1.0 (for the bread, fries and wine) Le Martel, 3, rue Martel in the 9th, 01.47.70.87.56, Metro: Chateau d'Eau, is a place found by my great friend, the Chinese agitator, as a back-up for Restaurant Blah-Blah a few feet away when it didn't answer the phone. It looks like a thousand other crummy bistros circa 1950, with 9 confusing "menus" and a carte full of couscous and tagines. I entered before her and thought I must be in the wrong place, so I went up & down the street and saw nothing else except the place next door - the Soul Kitchen - hummmm, maybe we should'ave gone there. But no, she assured me, reliable sources (whom she's never actually eaten with) reported it was good, it looked good to her and it was listed in Zagat's.
We ordered salads that looked and tasted suspiciously like the same, except my (out of season) asparagus was double the price of her lentils - but both had this strange taste - what was it? Where is Randy nowthat I need him?
For mains, she had the magret and I the sweetbreads and you know what - they looked and tasted suspiciously like the same, except my dish was double the price of hers - but both had this strange taste - what was it? Got it? Truffle oil spray; yech! To give them their due, despite the braised endives being subordinary, the fries, wine and bread were quite good.
Our bill = 83 E - What? For a meal 0001% the quality of that at 6 Paul Bert. A shanda.
Go? I'm may have been trained as a psychiatist but they didn't teach me why locals would go to a place like this with this level of food - plus there was no door-knob on the exit door from the toilet.
