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Shepherd’s pie and Monday openings: British chef brings taste of UK to Parisians

The first ever British brasserie in Paris is serving up shepherd's pie, fry-ups and scotch eggs in a city known for its haute cuisine and demanding gastronomic standards. But it's going down a treat with the locals.

Published: 26 March 2018 16:51 CEST
Shepherd's pie and Monday openings: British chef brings taste of UK to Parisians
Photo: L'Entente -- Le British Brasserie/Instagram
It might sound like a brave venture but in just 16 weeks the restaurant is proving to be a hit with the locals and already counts former French presidents among its guests. 
 
And perhaps it's no wonder. 
 
This is no “greasy spoon” café or good old UK pub but a high-end British-inspired restaurant that serves top nosh, located in the posh 2nd arrondissement of Paris on Rue Monsigny. 
 
Oliver Woodhead, the brains behind the new restaurant, described the venture as “groundbreaking”.
 
Photo: L'Entente — Le British Brasserie/Instagram
 
“I put the idea together 10 years ago. I knew it would be a challenge and it has been,” he told The Local.
 
One of the main challenges was surely trying to convince the French of the merits of British cuisine.
 
Woodhead says the cliché in France that British food is all rubbish is “absolutely unfair”.
 
“Thirty years ago [former French president ] Jacques Chirac called it the worst cuisine in the world after Finnish food but a lot has changed since then,” he said.
 
Woodhead moved to Paris 20 years ago for his gap year and never left. 
 
After working in the hospitality sector around Paris for 15 years mostly for Americans, Brits and New Zealanders he began to hatch his plan for Le British Brasserie, which he was determined would not be a “cliché English-themed restaurant”.
 
Oliver Woodhead (L) with legendary fashion journalist Suzy Menkes (R). Photo: L'Entente — Le British Brasserie/Instagram
 
Now he's bringing British classics such as shepherd's pie to a city known for its haute-cuisine and demanding palates.  
 
But Woodhead tells The Local the key is simplicity. 
 
“We're not recreating anything complicated. It's just great produce, simply done with a bit of savoir faire,” he said.
 
Perhaps unsurprisingly Woodhead said it's been “a challenge” to convince the French to swap their treasured boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin for a plate of bacon and eggs, but he says his clientele are openly anglophiles.
 
And in just 16 weeks he can already boast a visit from former French President Francois Hollande and rave reviews in the French press. 
 
Photo: AFP
 
Meanwhile foreigners in Paris are certainly on board, with the the fashion elite including designers Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and Paul Smith, as well as legendary fashion journalist Suzie Menkes, and Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie among the illustrious stars to have eaten there. 
 
So which dishes are proving the most popular?
 
“We'll never be able to take our shepherd's pie or fishcakes off the menu,” he said, adding that ginger loaf and lemon posset are the desserts that have been sweeping diners off their feet. 
 
 
Open 7/7

 
And while the food might be British, he isn't cutting France out of the equation completely, using mostly French produce to create his Anglo recipes. 
 
Although he has made the brave decision to have Westcombe Cheddar, Stilton and Red Leicester on the cheese platter instead of the usual array of French cheeses.
 
But L'Entente — Le British Brasserie isn't only British in terms of the food it offers. 
 
The popular shepherd's pie. Photo: L'Entente — Le British Brasserie/Instagram
 
Woodhead is also bringing a sense of the British working culture from across the Channel to French capital. 
 
In a city where it's normal for restaurants to close on Sundays and/or Mondays, the fact that L'Entente — Le British Brasserie is open throughout the week and will even be open for the whole of August could be a shock for many of the city's natives. 
 
“It's also about the Anglo Saxon mentality,” he said. “We're open seven days a week come hell or high water.
 
“I believe that in hospitality we are there to greet people when they want it and need it,” he added. “But this really isn't part of the [French] culture,” he added. 
 
Fine dining in Paris 
 
One of the reasons the British brasserie is proving such a hit could be to do with the fact that there is space for more high-end restaurants in the French capital. 
 
 
“It can be hard to get into the really good restaurants in Paris. There are so many tourists as well as complacent restaurants so getting into the good ones can be difficult because they get booked up,” he said. 
 
“But the Paris restaurant scene is getting better and better,” he added. 
 
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SCHOOLS

Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

School children in France are entitled to a lunchtime meal of three, or even four courses – but what if you prefer to provide meals yourself? 

Published: 22 May 2024 12:24 CEST
Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

French school meals are, famously, pretty good – children get a three or even four-course meal of properly prepared dishes and the menu (including cheese course) is usually published in the local town newsletter so everyone can see the types of meals being served.

The concept of a proper meal at lunchtime is an important one. “The diet of a school-age child is essential for their growth, mental development and learning abilities,” the French Education Ministry says in a preamble about school meals on its website. “It must be balanced, varied and distributed throughout the day: for example 20 percent of total energy in the morning, 40 percent at midday, 10 percent at four o’clock and 30 percent in the evening.”

