Apéti 100% gluten free vegan restaurant

Apéti 100% gluten free and vegan!

Welcome to Apéti, the new and the first 100% gluten free and vegan restaurant in Paris Left Bank!

This is a great news indeed as, today, most of the gluten free restaurants and cafés in the city are located on the other side of the Seine river and when we actually come around here, well, there is very little choice for us, gluten free eaters and lovers…!

Last Monday, before leaving for Italy for work for a few days, I had lunch at Apéti with my friend Anne-Sophie, founder of the beautiful project, GlutenTrip – I have an article coming up soon on the blog where I will make you discover more about it.

Hugues Ducoin, founder of Apéti, welcomed us in with a big, warm smile and this is such a pleasure, my friends! I salute it when it happens, it creates a nice atmosphere in the restaurant and you start to feel good already.

Hughes told us that he got interested in the issue of food sensibilities and allergies thanks to his girlfriend and this is how he came up with the idea to propose only 100% gluten free, organic, vegan foods. He is also waiting for the French Celiac Association logo soon to be displayed on his front door.

The concept is that no processed foods make their way in the kitchen – so no pasta or lasagne at the moment, but lots of seasonal fruits and vegetables, grains, rice, buckwheat, vegan cheese by the well-known French brand Jay&Joy (so delicious) and of course homemade desserts.

Hughes said that he is currently working on the project of a farm on the outskirts of Paris where he will be able to cultivate his own fruit and vegetables to serve afterwards at the restaurant.

How great is that!

I liked the big, open kitchen that creates such a beautiful relationship between the chef and the customers who can eventually sneak a peak of what’s boiling in the pot or coming out of the oven!

With Anne-Sophie, we ordered one daily dish (me) with buckwheat, vegetables and chickpeas humus and one raw (Anne-So) with veggie sushi, mushrooms, celery spaghetti, crackers made of fruit fibres issued from the coldly pressed juices served at the restaurant.

Apart from some garlic sauce that I found particularly delicious, we didn’t fell in love with what we ate: the taste was kind of plain, and that compared to the price, made it a quite expensive meal.

For dessert we went for a vegan, gluten free fondant au chocolat: we couldn’t feel the cacao which is so typical in this cake, the texture was a bit chewy…next time I’ll go for the cheesecake ! My friend Kasia told me it is good.

If you ask me if I will go back to Apéti, I will say yes: it is just the beginning of this beautiful adventure and Hughes is very nice and he listens to his customers a lot.

I am sure that his foods will keep improving more and more.

I also suggested proposing a lunch formula that will make the restaurant more accessible, price-wise-speaking.

I know that they are using organic, top quality vegetables and ingredients, that the 6th arrondissement in Paris it’s one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the city, but I also know that I was born with celiac disease, and like many other celiac people, we don’t want our food to become a luxury, that only few can afford…