• 3
• Could be better

This is my first visit to Le Potager since it moved from its small but cheerful place near the Pompidou Centre. The venue is certainly better, more spacious and more like a restaurant. As others have said, the idea is to provide vegan versions of a few classics from French cookery. We visited on a Thursday evening in early April. The place was around 2/3 full as people left, others arrived so it was fairly busy. Despite that, there was only one member of serving staff. She was ultra efficient but perhaps rather curt. It would not be correct to say that she was unfriendly, but a smile goes a long way and there were none of those. Perhaps she was just too busy. The food is all vegan - I had the soup of the day, which was fine: tasty if a little grainy, and my wife had a salad. The main courses were disappointing: my blanquette was OK but the potato Dauphinoise was dry and the plate was crying out for something green and fresh but the other vegetables were mashed carrots and parsnips. My wife had seitan en croute but, again, it was dry with the same accompaniments as my dish, so that everything was the same colour and texture. It was not that the food was bad - we ate it all - but there was no joy in the eating. Desserts were OK. On the plus side, it's a nice place, everything is vegan, there is no piped music. But a restaurant is predominantly for the pleasure of eating rather than simply filling oneself. I think things could be much better with a little more variety on the menu, more thoughtful presentation and a better choice of vegetables. Updated from previous review on 2024-04-14