Saveurs Végét’Halles, Paris, France


For our anniversary dinner in Paris, I wanted try Saveurs Végét’Halles, a vegetarian, mostly vegan restaurant based on some good reviews I read in online forums and websites like Happy Cow.


We were able to get seated right away at the dinner hour and appreciated the nice, simple decorum and clean bathrooms (I know it may seem strange to comment on bathrooms, but it can really make or break my impression of a restaurant).


I ordered the cream of asparagus to start and was surprised and a bit disappointed when my soup came and looked like a mixed vegetable soup with chunks of various veggies. At first I couldn’t even find the asparagus and asked the waiter if I had been given the wrong dish. He assured me it was correct and that in France, cream of asparagus is just a mix of different vegetables and that there were chunks of white asparagus in the soup (which I discovered there were, but again not was I was expecting). The soup was decent, but a definite departure from my expectations for a “cream of asparagus” soup.

“Cream of asparagus”

My husband ordered “tofu beignets” but also was disappointed when they just turned out to be fried tofu blocks. Again, they were okay in flavor, but did not meet up to his expectations.

“Tofu beignets”

For my main entree, I ordered one of the specials for the evening which was a broccoli, mushroom and tomato tart which came with a grain and some mashed root vegetables (not sure what it was). The tart was devoid of much flavor to be completely satisfying but was palatable enough.  The main flavor that stood out in the tart was the broccoli. The side dishes were also lacking in distinct flavor and could have used more seasoning.

Broccoli, mushroom, and tomato tart meal

My husband had the salade océane, which had faux shrimp on top. The dressing was nice, though a bit heavy on the seaweed. He didn’t eat most of the plain shrimp as it wasn’t appetizing enough on its own. It didn’t look too appetizing to me either and I avoided taking any of his scraps.

Salade océane

The best part of the meal for both of us were the desserts. I ordered the chocolate banana cake, which was rich and delicious. The hubs was impressed that they offered a vegan café gourmand, which consisted of espresso, carrot cake, chocolate hazelnut mousse, and fresh fruit. He was pleased with this arrangement and left a clean plate.

Chocolate banana cake
Café gourmand

Overall the savory portions of our meals were somewhat bland. The pluses included decent service, tasty champagne, the desserts, and the clean appearance of the restaurant.

Champagne

We rate our experience with our meals as 2 1/2 carrots out of 5 on the veganlicious scale.