Mer & Coquillage Paris Restaurant Near Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Mer & Coquillage Paris is a Michelin Guide restaurant near famous French landmarks such as the Louvre and Bibliothèque Nationale de France. This seafood restaurant is listed in the Paris Michelin Guide but does not have any Michelin star. According to the guide, the chef has “... carte blanche to work with line-caught fish and the catch of small fishing boats that arrive straight from Noirmoutier and Brittany.” It sounded like the kind of seafood restaurant we needed to visit.

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Most of our friends visiting Paris know of the Louvre. But quite a few of them have not heard of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), literally the National Library of France. One of the main sites of BnF is the Richelieu site which occupies a full city block in Paris. Visits to some parts are restricted but some are open to the public. The most appealing area for us on this visit was the the Oval Room. It is a library open to the public, free of charge. There are about 20,000 works at this location, including a collection of 9,000 comics. This would be a good place to get some peace and quiet in between other tourist attractions in Paris.

Mer & Coquillage Paris Restaurant

The restaurant is situated in a very convenient location. It is a few minutes walk from either the Louvre or BnF Richelieu. Reflecting its seafood theme, the restaurant decor is said to be “evocative of a cruise ship”. To us it reminds us of old school “proper restaurants” in Singapore, such as the Gordon Grill which we wrote about recently. Warm lighting, white crisp tablecloths, heavy wooden furniture and a tranquil atmosphere are things these restaurants have in common. We had lunch on a weekday when it was quiet.

Mer & Coquillage Menu

Here are some pages from the restaurant menu. A fair selection of seafood dishes are available. At the time of our visit, a lunch menu was available. We had a mix of the set lunch and items from the a la carte menu.

Wine and Seafood

Expecting seafood to dominate our lunch we focused our attention on the white wine sections of the restaurant’s wine list. The range was wide enough, with prices starting from 45 euros to more than a thousand euros for a bottle. We settled on a modest bottle of Sancerre – 2022 Domaine Pierre Morin (52 euros).

Mer & Coquillage Lunch Déjeuner

The lunch menu at Mer & Coquillage was a two course lunch priced at 27 euros. Diners could choose to have a starter or dessert with the main course. Another option was to have all three for an additional 8 euros. This was the option that we took.

Our lunch started with cold asparagus soup (picture above). Quite a few stalks of asparagus must have been used as the soup had a thick rich flavour. A refreshing and healthy way to begin lunch. Main course (roasted black cod) which was very good, even better when we take into account the price of this lunch,

Dessert was more ordinary – a fruit salad.

Other Dishes

We supplemented the lunch menu with a couple of other items. The steak of tuna (35 euros) had a good combination of fish and vegetables. The pieces of fish were not bad but was enhanced by the generous amount of vegetables. The mixed cheese selection (18 euros) was not as good as the preceding dishes.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs

Mer & Coquillage
36 Rue des Petits Champs 75002 Paris

Tel: 01 42 33 00 22

Website