Au Grain de Folie

Petite little place and it’s a one woman show. You must be patient but it’s worth the wait. Our food was amazing. It was fresh and full of flavor.
So relax in Paris and have some great veg food.

Not worth it. I would give this a 1 star if it were in the U.S., but being a Vegetarian in Paris, at least it was all vegetarian? I brought my mom here as a «treat» for her birthday — and I felt so embarrassed because of the service (and partially the food).
We walked into a COMPLETELY empty restaurant and were immediately asked if we had reservations, which we didn’t. We were (resentfully) seated and mostly ignored, as 2 other Parisian parties were seated, kissed, and talked up. We weren’t looking for company or hand-​holding, but the service crossed over to rudeness and then neglect. Everyone received water before we did. The place never filled up. I appreciated the vegetables (2 different types of cabbage, plain lentils, and squash) but would’ve rather just stopped by the market. Guess you need to get there when the nice staff is working. We had to flag the waitress down to get our check after cleaning and stacking our plates, and she still told us to wait while she took the only remaining party’s order.

Service lent, mais serveuse sympathique ! Une bonne grosse assiette de crudités mais un menu relativement cher pour des produits qui né sont je né pense pas tous frais (carottes râpées ?!) A retenter?

Went twice during my honeymoon, not only a cozy little place, not being a vegetarian to be able to say that the food was incredible trust me it means something. Give it a shot you will love it.

Terrible food that I have ever ate !
DeLate service, 30 minds with a salads that no need cook and only one customer left, at 2 – 3 pm Saturday afternoon, very disappoint, and the olives taste like molded, the vegetables are like someone cut and leftover. I will never go there again !

Excellent place. Came here with my wife for dinner as it was vegetarian and we started following a Plant-​Based diet over a year ago…
Intially, we weren’t sure we’d find any vegan places walking distance from our hotel in Montmarté, but we fortuitously found this little gem.
Its very small and has a real Bohemian charm to it. It even had a funk/​disco playlist that sounded like the love child of Studio 54 and Wildstyle.
It was busy but we managed to get a table for two without reservation and soon tucked into some delicious and healthy legumes, hummus, rice and salad; a healthy whole-​food plant-​based meal (see one of my uploaded photos).
There were a few options (all vegetarian and some vegan) on the menu but we were happy to go with a real vegan (eg not a meat substitute) meal.
It was subtly filling and wholesome, we also ordered the yummy lemonade.
To summarise, if you want some food with soul, and you don’t take moderation, health and a cosy home like Parisian ambience for granted, then this place should be high on your list as a place to dine.
The staff were friendly and were happy to share the radio station they were playing.
I would definitely return if i was in Paris longer and also recommend this place to any ominvoires out there!
My only area for improvement was perhaps the prices were a wee bit high for what it was, but for the area/​high rent prices it was quite consistent.

A phenomenal experience in a beautiful location. I can’t help but feel that the reviewers that I’ve seen claiming that the food is too simple or uninspired seem to be looking for a Blossom Du Jour in NYC, or Sunflower Café in the DC area, etc., etc. They’re looking for creative reinventions of dishes using meat substitutes. This is not that sort of place. I walked in my vegetarian girlfriend’s shoes for nearly four years, and have happily reverted to my old omnivorous ways, but we eat at a lot of vegetarian digs. This place is about serving simple, fresh ingredients in a delicious, homey way. And the price honestly reflects the simplicity. It’s scarcely a restaurant, but more like a home kitchen, with the propriétaire’s dog keeping guard. Yes, it’s been «decorated» but the décor is a byproduct of the things which would already be in the restaurant: old grain bags, cook books, etc.
My fiancée and I arrived and a table was cleared for us. The pacing was a bit slow, but it was lunch on New Year’s Eve, and the maîtresse was attending to another table. We had some vin chaud, which was not very sweet, but was very well seasoned. Then we had Le Grain de Folie, and also the seitan dish, whose name I can’t remember. Both were exceptional. Simple plates of freshly julienned carrots and cabbages, nicely seasoned (not overly salty), tasty grains, the focused protein, and some stewed vegetables, not unlike a small ratatouille. Hospitable, delicious, fresh. Take cash.

Un restaurant végétarien mignon…
Les assiettes composées sont simples, crudités, lentilles, mélange de céréales et un accompagnement, le tout très peu assaisonné. Equilibré certes mais plutôt tristounet… A 15 € l’assiette, autant le faire chez soi.
Un petit mieux sur les desserts, toutefois je n’y retournerais pas.

