Tête de Cochon
Tête de Cochon: tartines on rue Sainte-Claire
Our take
A no-frills old-town brasserie built on generous tartines and a welcome that treats every customer like a guest. We recommend it without hesitation — just get there early or book ahead.
On rue Sainte-Claire, the queue outside the door already tells you most of what you need to know. Tête de Cochon serves tartines and charcuterie boards in an unpretentious room — slate plates, bare wood, vintage neon — and carries one of the strongest review scores of any restaurant in the old town, with several thousand reviews behind it.
What to order
The menu stays short: generous open tartines, composed salads, boards of local charcuterie and cheese, and tartiflette on colder days. The tartin’flette — a tartine topped with melted cheese and bacon — turns up in almost every review, alongside the blanchette tartine with its marinated roasted vegetables. The charcuterie boards (dry-cured ham, saucisson, pâté, terrine, rillettes) are built for two or three people to share.
The room and the service
The dining room is small, and the welcome is direct and often funny: reviewers describe a staff that treats guests as guests, not covers to turn over quickly. That’s also exactly why the room fills up within minutes, at lunch and at dinner. If you turn up without a reservation, aim for opening time — or be ready to wait a little, drink in hand, by the door.