Monbleu Le Comptoir: the excellent new restaurant in Paris Marais area

The perfect marriage of cheese and wine is to be found at Monbleu Le Comptoir, the warm, gourmet new address imagined by Damien Richardot. Nestled in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, this dining cellar will surprise your taste buds with quality products and expert advice.

Cheese and wine have always made France famous. But do you really know of a good Parisian address offering quality wine and cheese pairings? If you look hard enough, the list is pretty short. But as we're a friendly bunch, we'd like to extend the list by adding Monbleu Le Comptoir. Nestled in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, a stone's throw from the Carreau du Temple, this address opened its doors at the beginning of June 2020.

If you're familiar with the name Monbleu, you're not only a gourmet, you're also a connoisseur. Monbleu is indeed a restaurant/fromagerie inaugurated in March 2018 on the Faubourg Montmartre. Two years later, its passionate and warm-hearted creator Damien Richardot (Chez Vous, La Classe, Le Métropolitain and Café Pinson) thus gives birth to his second Parisian gourmet address with Monbleu Le Comptoir.

More intimate, this new dining cellar awaits you throughout the day to offer a delicious experience around organic, natural or biodynamic cheese and wine. To achieve this, Damien focuses on diversity and variety, with a desacralized approach to carefully sourced products, notably from the Jura and the Pays de Savoie, his home region.

At Monbleu Le Comptoir, cheese can be enjoyed raw or cooked. At any time of day, opt for one or more pieces of cheese direct from the Faubourg Montmartre parent dairy. And let's face it, there's no shortage of choice from a selection of 150 cheeses, made by Meilleur ouvrier de France Pierre Gay. A rotating selection of ten artisan cheeses is available on the à la carte menu.

This evening, the menu featured cheeses made from cow's, ewe's or goat's milk; diversity was the order of the day, with the excellent and surprising bleu de chèvre produced by an agroecological farm in the Yvelines region. We also enjoyed the Larzac pavé, the Sablé de Wissant, not forgetting the incredible truffle cream, and the Comté du Fort des Rousses matured for 25 months in a former Napoleonic military fort in the Haut-Jura, or the Reblochon d'Annecy.

If you'd like to round off this tasting experience with some charcuterie, let yourself be tempted by a terrine of venison, 30-month aged Iberian sow's ham or the melting cecina of beef from Léon.

At lunchtime and in the evening, the menu is enriched with cooked small plates, again featuring cheese. On the menu? Cantal mashed sausage, Burratina in a large summer salad, gravelax salmon and potato, or the cheese and truffled ham croque, not forgetting a breaded Parmesan soft-boiled egg and a plate of Greek-style cucumber and feta.

All accompanied by a fine selection of 150 organic and natural wines. You'll also find biodynamic vintages (Frédéric Cossard in Saint-Romain - Côtes d'Or or Nicolas Joly in Savennières - Maine-et-Loire), talented winemakers (like Fanny Sabre in Pommard - Côtes d'Or) and our favorite: Château l'Argentier's Grés de Montpellier from 2016. The best part? The opportunity to leave with a bottle under your arm at the end of the meal. A discount is available on site.

For lovers of clever beverages, don't miss the Spritz à la Savoyarde with Bitter Dolin, Pet'Nat' (Domaine Giachino de Savoie) and sparkling water.

Due to the current health situation, the upstairs room - housing the cosy lounge/boudoir - is closed for the moment,but Monbleu Le Comptoir has a lovely extended terrace that you'd be wrong to miss on these sunny days. Alternatively, why not take advantage of the glass roof to admire the many bottles of wine proudly displayed on the shelves.

So, are you ready to discover some truly delicious wine and cheese combinations? Monbleu Le Comptoir offers over 22,500 possibilities, so don't delay!

Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health. Drink in moderation.

Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.