Meh. The food was good, but nothing any half decent home cook couldn’t make themselves. Not very imaginative menu wise. Most dishes are just platters of grains, beans and crudités. It’s well done and filling, but doesn’t wow you. The French could take a few tips from veggie places in the US. I’d give it a 2 in the US but a 3 here since pickins are slim. Probably would head to an Indian place rather than revisit this joint.

Nice and fresh food but didnt feel like it was original vegetarian cooked dishes but nice staff and cute restaurant.

I happened upon this place, during a stroll through Montremartre with a friend, after having just visited la Basilique du Sacré Coeur. Though I wasn’t starving, I am a vegetarian and know enough about Paris to know that one does not pass up an opportunity for a decent vegetarian meal – plus, it was threatening to rain – so we stopped in.
This restaurant is small, even by Parisian standards, & the eclectic décor makes it feel even tighter, more cluttered. The staff is super friendly, but the service is painstakingly slow, which may not be such a bother in a more spacious or comfortable joint. Even though there were only two two-​tops, to which to attend, whilst we were there, several tables went un-​bussed, while the waitress distracted in the cook w/​idle chatter, possibly accounting for the delay in receiving our food – the couple who’d arrived before us also seemed to have been waiting a long time. Also, the dishes from the two parties before us remained on their respective tables throughout our entire meals.
The food was good, fresh, natural and no-​frills – the kind of vegetarian one might get in NYC’s East Village vs., say, Blossom Café. We both left feeling full and satisfied – & tired, after having sat on an Amish-​style bench for 1.5h.

Very small, but the food was good.

L’hygièné est déplorable et je suis étonnée que ce restaurant né soit pas fermé !
La personne qui cuisine né porte pas de tablier, mais surtout elle distribue le menu, vecteur de microbes, aux clients nouveaux venus et, après l’avoir touché, elle continue à manipuler la nourriture à pleines mains (crudités) sans les avoir lavées !
Les crudités sontstockées dans de grands bacs non réfrigéré.
Le plan de travail est minuscule et en bois.
Pour ce qui est de la nourriture, j’ai pris la curieuse. Il s’agit d’un assortiment de crudités sans sauce (ou il y en avait si peu que je né l’ai pas senti) et d’une tarte aux légumes. De là où j’étais assiste, j’ai vu la préparation: des légumes tirés d’une conserve et répartis sur une pâte (sans doute toute prête).
Question ambiance, c’est plutôt convivial et sympathique (heureusement car on est tellement serré dans ce petit espace que l’on partage la conversation de ses voisins qui fait passer le temps d’attente démesuré !
On est mal assis, et la décoration est de bric et de broc. Les nappes en velours rose ou rouge sont très vielles et né sont sûrement pas lavées tous les jours.
Concernant les tarifs pratiqués, ils sont abusifs, car question gustatif, c’est très fade et cela manqué totalement d’originalité. Je fais mieux chez moi et pourtant je né suis pas douée !
Passez donc votre chemin !

Alors certes le service n’est pas très rapide, mais on est bien accueillis, on est un peu «comme à la maison». En apéritif le Jeunet est pas mal. Le seitan est délicieux. Les assiettes sont simples, avec des goûts simples mais tout est bon. Le cheesecake est délicieux.

I’ve been here twice, both times with my wife, the visits being roughly seven years apart. It was as good yesterday as I remembered. The ambiance is very rugged and homey– it’s a tight space of mismatched furniture in front of a tiny kitchen– but the food is refreshingly simple and not overly ambitious. I’m not a vegetarian, but this place provides a good change of pace in a city that loves its meats, heavy sauces, and fried potatoes.
It’s incredibly easy to reach; you just make a turn behind the Abbesses Metro station (Ligne M12), and follow the little street you find there. It’s right next to the bright pink cupcake shop (also a nice find). It’s also a great spot to have dinner before or after a walk up to Montmartre.

Peut mieux faire !
La patronne, très sympa, est seule aux commandes et au service… il faut donc s’armer de patience !! Le lieu est petit, un peu en bazar, avec un certain charme. La nourriture est correcte, pas copieuse du tout (pas même un morceau de pain !), on reste sur sa faim… Les présentations né sont pas soignées, le sopalin fait office de serviette… Le tout pour 20 euros par tête sans compter les boissons, ça fait cher le repas de type cantoche bio/​végétarienne. Si on est pas bio/​végé à la base, on n’aura pas envie de se convertir, et c’est bien dommage… Il y a du potentiel, mais pour le prix, autant cuisiner chez soi !

