Estaminet Saint-Jean

23 rue St-Jean Cuisines: French

About

Many of the dishes featured at this antique-studded restaurant are remembered since the days of their childhood by the many local residents who appreciate this place. That sense of nostalgia, coupled with its low prices, make it a winning and relatively new choice for dining in Laon. Within either of two amicably cramped dining rooms, you'll be offered dishes such as a cheese tart draped with melted cheese from the nearby hamlet of Maroilles, a beef-soaked-in-beer carbonnade flamande, and pork chops marinated and braised in cider and honey. What, you might ask, is an estaminet In the old days here in Picardy, it was an all-purpose rendezvous combining functions of a bar, hardware store, druggist, post office, and perhaps a feed store for animals, all congenially clustered under one roof.