7.4 L'Amarante, 4 rue Biscornet in the 12th, 09.50.80.93.80, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, (Metro: Bastille) is the new place Christophe Philippe has settled at after abandoning his wonderful eponymous Christophe in the 5th December a year ago. I went with the French friend I've known indirectly since our student days, a woman who I know loves good, real, French food. We perused the menu and decided on the same things - dangerous, if one is uncertain hands, but we felt confident.
We started off with veal brains, beautifully crisp on the outside, moist on the inside; moved on to the veal sweetbreads, beautifully crisp on the outside, moist on the inside; and terminated with a chocolate mouse made with a mousse and chocolate chips from São Tomé & Principe, just mighty fine.
Our bill with a bottle and glass of wine, no bottled water and OK bread should have been 101 E a couple but for various reasons was totally all fouled up and we wound up paying 5.85 E apiece, so we'll need to revisit soon to repair the error.
Go? As we were getting up to go I said to my old pal - "pretty good place, eh?" And she said "pretty normal food," which for her is the highest compliment possible.