Le Thomasien

Le Thomasien is a restaurant in Strasbourg in la Petite France and it's a very good choice to go to in order to eat or dine with your friends or family.

I have been there three times. It's not a cheap place but nor is it very experience, so for some special occasion or a meeting, it's great. The first two times, I went with a big group of friends and the third, I went with a friend simply because we like the food there.

The menu consists of:

• Cold starters: different types of salads, foie-gras and smoked salmon.
• Hot starters: onion soup, garlic snails and vegetable soup with sausage.
• 'Plat du Terroir' (they are the traditional dishes of the area, like 'the local dish': Of course here, you can see different dishes with choucroute, which is cabbage with some spice and usually more of an accompaniment than a main dish. What's more, you can order ham with Munster cheese which is the typical one of the area. It's good, but the taste and smell are strong.
• Tarte Flambée: This is typical of Alsace. It's like a pizza with a very fine dough and the basic ingredients are a white sauce, bacon and onion and whatever you want to add. The best to my taste, is the 'au gratin' which also has cheese. It's better than a pizza and they have them in almost every restaurant and bar in Strasbourg. The average price is around €8.
• Meat.
• Roestis or rösti: is a typical dish from Switzerland, and as Alsace is on the border with Germany and Switzerland, it is also influenced in terms of the culture and gastronomy from these two countries. It's a dish made based on potato and to which, they add other ingredients too. My favourite is the 'Roesti Paysanne' which has potato, cheese, ham and fried egg. There are also two more. I only remember that one of the other two has potato, sausage, cheese and onion. The price is around €13 for each roesti.



• Cheese: dish with different cheeses, typically French.
• Sweet Tarte Flambée: It consists of the same dough but instead of savoury ingredients, the ingredients are sweet. You can only choose one with apple in this restaurant but I have seen chocolate and other sweeter ingredients in others.
• Wines, drinks and puddings.

My overall experience was pretty good. The atmosphere is very pleasant. There are usually couples and families. The service is also good and friendly and what's more, they don't take a long time to serve the food. The only thing is that depending on where you sit, the place is more or less welcoming since if you place yourself at one of the ends of the room, it's better because it has more space and an extended view of the place. However, if you place youself in the middle, the tables aren't very separate and it overwhelms you a bit.

Whenever I've been, I've always had the Roestis and they cost almost €13. To drink, I usually order water, which is free but it's better that you make it well clear so they don't give you one to pay for, although when you say 'de l'eau', they already know it's what you want. One two occasions I shared the roesti with someone else as it costs half and leaves you at ease. The only time I have ordered the roesti to myself, it was too much but it also depends on the stomach you may have.

The opening hours of the restaurant are Tuesday to Sunday at 12:00PM - 2:00PM and 7:00PM-9:00PM, although at Christmas, I believe they open it for longer as there are many tourists and some of which, such as the Spanish, eat later but just in case be there before two o'clock (It's the best thing to do in most of the restaurants if you don't want to be surprised. It's already happened to me once).