Le Palais Royale

25 August 2011 | 0 Comments

A hidden gem amongst a variety of similar local restaurants, Le Palais Royale (The Royal Palace) serves simple Tunisian classics in a family atmosphere at an extremely reasonable price.

Located in Lafayette on Rue de l’Inde (India Street) in between Rue de Cologne (Cologne Street) and Avenue de la Liberté (Freedom Avenue), Le Palais Royale is small and easy to miss. The only distinguishing feature of the restaurant is the roman-style arch over the entryway of the building to the restaurant.

Le Palais Royale is place where locals eat and it is rare to see a foreigner. Once you enter, you will notice that it is not a “Royal Palace” but a clean and functional restaurant. Family owned and operated, Le Palais Royale does give their patrons the “royal treatment”. Service is prompt, hospitable and the staff ensures the satisfaction of each person there. The waiter also jokes around with the customers in a friendly way.

The food, while not something that will blow you away, is above average. This is increased when you consider the low cost of the meal that you are eating. Tunisia Live sampled their Ramadan menu, which is priced at 7 Dinars. The menu includes a choice of salad, soup,  brik (a Tunisian concoction of egg and tuna wrapped up and fried), choice of main dish and fruit and tea to finish. The choice of the main dish varies nightly and can include couscous with fish, couscous with lamb, paella, merguez tajine (spicy sausages cook in sauce) grilled chicken filet, steak and fried fish with spaghetti.

Tunisia Live sampled the lamb couscous and the paella on two separate occasions. The lamb couscous was tasty and included a sizable piece of meat in a large bowl of couscous. The meat was tender and easy to take off of the bone and the vegetables tasted fresh. It did not wow, but it did not disappoint either. The paella was similar – good but not great. It included several small shrimp, three mussels and a number of razor clams. The soup (spicy Chorba; Ramadan soup) was delicious as was the green salad made up of cucumber, onion and tomato. The briks came out fresh as did the fruit at the end of the meal. Overall, as a total dinner the meal given as part of the Ramadan dinner was excellent.

Other staff raved about the fried fish and steak. Considering the price, the total Ramadan meal at Le Palais Royale is hard to beat.

Tunisia Live highly recommends Le Palais Royale to anyone looking to have a simple full meal with flavor that does not break the bank. It’s location in Lafayette makes it extremely accessible to various foreign students who do not have pockets filled with cash.

Reservations not required.

4.5/5 Stars

Specialties: Tunisian

Atmosphere: Family

Average Cost: 8 Dinar

Alcohol: None

Others: A/C