Le Mondial located at 12 Rue Auber, 75009 Paris in France

So since we weren’t shopping anyway and I was a bit finicky for authentic French food while in Paris, France, we walked around and stopped at Le Mondial (also shows up as the name “Tabac de l’Opéra” in search) for some French bites!

The front of the restaurant advertised that they had their menu available in English, Chinese, and various other languages so I knew they were a restaurant that catered exclusively towards tourists — and probably wouldn’t serve my need for real French food.  Nevertheless, we didn’t know exactly where to go for more authentic French bites while in the area since we were on a time crunch, so we tried it anyway.

Dining room inside Le Mondial

There was an interior patio and an interior dining lounge.  There were a good number of people dining in their interior patio but we opted to go in for their dining room instead.

Drink menu at Le Mondial

The dining room was empty and we were the first guests inside.  We quickly got the menu and the male server asked me what we wanted to drink.  Out of habit, I said water.  We then ordered two well-known French items from the menu to share — pâté and escargots.  (When in France, eat escargots! 😉 )

Once the server brought our water to our table, I realized I had made a mistake.  He brought a tall bottle of cold water to our table with two glasses.  Immediately, I knew that we would be charged for water.  I was hoping that it would only be a couple of dollars….

Place setting. These were our utensils for our food!

We waited about 15 minutes before our food arrived.  There was a basket of French baguettes (I was already starting to eat so much carbs on this trip!), the plate of pâté with some pickles, and the platter of escargots.

French baguettes

Pâté de champagne de la Maison – Mas country style pâté. 4.80€

Escargots (6) – snails. 7€

Pâté on bread

The pâté paired with the hard French baguette was actually really good!  It was not the smooth creamy type but the harder, more solid type of pâté.  My mom really liked it too!

Using the tool to grab the shell…

Once secure, use the small fork to yank the escargot meat out

Ta-da! See the entire snail yanked out cleanly?

Yummy! ^_^ (Repeat process)

I liked how we were given specific tools to eat the escargots with.  I had never seen this before.  There was a tool to ‘grab’ the escargot shell with and then a small fork for you to yank the escargot out of the shell to eat.  How fancy! 😛  (You wouldn’t need to get your hands dirty while eating escargots!)

Selfie in the mirror inside the dining room 🙂

I loved the parsley butter that coated the entire escargot.  It was so good!!  I used the bread to soak up the leftover parsley butter and oil from the shells.  It was so tasty!

After our short spell of French dining, we asked for the bill and checked out.  Like I had foreseen, the bottle of water was indeed an extra charge (not like in Toronto where most of the water that is served at the table is free).  Unfortunately, the bottle of water was a lot pricier than I had imagined — it was 4 euros!  Sigh.  I had learned my lesson.  Never order specific water from a French restaurant because you will be (over) charged!

Le Mondial (Cafe Brasserie) restaurant as seen from the side

In any case, I really enjoyed the French quick bites we at had Le Mondial.  I don’t believe that this was a ‘French best’ restaurant, but to dine and try French food in Paris, France, is nothing short of extraordinary. 🙂

Le Mondial on 12 Rue Auber in Paris

 Have you been to Le Mondial before?  What was your experience like?