Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie

It rarely features in guidebooks, you can’t reserve a table and it’s cash only, but Café de la Nouvelle Mairie in the heart of Latin Quarter is une belle adresse indeed. Just steps from the Pantheon, where French greats such as Voltaire and Victor Hugo rest in peace, this authentic French café offers excellent wines by the glass and maybe the best-value lunch in Paris.

     Tourists are scarce. Situated near the Sorbonne, the café draws a local, intellectual crowd - a mix of students and professors as well as doctors from the renowned Institute Pierre et Marie Curie. In summer, chairs and tables are tumbled onto the terrace facing Place de l’Estrapade, a pretty little square with shady trees and a trickling fountain. It’s a favourite spot for young lovers to sit and kiss.

     Universal Music is opposite, so a number of French pop stars also drop in. Veteran Johnny Halliday has lunched here on several occasions with his entourage of bodyguards, leaving a mob of adoring fans to drool outside.

     Café de la Nouvelle Mairie is quite unusual in Paris as produce is sourced directly from small rural producers rather than from city markets. Vegetables are brought in from an organic grower in Sicily, but most produce originates in the Massif Central, a remote and rugged region of central France, home to rich volcanic mountain ranges, wild rivers and good, hearty cooking.

     A tour of the menu will take you to all regions of The Massif Central; Auvergne, Limousin and Lozère with an obligatory stop at l’Aveyron, the passionate owner’s beloved region of origin. By the time you finish lunch, you will have taken a delicious jaunt to the provinces.

     The owner, Nicolas Carmarans, hails from a family of bougnat, families from the Massif Central who travelled to Paris in the 19th century to sell coal extracted in their region. Establishments were set up where coal could be purchased, many gradually being transformed into inexpensive little cafés that later grew in size and popularity. Today, many of the larger cafés, including the hip Café Costes, still belong to bougnat families. Camarans’s parents used to own the well-known Left Bank café Le Rostand, overlooking the leafy Luxembourg Gardens.

    With his heritage in his heart, Camarans opened Café de la Nouvelle Mairie with his wife, Marie, in 1994, with a vision of recreating a café where people could eat quality, affordable, classic French cuisine.

     Originally the site housed a café, built in the 1930s, as well as the Town Hall (or mairie) of the 5th arrondissement. In the 1980s, the café was transformed by Bernard Pantoni, the inventor of the bar à vins (wine bar) concept, and Camarams continues the pay homage to the café’s past, providing excellent French wine. Consequently, Café de la Nouvelle Mairie is an eclectic mix of café and wine bar.

     The atmosphere is still very 1930s, with pale-green and beige décor. There’s interesting food-and-wine-related artwork on the walls and a zinc-covered bar on which to rest your glass of Bandol or Vouvray, crafted by the very last man who still makes them today.

     Lunchtime is busy and crowded but full of atmosphere. The trick is to arrive around noon for the first sitting or 1.30pm for the second.

     With jazz floating in the background, my Parisian friend and I shared a plate of rustic homemade pâté accompanied by cornichons, thick slices of country bread made with unbleached flour, and a glass of crisp Sancerre. This is the kind of pâté that’s not so easy to find in Paris now. Prepared at Laguiole in Cantal by la Maison Conquet it’s chunky, dense and melt-in-the-mouth, and alone worth the trip.

     Alternatively, you can start with marinated Sicilian capsicums and buffalo mozzarella, or les endives à la Fourme d’Ambert - endives with a mild, creamy blue cheese that’s made in the countryside surrounding the town of Ambert in the Auvergne. These classic entrées always appear on the small blackboard menu.

     But it’s the simple, unpretentious main dishes for which locals flock here. Just two plats du jour are offered, scribbled on the blackboard alongside a changing pasta dish and homemade quiche. Servings are large and prices petite by Parisian standards. Starters cost from 4.5 to 7 euros, mains from 8 – 13 euros and desserts 5 euros.

     Perhaps you’ll encounter a Daube de Bœuf de l’Aubrac (beef from the Aubrac Mountains slowly stewed in good red wine and fragrant herbs), or tender lamb from Lozère. I tucked into classic blanquette de veau à l’ancienne (veal in a blanket of creamy sauce) while my friend tackled saucisse grillée de l’Aveyron (thick and tasty grilled sausages atop a bed of mash with melted cheese), accompanied by a glass of Gevrey Chambertain 2001 from Burgundy.

     Wine is carefully chosen. The small, select list is sourced from boutique producers in various regions of France, who still work the traditional way.

     Without leaving Paris you can taste the Loire Valley, choosing from a smattering of small producers. Perhaps a glass of Jasniéres 2002 chenin blanc from the western Sarthe area of the Loire produced by Jean-Pierre Robinot, or an Originel 2002 sauvignon blanc from the Sologne.

     Then again, you could try a light and fruity Beaujolais, a L’Anglore 2003 Côtes du Rhône or a Côtes d’Auvergne produced by Stéphane Peyrat. Wines are also available by the bottle, and can be purchased over the counter.

     Next, we ordered une assiette de fromage to share and were surprised to receive samples of eight luscious French cheeses to slather on slices of crusty baguette. You’ll find some of the best artisan and fermier (farmhouse) cheese available in Paris, matured to perfection by Camarams in the large cellar underneath the café. Saint-Nectaire Fermier, a cows milk cheese with a supple, silky texture made using traditional methods, is purchased direct from the farm in Auvergne. Chèvre de l’Ardèche is delivered straight from the producer twice a week.

     If you can’t make it for lunch, visit on Monday, Wednesday or Friday evening for an apéritif and a plate of this exceptional cheese, or perhaps a charcuterie platter (10 euros) with wine pate and sausage. Both offer a good alternative to a full meal.
     We asked for another half-glass of St Joseph each to finish off our cheese. With no hesitation Camarams pulled the cork and poured some wine into our glasses. On an occasion when I made a similar request back home in Adelaide, I was told by the waiter that wine is not sold by the half-glass. For what reason? Sometimes you just want a little more.

     But there is a limit. We were bursting at the seams, so Camarans’s homemade apple, pear and quince jam tart, and the wicked fondant au chocolat just had to wait until next time.


 
Café de la Nouvelle Mairie
19 rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris
Tel: 01 44 07 04 41
Open Monday to Friday 9am-9pm. Lunch Monday to Friday; dinner Tuesday and Thursday until 10.30pm. Closed Saturday, Sunday and in August.