Gourmet Kebab in Paris

Wandering through the streets of Paris always turns up surprises. From a rough ramen joint to Grillé, the gourmet kebab shop set up by a former chef at the acclaimed Chateaubriand restaurant. Yes, even in Paris, top chefs are getting into culinary slow fast food. This one has been doing so for about five years already.

The nondescript corner building from the outside, with a few tables and benches beneath a tarpaulin, only stands out because of the long queue in front of it. And when we read on the board at the entrance that veau de lait (veal) is being served today on homemade spelt pitas, we join the queue too – even though we have just polished off a pain parisien.

Spelt Pitas

Inside, the décor of an eighteenth-century game dealer seems to have been preserved: Parisian tiled walls with ‘Delft blue’ images of market traders. Otherwise, the place looks like an average kebab joint, with the spit grill as its main eye-catcher. Slightly more unusual is the table where the spelt pitas are rolled by hand.

Gourmet kebab with homemade hand-rolled spelt pitas

The kebab meat comes from Parisian culinary butcher and restaurateur Hugo Desnoyer. But the sauces are at least as important. You can choose from blanche (fromage blanc (quark) and horseradish), verte (green tomato pulp, green pepper and sweet onions), petits pois (garden peas, cumin, mint and lemon) and tahina (aubergine, fromage blanc and tahini).

Craft Beer

Add homemade fries and a house-brand craft beer, and this gourmet meal still comes in comfortably under 20 euros (€16.20 to be exact). Not bad for such an expensive world city.

Grillé, 15 Rue Saint-Augustin (2nd arrondissement), Paris.

Image: Marjan Ippel