Looking for a good shellfish restaurant in a city without a coast in sight is a tough call.
Especially so, if you want somewhere that is not horrendously expensive. Putting the two together seemed as likely to me as a Paris Spring without rain.
Despite being told that Paris prides itself in good quality fish I still had many doubts. However (and happily), I was proven wrong.
Le Crabe Marteau, our choice for the night, does not feature on either Time Out’s “The best seafood in Paris” list, or The Guardian’s top ten. I cannot help but wonder why.
The atmosphere is laid back and chilled out. If you are looking for a flashy, fancy date then this is not the best choice. Rather, if you want to laugh, smash your dinner with a small wooden hammer, wear a silly red bib and join in the ruckus going on in the rest of the restaurant whilst enjoying high quality seafood than this is the place to be. The menu is limited, but then if you come to a place that specialises in crab then it would be bizarre to choose anything else.
You can order, for example, half a crab with six oysters (€33) or for €36 you can have half a crab with langoustines. We opted for the latter and a carafe of house white (€9.50) and it arrived promptly. For those that are hesitant to sample their crab, oysters or langoustines, there were a few fish dishes too.
I was not expecting as much as they gave us, frankly the portion sizes were more than generous, especially when it comes to shellfish. It was accompanied by several sauces and a pot of potatoes, which became handy later when I was finishing the crab. The langoustine and crab were of superb quality and I could tell it was fresh.
I would recommend (and have done already) to many people. By 9pm it was quite busy so I would also suggest booking, it seems this place is popular for a reason.
VERDICT: Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Address: 75017, 16 Rue des Acacias, 75017 Paris
Metro: Argentine
Phone: 01 44 09 85 59
http://www.crabemarteau.fr/
