La Balancoire, meaning ‘the swing’, is a tiny bistrot in Montmartre, on a quiet side street. It was already on a list of restaurants I was meaning to try when a lovely intern at work told me it’s her favourite restaurant. Usually, when I go to a restaurant, the focus is on the food, but this bistrot offered a full package.
We were super-charmed by the service; the waitress was charming, sweet and helpful, and the waiter was dead cool. The magnets in the tables that made the forks sit at a funny angle made me laugh out loud. The tables are cosy and close together, but the atmosphere is really charming. Online booking for a reservation was easy as pie. I was also amused that for both entrees and desserts they offer a mixed plate for the ‘indecisive’; a great selection of wine, and I also like a small menu that offers enough choice but is clear that they’re focusing on a few quality plates or specialties. And I hear they switch up the offerings quite often.
In any case, I had the indecisive starter: a beautiful soup, some delicious foie gras, and an 
inventive salad, full of different textures and deep-fried chèvre cheese. I had the burger for a main, which was a nice gourmet take on fast food: great chips, good-quality meat, a tiny brioche bun with cheese melted on top of it. My better half was pleased with his salad as an entree and confit of duck as a main, falling appropriately off the bone. The only problem is that we were both too full to try dessert…
6 rue Aristide Bruant
75018 Paris
France