If you are ever here, eat there #9: Paris

This week's blog is brought to you by guest blogger, Christian: traveller, froggie, lover of culture and fine food.

If you have ever travelled in the South West of France - Perigord, the Landes, the Pyrenees - you will know that you can enjoy generous servings of delicious south western cuisine at a surprisingly low price if you just wander a little way from the main tourist streets. Well, I discovered that you can enjoy the same delicious food and generous helpings right in the centre of Paris, in Montparnasse, at Sud- Ouest et Cie.

The unobtrusive decor includes glass jars, copper pans and other trinkets typical of the South West, especially of the Lot et Garonne, represented by its coat of arms. A goose, clad in beret and scarf, welcomes you at the front door and gives you a hint of what the house speciality is (goose - and duck - confit and foie gras). After being welcomed by the Depardieu-like patron, we enjoyed sipping the complimentary pineau (sweet fortified wine). My son ordered a carpaccio de canard aux herbes fraîches and I had the salade landaise (a salad with smoked fillet of duck, pieces of cured ham and duck gizzard) - not a wise choice, but only because my main course was a hearty Cassoulet de Castelnaudary that I couldn't finish: beans, pork, duck and Toulouse sausage, served in a cast iron pot. Laurent had the Jarret de Porc, roast pork hock (a bit like an eisbein, but so much better) cooked in beer. After this decadent feast, we had to decline dessert, coffee, and even a wafer-thin mint. There are lots of other tempting choices, from risotto aux cèpes to pike perch with madiran wine. You can even buy their foie gras maison to take away. A few hundred metres walk and you will get to the old cafés patronised by Hemingway and co. in the 1920s: the Select, la Coupole etc. By then you might have room for a digestif.

Sud-Ouest et Cie, Le Bistrot du Sud-Ouest, 39 Bd Montparnasse, 75006 Paris Tel: 01 42 84 35 35