Has anyone ever tried the Leon de Bruxelles at Place Pigalle? We need to eat an early dinner near Montmartre, and this restaurant seems to fit the bill. I've read everything about the restaurant in the archived messages, but didn't see anything about the one at Place Pigalle. I noticed that someone thought there was a difference from one to the other. Others seem to think the quality is fairly consistent from one restaurant to the other. Thanks!

Best,
Sandy

I have eaten there a few times because I lived nearby and it is consistent with the other "Leon" restaurants in the chain. It was fine

Morgan,
Thanks so much for your prompt, helpful reply We have never eaten at any of the Leon de Bruxelles, so I'm looking forward to it. Do you have any suggestions about what's especially good? This may be a stupid question, but I have never eaten Moules... do they taste more like oysters or clams or neither?

Best,
Sandy

The thing to eat at Leon is moules frites. They will be good. The restaurants are standard--not much ambience. Moules are unto themselves and we LOVE them. Be sure to sop up the "juices" with that wonderful bread. But when we want mussels in Paris (and they are available at almost any bistro, brasserie, or cafe) we go to one of the cafes across from the Gare du Nord--cheap and good. This is really not far from Montmartre either.

Gretchen is right. Moules frites is it and they do have their own unique taste.. There are many varities of sauce that they are cooked in . Just pick the one that sounds good to you. Dont bother with dessert , they are less than stellar. The moules dish is really large so that is probably all you will want. I really like the biere blanche they have and it goes well with the moules.

It's funny, but there's a post going on about the best creme brulee, and a couple of people said it was at a Leon's!

Thanks to everyone for the help with Mussels and Leon de Bruxelles. I think I'll try the Moules Frites

Best,
Sandy

Beg to differ on the desserts, which come with the prix fixe menus...IMO the creme brulee is one of the best I've had. Agree with the others, moules-frites in your favortie sauce is the thing to order, though they do serve an acceptable steak-frites too.

Klondike, I'm trying to find who you beg to differ with. Everyone seems to say the creme brulee is great there.

By the way, if you're one of those people who doesn't like to "play with your food" and don't like handling the mussels, they offer a platter of open faced ones, covered with garlic, herbs, even cheese or other combinations. My partner loves them that way -- but then he hates to pick at a whole or half chicken too!! Or you can become adept at using one set of mussel shells to use as sort of tweezers to pick the others out of their shell and eat them that way.

Our French friends taught us to hold a mussel in one hand and use the (empty) shell from another to dig out the meat. Works very well, although it's a bit messy.

Thanks again for all the help with Leon de Bruxelles... and the description of how to eat them

Best,
Sandy