

How is it possible not to like semolina? One can consider it to be the most boring thing in the world (which is certainly how I would consider it cooked by itself like rice) but there is too little taste to want to avoid it with broth.

tod

Kerouac - It's the semolina taste he doesn't like because it's like eating Tastee Wheat porridge, only in a dry form!
I love them both! We used to get Tastee Wheat with cinnamon and the container suggested putting almond in it as well.
So, the answer about rice as an accompaniment is - No?

kerouac

Since the word 'couscous' means 'semolina' the answer is no.

MargrietVanderBanck

Let him eat bread. Seriously. In my experience he won't be served coucous if he orders a tagine, and there will be some kind of flatbread with the meal.