A quaint shop serving the famous Poilane sourdough.

Our first stop in Paris after our hotel was making a pilgrimage to the original Poilane bakery on the rue du Cherche-Midi. Poilane is famous for their sourdough bread made with only four ingredients and marked with their signature scripted P. I heard about Poilane years ago when I was obsessed with Food Network. I remember watching a segment about Apollonia Poilane and how she took over this bakery which had been in her family for 70 years. Since then I have wanted to stop to have a taste.

I was elated when I read on David Lebovitz that Cuisine De Bar was next door serving open-faced sandwiches on this fabulous bread. David has a great website for anyone who is visiting Paris. He has great advice and tips on wonderful places to visit. We had some of our best meals based his on reviews. West Country Girl was amazing! Thank you. More to come about that…

Arriving in the early afternoon we were greeted by two lovely French women. One was our server and the other was the server/cook. The space was modern and clean. The kitchen and counters area are open so we could see our food being prepared. There was also a basket full of citrus on hand for made to order juices.

We decided to order what David recommended. We had the Tartine Poulet and the Tartine Sardine. The Tartine Poulet had chicken, garlic mayo, anchovy, and capers. The Tartine Sardine was very simple with crushed salt and olive oil.

Unexpectedly, we received a fresh salad with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette and a small piece of Poilane sourdough to start. The vinaigrette was fresh and tangy. The bread was soft and crusty.

Tartine Poulet. It was excellent! The chicken was moist and fresh. The garlic mayo added a nice flavor. The capers and anchovy added the salt and the bread was toasted just right. The Tartine Sardine was also very fresh and full of flavor.

Cuisine De Bar was a worthwhile stop. Friendly service, food prepared with precision, and a wonderful way to taste Poilane.