I’ll tell you about l’Epicuriste only if you promise to keep it a secret. It’s a small restaurant, only about 50 seats, located within sight of the Eiffel Tower – but the tourists haven’t discovered it and I hope they never will. Milady has an uncanny knack for dealing with concierges, and has coaxed several of them to reveal secrets like “Where would you eat if you wanted a really good meal but didn’t want to have to give up eating for the rest of the month to pay for it?” L’Epicuriste is one of the answers. It has a prix fixed menu for 32€ without dessert or 37€ with it. Aperitifs, cocktails, wines are extra, but tax and tips are included, making it a bargain. The menu is limited and changes frequently, largely depending on what’s good at the market, but quality is consistently very high. The chalkboard brought to the table when you sit down and the carte des vins which accompanies it are evidence of a carefully disciplined approach and the results are outstanding.

Today was cold, rainy and despite it’s being May, it felt like December. At the top of the chalkboard (which is only in French, no printed English version here) was a split pea soup – the perfect answer to the weather. Fragrant, delicate, hot and the most gorgeous green, we slurped it down with gusto. (Well, actually we ordered a 2006 Chateau Plaisance (Grand Cru Bordeaux) and slurped it with that.) Restored by the soup and our first glasses of wine, Milday insisted I translate the main courses. Fortunately for me, there were only a half dozen offerings – each more challenging to my medievally learned French than the next. Ever gracious, our waiter stepped in after I mangled the first attempt, and gave a useful and credible description of each item. Milady chose the cod with vegetables and was treated to a beautiful filet which had been soaked in milk and then roasted to perfection and served on a bed of root vegetables. No fishy odor (sometimes an issue with a strongly flavored fish like cod), only the scent of the vegetables, including a stalk of freshly roasted rhubarb which provided a surprising depth and a hint of sweetness to the melange. I chose the gigot d’agneau, a longtime favorite accompaniment to a red bordeaux. The slices of lamb were perfectly pink and presented en casserole with diced eggplant, red peppers, onions, green peppers and a hint of garlic which had been sauteed and then deglazed with red wine and seasoned with parsley, rosemary and thyme. (There may have been a bit of sage as well, but my editor didn’t want to pay the royalties its inclusion would have triggered.)

Desserts were listed and included “Pavlova” with fresh fruit, rice pudding, chocolate quenelle, cheese cake with fruit sauce and a cheese plate. Milady confessed to the waitress that we were unable to translate “Pavlova” and when it was explained it was a lemon meringue, asked for help deciding between it and the cheesecake. Smiling, the waitress unhesitatingly recommend the cheesecake – and she was absolutely correct. I devoured the chocolate quenelle – which was augmented by a tiny scoop of homemade vanilla glace and candied hazelnut. We walked back to our hotel and poured a bit of cognac to celebrate.

What a wonderful meal – but remember, you promised you wouldn’t tell anyone, or else.