The Best Burger in Paris: Ferdi Restaurant

There is a thin line between being a collector and going mental.

 

As a matter of fact, the more obsessive one becomes, the better collector s/he is.

 

The scope of collecting bears no limits: napkins with elaborate patterns, if one does not have the heart to use and simply throw it away; movie tickets that you shared with your beloved ones; vinyl records like Müzeyyen Senar’s, played over a delightful dinner; uniforms which won’t ever go into a washing machine because the signatures on them might be washed away; comic books that one can enjoy reading in every age; corks with sketchy notes one them written after guzzling a bottle of wine…

 

Out of such curiosity I also found myself in a house filled with memories in the form of thousands of long play records, Pirelli calendars, restaurant menus, cigar rings, rosaries, fountain pens, numerous door cards from the hotels in every country I’ve been to, and miscellaneous muselets.

 

Although some may call collectors crazy, we can easily turn a deaf ear to them. Because once the treasury is unveiled and meets the onlookers, even those who call you crazy cannot take their eyes off of the collectibles. You can easily see their eyes sparkling with admiration.

 

That being the case, if you put all these cute collectibles together and add to this collection the best burger in Paris, it is inevitable that people will line up before your door.

 

A Small Toys Museum

 

Ferdi Restaurant is a tiny gourmet destination on Mont-Thabor Street. Don’t be mistaken by its name, it is not the Turkish name Ferdi. Rather, it’s a contraction of the name “Ferdinand”. After a dazzling tour in Louvre Museum, Ferdi Restaurant is an ideal place for you to refresh your energy at.

 

Although its location is hard to find, this gourmet stopover has a popularity bigger than its tiny space. Also frequented by the famous people, it is hard to find an empty table after 9 pm. If you do not have any reservation, I recommend you to go there between 18:00 and 19:30 o’clock.

 

Ferdi Restaurant has a capacity for 15-20 people inside, but they also put a few tables in front of the restaurant. You may think that you may be overwhelmed by this teeny tiny space, it is not true at all. The whole concept is intended to create a cozy atmosphere.

 

There are funny black-and-white photos hanging on the walls, you don’t even know who those people are. Besides those, you can see all sorts of masks, puppets, hundreds of teeny tiny toy cars everywhere, at the bar or even besides your table. There are even toys hanging from a niche on the ceiling.

 

In order to explore the menu, you need to take your eyes off of these visuals and items that make the restaurant look like a toys museum.

 

The restaurant serves classical Mexican food, Mc Ferdi’s Burger being the most popular food on the menu. As you can have it in two ways -with or without eggs- it also comes with home-made ketchup and mayonnaise. Everything about the burger, including the buns and patty, was delicious. It certainly entered the list of “the best burgers I’ve eaten so far”.

Our second choice from the menu was chili cone carne. There is only dried meat, suet and some hot peppers in the original recipe. Historically, the Spanish used to dry the recipe in order to cook it while on their journey. But today people put into that old mixture additional ingredients like tomatoes, beans, onions and some garlic if wished; so new recipes have been born along the way. This was also the case with the one served at Ferdi Restaurant. It was accompanied by some rice, some tacos on it and a variety of sauces.

 

The restaurant’s friendly staff with a good command of English, its owner who apparently loves his job and likewise his wife that you can guess from the wonderful foods they cooked, and the interesting atmosphere create a unique combination that you can describe with only one word: Pleasurable!

 

The best collection that you can have is the one in your mind. Although you may throw away all your beer caps or the plane tickets, you will reserve your collectibles in your memories, smiles and maybe tears…

Among the hundreds of restaurants that I’ve been to, Ferdi Restaurant will always be remembered with a smile it put on my face. For this reason, I highly recommend you to give this fun and pleasurable restaurant a try…

 

Especially for those people who need a little smile and those lucky ones who can still lend an ear to their inner children.

 

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…