Aux Deux Amis – Introduction

Aux Deux Amis is one of our favourite places in Paris, one that we visit every time we are passing through. It serves interesting, fresh produce that has been cleverly sourced and a range of many of our favourite natural wines.

The décor at Aux Deux Amis is pleasant. The room is light without the heavy wood panelling often found in Paris bars. It opens cleanly onto the street making it easy to sit inside if the sun is too hot while getting the feeling that you are dining outdoors. The clientele is eclectic with many coming here to savour the charming natural wines that are on offer and to team them with the clever, simple food that is provided.

But first a word about some of the chefs who have worked in possibly the tiniest kitchen in Paris.
The food has always been a feature here and owner David Loyola seems to have a knack of finding the perfect chef for the style of food and the frenetic pace that it needs to be served at.

It was at Aux Deux Amis that we first experienced the food of talented chef Svante Forstop who went on to cook at Vivant Cave with Pierre Jancou, then later at Yard and even a pop-up in Tokyo that we managed to eat at, before returning to France to a gig at Le Soleil in Burgundy.

Another talented chef that worked here was Mathieu Perez who later moved to the quaint village of Céret in Roussillon where we still fondly remember a dish of Barbary duck served with a black olive and chocolate puree. He then went on to cook at the out-of-control Bar Brutal in Barcelona where we were, once again, lucky enough to eat there during his tenure.

We recently came across another Aux Deux Amis alumni, namely the talented Mark Meya, who is now sharing the cooking at the excellent Manat restaurant in Perpignan. This venue is well worth a visit and they have a very good selection of natural wines (we had the wonderful Otium 2022 made mainly from Grenache Noir by Melissa and Laurent at nearby Mataburro).

Let’s now describe one of our visits to give you a picture of the atmosphere here.

When we arrived we were warmly greeted and when we asked for them to recommend a wine we were delighted to find that the De Moor Bel Air et Clardy Chablis was recommended – this is a great wine from Alice and Olivier de Moor from Courgis. This was a very good start.

We moved to a ‘simple’ salad of courgette (yellow and green), cucumber and salicorn (samphire or sea asparagus). This had clean, pure flavours and was very refreshing. It matched perfectly with the Chablis. Our other starter was equally interesting and a good match with a lovely Domaine de la Cadette Melon de Bourgogne (a rare wine for the Burgundy area). Artichoke, anchovy and burrata was laced with olive oil and relied entirely on the quality of the ingredients and the interplay of flavours. We loved it!

Main courses were cheval tartar with lovely tender meat mixed with a raw quail egg accompanied by excellent roast potatoes and a lively salad of watercress and a dish of perfectly cooked ling with a blade of fennel and some very well-cooked aubergine.

These dishes were matched to a Cuvée Larmande from Le Mazel vineyard in the Ardeche. This was a lovely, natural wine of considerable elegance and liveliness that was perfect for summer red wine drinking.

Dessert was a dish of nectarines, fromage frais and honey and another of a very clever apricot flan – more clafoutis than tart (no pastry) and served cold. Both dishes were beautiful and worked well with the Benoit Courault Eglantine Rose.

Great dishes, friendly service and interesting wines – what more could you ask for?

You can check on their opening hours through their Facebook page here.

We have also including Aux Deux Amis in our story on Foodtourist.com entitled Natural Wine Bars to Visit in France here.