June 11, 2013

There are places I walk into and instantly know I’ll be a regular. Soul Kitchen was one of those places.

I first headed to this little behind-the-butte café due to a recommendation from Jackie and I can’t thank her enough. I’m here at least a couple of days a week now, leeching off their wifi and churning out some work while the restaurant bustles around me. I’m sitting in my usual corner seat as I type this, actually, listening to their awesome soundtrack which today includes Alt-J, Rufus Wainwright, Woodkid, and Regina Spektor.

Charming without being cutesy, hip without being pretentious, Soul Kitchen is run by the Anzel sisters, the sweetest restaurateurs you’ll ever meet. They serve simple, homemade food that’s often vegetarian, using fresh, seasonal ingredients. I realized last week that I had accidentally been eating vegetarian for three days because of this restaurant — and if you’ve been to Paris, you know what a feat this is.

There are daily lunch menus for €12.50, with a choice of various quiches, tortillas, sandwiches, and soups with a side salad and dessert. It’s also an excellent choice for Sunday brunch.

As noted by Aaron, French brunch is often a sham — an expensive and meager one. Soul Kitchen understands the spirit of brunch: it should feel like an insurmountable amount of food, enough to do battle with the last vestiges of your morning hangover without leaving you lethargic for that long dark tea-time of the soul known as Sunday afternoon. For around €25, you end up with a table overflowing with food and drinks.

Bonus: they have daily “challenges” which, if completed, get you a free madeleine. O and I recently got three of the buttery pastries for naming 30 Shakespeare plays between the two of us, and I just witnessed a pair of girls do a very silly dance for theirs. Free entertainment, excellent food, chill atmosphere… I’ll see you there.

Soul Kitchen
33 rue Lamarck, 75018 (Lamarck – Caulaincourt)
01 71 37 99 95
€12.50 menu of main dish, salad, and dessert on weekdays

Posted in: dining out, paris | Tags: 75018, behind the butte, brunch, cafe, food, lunch, lunch montmartre paris, montmartre, montmartre brunch, montmartre restaurant, paris, restaurant, soul kitchen, soul kitchen paris, travel, vegetarian, vegetarian restaurant paris