Un très bon resto végétarien !
Voilà une très bonne adresse pour toux ceux qui veulent manger un bon repas végétarien. A noter le moelleux au chocolat qui est à tomber par terre ! La chef est très sympatique. Pensez réserver votre table car il y a peu de places… ce qui n’est pas pour me déplaire: ambiance chaleureuse garantie !

Walking into Au Grain de Folie, I felt like I was paying homage to my former-​hippie college-​age self. It’s quirky to say the least. Essentially, you’re eating with about 6 other people (I think there were 3 tables total) in what feels like the owner’s front room. Don’t get me wrong, though, I love the ambiance. You can’t help but talk to the other people there (all tourists, so the Lingua Franca was English) about the somehow surreal meal you are about to experience together. And you get to watch everything being cooked about 10 feet away from you. Everyone is jovial, including the owner, and the vibe is totally unpretentious and laid back. The reason I only give it 2 stars (actually, I’d say 2.5) is because of the food. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it also wasn’t good. Fairly bland and reminded me of the kilos of rice and beans I used to eat when I was a poor student. Definitely not a savvy or sophisticated vegetarian menu. At the same time, it was somewhat homey and didn’t offend the palate.
It’s located near the Abbesses Metro station in Montmartre (a.k.a. where all the visiting American girls hang out — side note, the French boys know this and enjoy their evenings there ;). Given the fact that most of the other places around there are over-​run with tourists, it’s nice to step off the crowded streets for a while into a quiet private world. And, given the paucity of veggie (or veggie-​friendly) restaurants (and vegetarians) in Paris, it feels good to know that you are eating with others like you. So, if you’re in Montmartre for the day and don’t want to eat overpriced pasta, a chevre chaud salad, or a cheese omelette (the trifecta of vegetarian eating in France) all while watching some guy shovel beouf tartar into his mouth, then it’s a welcome reprieve. Just don’t expect to be overwhelmed by the food.

A sad excuse for a restaurant. Neither of us have ever been served so poorly in a lifetime of eating out. When we got up from the table, after waiting three hours to be served our one dish, our drinks having been completely forgotten, we felt cheated.
We arrived, realizing there wasn’t much space to eat outside. As we were deliberating, the owner came out and hustled us into a tiny corner. One of us was seated on a «bench» (which appeared to have once served as a stand for flowerpots), while the other was seated in a chair situated on a rather steep incline. After half an hour, we finally received a carafe of lukewarm water, although the drinks we ordered never arrived. Though two other tables were occupied, we were the only ones waiting to receive food. Although we were expecting food service to take a long time in Paris, we never would have imagined how long it would take to receive our plates of compost scraps. Alas, we still had a good hour ahead of us before we were finally presented with our «meals.» These consisted of a few pitiful piles of shredded vegetables, not all of which were drizzled, as intended, with a few droplets of olive oil and a small pinch of cumin and salt. The lentils were so mushy they were barely holding themselves together. Furthermore, they tasted of nothing, without even so much as a bit of salt to add some flavor. While I had been expecting a slice of goat cheese on bread and some roasted vegetables as my main course, I was actually given a minute slice of a baguette — the same that one would get as finger food at a party — and a meager spoonful of cold vegetables. My friend was expecting a decent slice of vegetable quiche, but instead received an almost inexistent sliver, much like the piece of cake a dieter would sadly request at a birthday party. Not only were the portions miniscule, but they were also insipid — and this said by two people used to small quantities of vegetarian food.
During this grueling ordeal, we both got the same feeling that our presence was resented by the owner, who, however, was in dire need of customers. We felt marginalized, a sense that was exacerbated by the arrival of four native Parisians who, in stark contrast, were immediately welcomed with open arms. Meanwhile, she had to shove a chair into our table in order to fit them, as if we weren’t even there; in doing so, she nearly knocked over our water. At this point, we had eaten as much of our «food» as we could stand, although we still felt as if we had eaten nothing at all. For this pitiful display we had to pay thirteen euros each — a price matched or bettered by nearly every other restaurant in the neighborhood for meals both larger and tastier.
This is exactly the kind of restaurant that harms the entire concept of vegetarianism. This woman is running a vegetarian restaurant, but she obviously doesn’t even know how to cook vegetables. In fact, this is the physical manifestation of all the jokes ever made by meat-​eaters about vegetarian food — bland, unoriginal, unsatisfying, limited, uncreative, and frankly shameful. Never have we been to a restaurant that failed on every possible account.