And it’s not all about nutrition, the social aspect of sitting together and eating a meal is also important – the ministry continues: “Mealtime is an opportunity for students to relax and communicate. It should also be a time for discovery and enjoyment.”

All schools provide meals in a canteen and most pupils take up the opportunity – however it’s also possible for pupils to go home at lunchtime so that they can eat lunch with their parents.

The idea of taking in a packed lunch (panier-repas) is much less common in France – but is it actually banned?

The rules on lunch

At écoles (up to age 11), the local authority or établissement public de coopération intercommunale (EPCI) is responsible for providing quality school meals. This generally involves meals being provided via a central kitchen, and then delivered to the school’s kitchen, where it can be kept warm, or reheated as necessary.

The system is slightly different in collèges and lycées (attended by children aged 11 and up). In those establishments, catering falls into the purview of the wider département or region – and is routinely managed directly by individual establishments, which will have catering staff on site to prepare meals. Often, meal services are outsourced to private businesses, which operate the kitchens.

There are various rules and regulations in place regarding what food is offered, and how long a child has to eat – which is, in part, why the school lunch period is so long. Children must be allowed a 30-minute period to eat their meal, from the moment they sit down with it at the table. 

Then, they’re given time to play and relax before afternoon classes start.

READ ALSO What you need to know if your child is starting school in France

At a minimum lunch must include a main course with a side dish, a dairy-based product, as well as a starter and/or a dessert. Meals must also, the government says, be composed of 50 percent sustainable quality products (including 20 percent organic).

Some local authorities go further and serve only or mostly food that is organic, locally sourced or both.

Water and bread must be freely available, but salt and condiments can only be added in preparation – no sauce bottles or salt and pepper on the tables. 

Daily menus are generally available to view on school websites and many town newspapers or newsletters also publish them.

Parents pay a fee for the school lunch, which is calculated according to income and can be free in the case of low-income families.

Packed lunch

But what if your child doesn’t like the school lunches and you don’t have time to pick them up, cook a full lunch and take them back in the afternoon everyday? The obvious solution would seem to be to send them in with a packed lunch, as is common in the UK and USA.

In theory this is possible, but only in certain circumstances and with very strict rules and caveats. 

The Ministry, in a written response to a Senator’s question in 2019, said: “The use of packed lunches [home-supplied meals] by primary school students can provide an alternative to school meals. This method of catering is authorised in particular for children with a medically established food allergy or intolerance, requiring an adapted diet.”

READ ALSO How to enrol a non-French speaking child in school in France

It added: “the preparation and use of packed lunches in schools must follow certain rules. First of all, it is important to respect the cold chain”.

The cold chain is a term applied to food handling and distribution – it’s usually used by food-preparation businesses, but in the context of a packed lunch it means that food prepared at home must be kept in appropriately cool conditions until it is ready to eat. It would be the responsibility of parents to ensure that the food is delivered to school in containers appropriate for the job (ie an insulated cool bag).

Once at the school, it is up to whoever manages the kitchen to ensure that food is properly reheated. This becomes the sticking point at which many parents’ requests to send their children to school with a packed lunch, rather than go to the canteen, or eat back at home, are refused.

The reheating concern suggests that schools are also expecting parents to prepare a proper meal – rather than just throwing some sandwiches and a cereal bar into a bag.

Unless there’s a genuine and proven health reason for your child to eat a home-prepared meal, most parents will probably find the school won’t budge on this – even in cases of a strike by kitchen staff or lunch monitors.

READ ALSO Just how much do private schools in France cost?

The Ministry’s written response explains: “[A]s this is an optional public service, the municipality can justify its refusal to admit the children concerned by objective material and financial constraints, such as the need to equip itself with additional refrigerators, or for additional supervisory staff to supervise them during lunch.”

As well as the practicalities, for some schools this is an equality issue – because of the varied fee structure for school lunches what happens in effect is that richer parents are subsidising a good quality lunchtime meal for poorer students in the class; if everyone brought in a packed lunch and therefore stopped paying the fee, the lower-income kids would miss out. 

What about allergies or other health issues?

Children with allergies or other health issues that require a particular diet must be accommodated. An individual meal plan – known as a projet d’accueil individualisé (PAI) can be set up. More details (in French) are available here, on the government’s website.

It also becomes easier for parents to provide home-produced meals in such instances. As ever, it is up to the parents to ensure any meals are appropriately packaged and transported to school.

Not all schools

Some individual schools in France do permit pupils to bring in meals from home. They must be taken to school in an appropriate cold-storage container, and they will be stored in the kitchen area until they are needed, when meals will – if necessary – be reheated.

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