L'Arcade Café

After sorting out paperwork with the French administration, an Australian friend and I headed to a L'Arcade Café in the central square of Saint Germain-en-laye for lunch. Although I had recommended some other places without a view, I did the touristy thing because she was so keen on sitting out on a terrace looking out into the center of town, hoping that it would be better than the other cafes in the same square. The dark clouds sprinkled a bit of drizzle, but the sun also came out intermittently. It was a lunch of many good and bad facets, just like the weather...

Our view of the square was very nice, and even though we had three servers during our 1 hour meal, service was friendly and professional.

A pleasant surprise was the generous serving of smoked salmon appetizer for 14 Euros which included crème fraîche and a bit of lemon. The sliced bread on the plate was a bit dry, but had good flavor nonetheless.

My friend ordered the Caesar salad for 14 Euros. The dressing should have had at least a bit of anchovy or garlic, but it tasted very much like plain mayonnaise, and the rest of the salad did nothing to compensate for the lack of punch. Yes, that is balsamic you see drizzled on the salad, and no I have no idea why they would add that to a caesar salad.....

I ordered the filet de bar (sea bass), which came with plain basmati rice (under the rocket greens) and a small salad of rocket and sun dried tomatoes for 17 Euros. The fish was crisp but not overly cooked, and the sauce vierge of olive oil, tomatoes, and shallots was pleasant if a bit bland. The dish was very plain and could have used a spark of acid, or heat, or seasoning, but it was a fine choice for my slightly upset stomach.

We went clothes shopping at the stores after lunch, and stopped by for some fresh fruit and viennoiseries on the way back for our afternoon snack, proving that sometimes the best meals are the ones you put together yourself:)