Trattoria Enza Famiglia

We ended up here after the Louvre, a tiny little place near Les Halles. Half the customers were getting takeout, you could already tell the vibe from that.

Okay, let's start with the carbonara. On the blackboard it said 'without cream', and I'm like, okay, already better than the Paris average. Except there was definitely some cream in there. Not dramatic French levels, but you could taste it. But the real problem was something else: garlic. And leeks. Or chives, I don't know, but it was everywhere. What's the point? At least the guanciale was real guanciale, not that lardon they usually palm off on you, that much was right.

The cacio e pepe was worse. Basically pasta with shavings of young cheese thrown on top. Not a shadow of pepper. Zero. How do you call it cacio e pepe if there's no pepper?

The only one that held up was the amatriciana, that one was decent. It was missing the pecorino romano on top, but at least it tasted like something.

Look, I know we're in Paris and Italian food here is what it is. But that's exactly why if you open a place and write 'carbonara without cream' on the board, you'd expect them to at least get the basic dishes right. Thirty euros each for this stuff... meh.

Going back? No.