Le Parisien (Dineout)

I've been wanting to get my French food craving satisfied for quite some time now. After browsing through all the menus for Dineout Vancouver, I came across Le Parisien which had duck confit, and I knew that I needed to eat there.

Our reservation was for 5:15pm (a bit early, but it was the only spot left due to booking very late - restaurants fill up very fast during Dineout!) and when we arrived, the restaurant only had a few seats filled but got busy very quickly throughout the night.


The atmosphere in the restaurant was lovely and would definitely be a good place to go on a date. We chose to go with the Dineout menu but I've heard that their regular menu is excellent as well. (Note: It's not shown on the site, but at the restaurant they also have a $38 Dineout menu which also looked very yummy).

First came the bread and butter. The bread was slightly warm and very good.


My appetizer was the crispy calamari.


It was indeed quite crispy but still chewy on the inside. The saffron aioli it came with was delicious but the calamari itself lacked a bit of flavor.

For my entree, I got the duck confit (of course) and as you can see in the picture, it's quite a generous size.


The duck was incredibly tender and absolutely delicious and full of flavor. The mashed potato was done very well and the haricots vert (or green bean) added a nice touch. My only qualm about this dish was that it should have had more jus, but oh well.

Lastly, dessert! I got the lemon tart which came with such a nice presentation.


It had a wonderful tangy lemony flavor (as it should) and the raspberry coulis and melted marshmallow (I think that's what that white substance was) went incredibly well with the tart.

As for the service at Le Parisien, I have to say that it was incredible. First of all, the waiters were all actually French (that's just a bonus) and they were astoundingly attentive. My glass of water was never empty (except for once, for about 20 seconds) and I could constantly see the waiters looking over the tables and making sure that everyone was dining happy and well. The utensils were switched out with every course and the food came at a fairly good pace for a restaurant that was filled.

Overall, I do recommend Le Parisien and I will for sure come back to try out their regular menu.