Bouillon Chartier
Since Jean-Charles and I survive on tight budgets, we usually have lunch at Bouillon Chartier. And since Chartier does not accept bookings, we arrive at around 11.30. By 12.30 or so, the place is packed.
The restaurant was created in 1896 by two brothers, Frédéric and Camille Chartier, in a building resembling a railway station concourse. The long Belle Époque dining room has a high ceiling supported by large columns which allows for a mezzanine, where service is also provided.
Bouillon Chartier, or simply Chartier, is a “bouillon” restaurant in Paris, founded in 1896, located in the 9th arrondissement, and classified as a monument historique since 1989.
Around 1860, an ex-butcher called Alexandre Duval invented the concept of “bouillon”, establishments where only broth was sold. At the time, a bouillon was a restaurant where labourers rubbed shoulders with the middle-class and their tight pockets. Even today, all types of customers share tables, “à la bonne franquette”, because of the limited number of places at peak hours.
The Chartier brothers adopted the bouillon concept with the creation of the first Bouillon Chartier in the Grands Boulevards district. Today, Chartier no longer serves bouillon. But its dishes blend tradition with diversity. Starters such as egg mayonnaise, country terrine. Main course like steak-frites, confit de canard, grilled fish. And desserts such as chocolate mousse, île flottante and chocolate eclairs.
The quality of the food is quite ordinary. But the atmosphere is great. The table service is provided by waiting staff dressed in the traditional rondin, a tight-fitting black waistcoat with multiple pockets and a long white apron. The restaurant’s popularity leads to lines in the courtyard or under the porch and sometimes on the sidewalk outside. Tables are shared between strangers. The bill is written directly on the disposable paper tablecloth at the end of the meal.
The success is such that the Joulie group, owner of a dozen Parisian breweries and also the historic Bouillon Chartier, opened a second address at 59 boulevard de Montparnasse in the 6th arrondissement, and then more recently, another Bouillon Chartier near the Gare de l’Est.