Maison Tafa Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet (Paris, FRANCE) ★★☆☆☆

We tried almost every restaurant at Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet, but none of them would take us in, especially not at 8pm when they were already preparing to close. We were desperate. Very desperate. So we decided to settle for a quick meal at Maison Tafa.

Maison Tafa is an Asian catering counter on the ground floor of Galeries Lafayette Le Gourmet. It runs a highly efficient food station with a diverse menu spanning Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese specialties. Most customers opt for takeaway, although a small area is set aside for dine-in service.

First to arrive was the Tom Yum Fried Rice, a bold Thai dish that was supposed to combine the fragrant flavors of traditional Tom Yum soup with classic stir-fried rice. It came with decent wok hei.

By contrast, the Pad Thai — a stir-fried rice noodle dish with shrimp, peanuts, green onions, scrambled egg, sugar and bean sprouts arrived with zero wok hei. The noodles were meant to be tossed in a sweet-savory-sour sauce, but the seasoning was way off.

Our final dish was green curry with chicken fillet and steamed rice. It looked exactly like something from a food court. For €20, I expected a little more.

In Hong Kong, we are spoiled with some of the world’s best Thai restaurants outside of Thailand. This was not authentic in the slightest, and worse still, it offered very poor value for money. On the bright side, perhaps they are simply adjusting to the Parisian palate.

Food Rating: 3.6/10

Price: €€€€

Address: G/F, 35 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, France

Closest Metro Station: Havre - Caumartin / Auber

Tel: +33 (0)1 4023-5267

Website: https://gourmet.galerieslafayette.com/

Opening Hours: 9:30am - 9:30pm (Mon - Sat), 11:00am - 8:00pm (Sun)