Le Refuge des Fondues- MontMartre, Paris, France

Le Refuge des Fondues!

  While on our three week long vacation in France, we ate at some pretty interesting places. One of them was Le Refuge des Fondues. Le Refuge des Fondues means "The Refuge of Melted". The restaurant is located in the area of Paris known as Montmartre.  We had read about it online and we thought it sounded fun.  It took a little while to find, but once we found it, I knew that this place would be like no other. First of all, the restaurant was no bigger than a hotel room, and only seated about 30 people. There was a long bench along both walls with essentially what was a long table running the entire length of the restaurant in front of it.  Half of the people sit on these benches and if you are going to sit on one of them you had to climb OVER the table.  That was pretty crazy.  We had a party of eight, so we took up quite a chunk of space in the restaurant and four of us had to climb over.  We were there when it opened and it filled up really quickly.

   Probably the strangest thing about Le Refuge des Fondues was also the coolest. Everyone drank out of baby bottles!  Whether you were having water, orange juice, or even WINE (for the adults), it all came in a baby bottle. Watching grown adults and kids alike all drinking out of baby bottles was probably the funniest and strangest thing I have seen in a long time.  I think they do it in case you kick someone's drink while climbing over the table.  The restaurant also has a baby bottle on the

The Crew! (Note the baby bottles!)

front door instead of a door knob! 

  At Le Refuge des Fondues, there are only two fondue options: "cheese and meat".  When we asked what kind of meat the waiter simply answered "meat" which we thought was funny.  Because we were so hungry, we ordered both, and I'm glad we did. When our cheese bowl came out, I was the only kid who really liked the cheese, but all the adults liked it. The cheese was warm, gooey, not very strong or flavorful, but added warmth and more texture to the olives, apples, and bread that were put out for us to eat with the cheese. In all honesty, even after having some cheese, everyone was still starving, and were eagerly waiting to get the meat course. You cook the meat in boiling oil and while the oil and meat were coming out, we met a couple that had just sat down next to us. They were probably in their early twenties. Once we started talking to them, the parents and this couple immediately bonded. Within 15 minutes, the moms were showing each other baby pictures! (okay, that part was kinda weird)  Anyways, the meat course came out, and it was okay, except for two things. One, I found it very difficult to cook anything just right. No matter how long I waited after putting in the meat, the first time it would always still be raw on the inside.  Then if I put the meat back in, even for just a few seconds, it would turn out hard and overcooked. The second thing was that every time you put one of the potatoes in, it would disappear. It always dropped off and we would lose it in the oil, and it was then really difficult to get the potato out. On the very rare occasion that you could get it out, it would either fall back in or be half disintegrated. So in other words, the oil was pretty lame. I mean, burnt meat and disintegrated potatoes aren't all that great. Anyways, this restaurant wasn't really abut the food, it was about the experience and we did laugh a lot. They also let you write your name or graffiti on the walls, which I thought was cool.  Everyone in our group had a fun time that night,and we all agreed it was one of

Me climbing over the table!

the best nights (but not meals) we had on our trip!

   All the staff were nice, and they spoke English, too! I really enjoyed Le Refuge des Fondues, and even though the food wasn't great, the experience more than made up for it. So if you happen to be in Paris at Montmartre, drop in for a night full of fun - and baby bottles!

  As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one cookie being burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin cookie nastiness, and ten cookies being perfect, warm, gooey chocolate chip (my favorite) cookie goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Le Refuge des Fondues are:

Food: 5 Cookies
Atmosphere: 8 Cookies
Service: 7 Cookies

Le Refuge des Fondues Google+:  https://plus.google.com/104769547298971501729/about?gl=us&hl=en