Miznon is no secret to vegetarians in Paris: An Israeli chain with outposts all over the world, it fits perfectly into the rue des Rosiers, the heart of Jewish cuisine in the Marais. Thirteen years after it arrived in Paris, when the group opened its first international outpost two years after its Israeli launch, it’s still going strong, so I decided to pay it a visit and see if I still love it as much as I did when I first went nearly ten years ago.
My first brush with Miznon was when I was doing a Whole30 with my sister. I joined a Facebook group to this effect, and Miznon appeared again and again: one of the rare places where you could actually eat on plan in Paris.
This, in large part, is thanks to its approach to vegetables, which here are cooked incredibly simply to showcase them at their best. The most famous offering is the cauliflower (8.5). Order it, and you’ll receive an entire head of the crucifer, which is roasted with fleur de sel until it’s charred and sweet. But that’s not the only veggie that gets the star treatment here. There’s also a toasted marshmallow of a sweet potato with excellent tahini (7), a whole roasted artichoke with aioli (5), or roasted broccoli served with a mild green chile sauce (8). I have fond memories of all of these dishes, which remain part of the core offerings here.
That said, since my Whole30 days are long since over, I now find myself gravitating towards their pita sandwiches, which constitute the other backbone of the restaurant’s offerings. There are loads of options including lamb-beef kebabs with fresh herbs, red onion, and tahini (13) or a falafel burger with seared tomato, pickles, and tahini (10). Some take inspiration from French tradition, as with the beef bourguignon pita served with mustard and aioli (14.5) or the golden ratatouille with hard-boiled egg, tahini, and spicy sauce (11). All are piled into delicious, pillowy pita.
On my recent visit, I opted for the Erotisserie (13.5) featuring shredded roast chicken that’s griddled with green onion and piled with baba ghanouj and aioli. I’ll admit that I was slightly disappointed with this sandwich. The chicken was dry and not nearly hot enough, and I got just one of the promised green onions. I also didn’t love that all of the aioli was dolloped on top, making the first bites over-rich and the latter ones even drier. Still, the flavors were good, and by scraping off some of the aioli and adding it back, I managed to have a few very tasty bites.
My girlfriend’s Spicy Fish (16) was way more delicious, with perfectly cooked and seasoned hake in the house tomato sauce. It was also garnished with both tahini and spicy sauce, though you can grab even more of your own from the sauce bar, where you’ll also find the offcuts of pita to which you can serve yourself in abundance.
A word on these sauces, which I personally found mostly disappointing. The “spicy” sauce of green chiles in oil was barely spiced and tasted more of raw green pepper; the tomato sauce was even worse: watery and unappetizing. The tahini was the only winner: robustly flavored and phenomenally creamy.
We ordered a side vegetable neither of us had tried: the green beans (7.5), which are perfectly steamed and seasoned generously with salt, olive oil, and lemon. While I would have loved them even more if they’d been served warm, they were indeed tasty.
We also got a plate – technically another main – of ratatouille (13), telling ourselves we’d take home any leftovers. But friends, there were no leftovers when it came to this clever play on the Southern French classic made with courgette, tomato, pepper, aubergine so slow-cooked it was almost gooey. The surprising addition of carrot was actually quite welcome, adding even more sweetness to the dish.
The plate was topped with a hard-boiled egg that, in the context of an egg-mayo, I would have considered overcooked. That said, given the deep sauciness of this plate, I actually kind of liked the chalky, crumbly texture of the yolk for contrast. With those pita offcuts, it all disappeared.
The restaurant takes no reservations, so we voluntarily went early on a particularly rainy Monday evening. At 7pm, the dining room was empty, but by the time we left, it had filled. (They also seem to do a very robust takeaway business.)
So does Miznon hold up? To a certain extent, yes. A few fumbles with temperature and perhaps a bit of freshness when it came to the chicken specifically were unfortunate but excusable, and to my mind, it remains a solid option in the Marais, especially for vegetarians.
Miznon – 22 Rue des Ecouffes, 75004