The world is a bit of a crazy place right now and I’ve always said tofucado (or what tofucado represents, aka food & cooking) is my safe space. I was quite sick for one week (no worries, I’m much better now), and I truly missed cooking and tofucadoing. Yesterday I sat down to write a couple of ideas I had in mind and I ended up with 3 full pages of ideas. But today I want to write about one of the last restaurants I managed to go to before the confinement hit France. That restaurant is “Lithang” and it shall be my first tibetan restaurant review ever (Hopefully not the last!).
Small disclaimer : The restaurant is probably closed now because of the Covid-19 situation, but make sure to go if you have the opportunity once restaurants are open again in Paris!
Tibetan Restaurant Review : Lithang
We went to this restaurant because we got two menus offered as a gift for christmas. Free food is always ten times better than normal food, and when it is something I have never tried before, it is fifteen times better. The two menus we got to try were the standard menus they have for dinners. We had one vegetarian (for me) and one non-vegetarian for my SO.
Entrée: Vegetable potage
As an entrée, I chose the “vegetable potage” called “Tseldre trumkhu” and it too delicious for it to be true. It didn’t really look out of this world, but the taste was outstanding. It was the right balance of flavors and all the veggies were properly mixed.
Main dish: Rice noodles
The main dish was called “Fingtsel“, which is a dish made of rice noodles, potatoes and dark mushrooms. It had a side dish of lentils and a tibetan bread. The noodles were so good I was sad the portion was a bit small. The lentils were great and it kinda gave me an idea to repeat at home and maybe share with you so that was awesome.
But for me, and because I’m a sucker for bread, the tibetan bread took the crown. I know it sounds dumb to say that a side-dish was better than the dish, but I just love bread that much. Which is why the bread is the featured picture of this post.
The main dish was well-balanced and even though at a first glance I thought it was not going to be enough, I was quite full. An extra piece of bread would have been perfect.
Dessert : Sweet Rice
I am not a huge fan of desserts (dessert police, come at me), but I was genuinely surprised by this one. The dessert is called “Drésil“ and it is sweet rice made with raisins, coconut, cashew nuts and honey. I thought I was going to dislike this dessert because I dislike raisins very much, but I always make sure I try everything before I can form an opinion and well, the raisins were okay. I would not have put them myself, but they did bring an extra sweetness to the rice, and it was appreciated.
Lithang Review: The verdict
I came in expecting not much and I left with a couple of favorites, which is more than I could have asked for. The bread was great and I’m definitely trying it at home, and the rice noodle dish had a great taste and texture to it. The potage was also extremely delicious yet simple. My two favorite words to describe food. Dessert was good, but I would not try it again as it had too many components that aren’t really my cup of tea.
Service was really long, it took us almost 2 and a half hours to finish our meal. We weren’t alone in the restaurant but it wasn’t packed either. We weren’t annoyed by this because we love talking but if you are in a rush, maybe it isn’t the best place to go.
Food quality: 8/10
Service quality: 6.5/10
Price: €€-€€€
It was my first tibetan cuisine experience so I don’t really have something to compare it to. I can only say the food was really great and the experience a success. I rate my lunch experience at Lithang a 7 out of 10.
Practical information
- Where ? 318 Rue Saint-Jacques 75005 Paris
- When ? Monday to Saturday from 12PM to 2:30PM and 7PM to 10:45PM
- More info: http://lithang-restaurant.weebly.com/
Check out all the other restaurant reviews in the Tofucado Paris Restaurant Guide right here.
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