Think of Paris and you think of sitting in a bistro in St.-Germain-des-Pres or Montmartre: posters on the wall, steak frites on the table and all the world to watch passing by the window.
If youre suffering from a Paris withdrawal just by reading those words, then make your way to Café Salade de Fruits on West 7th off Granville. Surprisingly for such a seemingly nondescript location, once youre inside its got the ambience and, more importantly, the menu to transport you to a different place and time.
Its even got the slight annoyances that you can associate with France no credit or debit card payments, no mid-afternoon service and a closed sign on Sundays and Mondays. But that too is as French as its duck confit. Joie de vivre means making time for the pleasures in life pleasures that the hard-working staff should be enjoying, too.
When Antoine Bonard, who was born near Chambourg, and a partner decided to open a cafe next to Maison de la Francophonie in 1999, not one of the banks they approached would lend them the money. Hence the thumbing of Gallic noses at the banks by refusing to pay bank charges for credit card service. But success is the best revenge the café is packed every lunch and dinner and this summer they plan to expand into the patio area.
In 2007, Bonards partner left to join the RCMP and Bonard asked Balendran (Krisna) Rameshan, who was working at the bistro as a line cook, to join him as a shareholder as well. Rameshan had left Sri Lanka 24 years ago without a penny to his name. He started working as a dishwasher at Harbour Centres Top of Vancouver restaurant and, when he showed initiative and talent, was trained in the kitchen.
When he cooks, he puts love in it; the dish can feel it, Bonard says of his partner, who has mastered the subtle nuances of French cuisine.
The menu is more country bistro honest food with not as much cream and butter but it does have that Parisian flare. There are the standards moules frites, entrecote grillée, magret de canard sauce cassis and, even, frog legs but theres also a $28 Table dHote that changes weekly. This weeks its grilled steelhead salmon; next week its veal takii umami. The wine and drinks list is limited when we asked what white wine by the glass was available, we were told a Chardonnay and a not-Chardonnay but classic, with such offerings as kir and Pastis-Ricard (oh, for those sunny summer days on the patio!)
And while you sometimes have to wait for a table, you can really get your French fix by browsing through the Centre Culturel Francophone book and DVD library next door.
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