L’Atlantide

The best couscous in Paris is a mood.

It’s November today. It feels like it too. Cold but not crisp. Grey like an old tracksuit. Not pissing down but raining in that way that you get really wet if you are outside for more than a minute. Fortunately for me there’s a place downstairs that does the best couscous in Paris. I can think of no other way to deal with a morning like this.

I call a couple of times to check if they have space but nobody picks up. I’m not going to be put off that easily. I pull my shoes on and go down to knock at the door. It’s quietly full inside, a low murmur of voices that is softened by the rugs that are pinned to the ceiling. Eventually Ali comes to the desk and I ask if he can do me a table for two, tout suite. He pretends to look in the book for a bit and then offers me the spot I always sit at.

We are going to be getting the couscous with ginger spiced lamb, that’s a given, but there is a conundrum when it comes to the starters. There is the merguez cooked in a tangy tomato, the fried sardines and the brick pastry with tuna. Under normal circumstances you would need to eliminate one of these before proceeding, but then I look outside and see that rain before ordering all three.

The merguez comes in streaming tagine pot. Before opening it, the waiter sets me for up a dramatic reveal, in case I want to do a video for Insta like that guy in front of me did earlier. But this ‘aint my first rodeo. I’m going to smash into that juicy sausage and wap a load of harissa on it before I do. This is why I get out of bed in the morning. For moments like this.

As we are tucking into the lamb, Ali comes by to check if we liked the Algerian wine. He gives me a mild ribbing about something and then finishes with a slap on the back like I’m his nephew not a customer. It’s about the highest accolade I could wish for.

𝐋’𝐀𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐞 - 𝟎𝟕 𝐀𝐯. 𝐝𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐞̀𝐫𝐞, 𝟕𝟓𝟎𝟏𝟗 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