Pris d’un incroyable excès de zêle, vous quittez la place des Abesses pour rejoindre la petite allée piétonnière dont le nom est rue la Vieuville. Pas étonnant, vous êtes pris par la joie et la fureur de vivre que vous procure un Grain de Folie. Dans ce petit restaurant végétarien, préparez-​vous à déguster tartes aux légumes et autres petites assiettes de blé complet. Toutefois, les carnivores et amateurs de poissons né se sentiront pas à l’aise dans cet endroit où les légumes et féculents régnent en maîtres.

for what you get here, this is one of the best deals in paris. first of all, it’s sometimes hard to track down a solid vegetarian place in paris but so far this is at the top of the list. the charm is unbeatable: it’s perfectly small and cozy, great location. the service was pretty quick even though when we were there there was one person working, taking orders, pouring wine and preparing all our food. oh and the food. is. amazing. and all organic. for 15 euros we GORGED ourselves on a little bit of everything. i was completely full on lentils, carrots, hummus, veggies galore!
for the more meat inclined i would still highly recommend this locale. it’s hard to not eat lots of meat here but if you’re looking for something a little lighter, 100% guilt-​free and that’ll actually fill you up this is the place. plus, she let us stay around and finish our wine at our leisure even though we were the last ones and it was almost midnight.

Une caricature du végétarisme !
Si vous avez en tête une image des végétariens comme étant des baba-​cools sur le retour, de gens bloqués dans l’esprit des années 70, le Grain de Folie né fera rien pour vous démontrer le contraire. Le lieu est minuscule, avec une décoration chaotique et négligée (une impression de saleté règne). Sans être totalement inconfortable, on dira sobrement que l’on n’a pas forcement trop envie de s’attarder. L’accueil est plutôt sympathique mais pas très professionnel. Le choix à la carte est très limité. Ce que l’on trouve dans l’assiette n’est pas particulièrement copieux, mais ce n’est pas bien grave car, ce n’est pas très appétissant. On en voudrait pas plus, au premier abord… Encore une fois, c’est la grotesque caricature Bio/​Végétarien/​Macrobiotique, avec pleins de différentes choses en petites quantités, avec ce côté un peu triste visuellement. Pas beaucoup de travail ou de recherché de concordance entre les différents mets. En conclusion, on a préféré en rire, mais ce n’est vraiment pas un lieu incontournable où l’on fait le détour pour la cuisine.

Tout petit resto près de Montmartre. Le salon est petit la cuisine également rendant très authentique ce restaurant. On peut y déguster une cuisine végétarienne. Des cours de cuisine sont également dispensés.
Le menu est à 15 euros.

Bonne surprise !
Plats variés, sympa, sains et vraiment bons. L’absence de viande ou poisson comme on a l’habitude n’est finalement pas gênante: au contraire, on a l’impression de faire un bon geste pour l’environnement et pour sa santé ! Et puis, qui dit végétarien dit pas cher ! L’accueil est original puisque c’est la patronne (visiblement d’origine anglaise ou américaine) qui fait tout ! L’ambiance est conviviale (petite salle) et la déco plutôt roots/​alternative comme on peut l’imaginer. Bref, à recommander pour découvrir la cuisine veg.

j’adore aussi ce petit resto (tout petit) mais j’ai toujours du mal à retrouver la rue! il est bien caché! on y mange végétarien, c’est toujours super original et pas très cher!

Bio et avec du goût
Chassez vite tous les préjugés sur la cuisine végétarienne. Ici, tout donne envie et même un grand carnacier peut troquer le temps d’un déjeuner ses canines de mangeur de viande pour des tartes salées, des légumes et des céréales, bien assaisonnés. Il vaut mieux venir pour un repas léger car si le menu à 12 euros comprend entrée (une excellente soupe du jour relevée avec des épices variées) plat et dessert, celui-​ci reste parfaitement approprié aux personnes qui veulent manger léger et bon (parfait pour garder la ligne). Autrement de grandes salades semblent très appétissantes aussi. La rue un peu éloignée du coeur des abbesses permet de retrouver un peu d’intimité.