Those who have been reading my blog for a while will know I love my food. When I travel, eating takes a high priority. I like trying local specialties, enjoying special meals and eating well. I usually book at least some restaurants in advance and have a little list of things I want to try. For Paris, I had a Google map with various restaurants and food shops marked so if I was in an area, I could pop in and pick up a treat if I felt the urge. Paris was no exception. In fact, the first thing we did once we’d checked in was stop at Odette for a pain au chocolate. I’m not entirely controlling, though, and for our first meal, I handed the reins to my friend, who was in Paris at the same time. She booked Brasserie Des Prés, in the Cour du Commerce Saint-André, opposite our hotel. This little laneway was pumping most nights, and there was a long line to get in for those without bookings when we arrived. This restaurant has a menu of traditional French favourites, with a great brasserie vibe and good, but not great, cooking. It was a classic French brasserie experience.
Paris by Mouth Food Tour
Sunday G had to fly out in the afternoon. In the morning, we did the Paris by Mouth South Marais Food Tour. Our guide, Isabelle, was excellent, and we spent a wonderful three hours learning and tasting various foods. We stopped at five shops, tasting some foods as we went along and collecting baguettes and cheese to have with our wine tasting at Vinosfera.
My Week long Pastry Crawl
Over the week, I also did a pastry crawl. Trying various pastries from well-known pastisseries. My absolute favourite was the Paris Brest by Jeffrey Cagnes. I found many of the fancy layered pastries were a little too creamy and rich, but my favourite of them was the Equinox by Cyril Lignac. I also had an eclair from Cyril Lignac, which was good.
And some More Meals …
On Monday, for dinner, I went to Breizh Cafe. I had a mushroom galette (which was a special), green salad, and apple cider, followed by a sweet apple crepe. We went here last time we were in Paris and enjoyed it. It’s a quick dinner that is not far from my hotel. Plus, they opened early, which was a win for me.
I had lunch on Tuesday at Les Enfants du Marche, a counter in the Marche des Enfants Rouge in the Marais. They serve excellent food at the counter and a couple of high tables. It’s gastronomic food with natural wines. I had tuna crudo, lamb rack and a glass of white wine. This lunch was excellent. Seating at the counter is tight, so you get a good view of everyone’s food. The most popular dish was mussels. I noticed they are a lot smaller than the mussels we get at Portarlington near my parents place on the Bellarine Peninsula.
On Wednesday, after a tour of Montmartre, I walked down to Bouillon Pigalle for lunch. I booked this just before I started the tour, and I was glad I did because there was a big queue of people without bookings waiting to get in. The Bouillon restaurants were working-class brasseries, and this new restaurant in Pigalle is “continuing the tradition.” It’s a big, bustling restaurant—it has 200 seats in the dining room. It serves up low-cost French classics. My main aim here was to finally try French onion soup. I enjoyed it and followed it up with beef bourguignon, washed down with red wine. The cost was EUR 19,80.
My favourite meal of the week was Friday night dinner with G at the small farm-to-table restaurant, Garance, in the 7th. We had the five-course, and I had the wine pairings. The food was lovely, with great cooking, fresh flavours and interesting but not weird combinations if you know what I mean. I don’t have any photos—we were too busy enjoying the food. Afterwards, we watched the lights of the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the night, then walked home through those quintessential Parisian streets. It was a perfect last night in Paris.
Other food I enjoyed: jamon and fromage baguettes. The ones I had were a fresh, convenient and inexpensive lunch. I also popped into Cosi a couple of nights when I’d had a restaurant lunch for their “Stans Folie,” a chicken and coleslaw sandwich on fresh focaccia. I usually only have one large meal a day, so this hit the spot and was just around the corner from my hotel. The best croissant was from Maison d’Isabelle straight out of the oven. So, so good.
Do you prefer savoury or sweet foods? Do you have a favourite type of French pastry?
Comments
18 responses to “Eating My Way Through Paris”
[…] Eating my way through Paris […]
This looks amazing. That raspberry white chocolate dessert looks like a piece of heaven. I’m a sweet tooth all day long. I was in Paris briefly. I remember so well the baguettes. My brother and I were students and we were on a tight budget. We bought the baguettes and carried around a jar of jam. Bread and jam counted as one meal a day. By the end of our European Eurail pass trip, I looked like a marionette. My lips had little cuts from tearing off the bread bites that gradually became more stale. My brother was like, After this trip I will never eat bread and jam again. Sadly, I now have celiac disease. What I wouldn’t give to eat bread and jam again. I hope to visit my daughter when she studies in Florence next semester. Eating GF while traveling in Europe is a bit stressful, knowing I need to avoid gluten, especially if there is a language barrier.
There are actually some competely gluten-free bakeries in Paris now. I’m not sure whether you would find some like that in Italy. G’s dad has celiac disease and he travelled with work to China and Eurpoe before he retired and managed it, altohugh he wasn’t very adventurous. There was a lot of steak eating. I think google translate will be your firend to explain what you need to avoid.
I’m the opposite when I travel – I find the whole food thing very overwhelming (and expensive). I need to travel with a foodie like you who will make all the arrangements.
I did love my food in Paris, though. Everything is good! I didn’t have a single bad meal (except the one night we went to a traditional French restaurant with RAVE reviews and it was closed for any more patrons that night so we ended up going to McDonalds…whomp, whomp…which was literally the only bad meal I had in Paris).
Now I really want to go back to the City of Lights and eat MY way through it.
We have eaten so well when we have travelled to Europe. Spain and Italy were more affordable than France overall I thought. If you can swing it funds wise you sohuld try a food tour (maybe if it’s just you and John though depending on how adventurous your kids are). Often you’ll get information about the history, plus there is usually enoguh food to replace you main meal for the day.
It’s insane to me how reasonably priced excellent food is in Europe! Or maybe just in France and Italy. I had incredible meals for such reasonable prices! Your post made me drool – look at all those delicious baked goodies!
I know, getting good food for a reasnable price is easy in Europe, although there is still plenty of fancy, expensive food. I think France (or at least Paris) is more expensive than Italy.
Ohhh how wonderful this is. I cannot stop thinking about Paris… I remember we ate at two Micheline rated restaurants, one on purpose, one on accident! The one on purpose was in Belleville area in Menilmontant, and another we just stumbled upon next to Louvre. Both delicious!
You’ll have another chance to eat all the things next year os that’s exciting.
Oh I would join you on the pastry crawl.
I love trying local foods when on vacation – unfortunately the husband is very very picks so we rarely end up in the cool local spots. Sigh. But I try to incorporate it as much as possible.
However I would steer clear of mussels. Not my thing.
That’s a shame that your husband isn’t that keen. I don’t mind mussells but a big dish to myself is probably a bit much.
Wow – 19,80 is so cheap! You could never get soup + a main for that price in the states, especially for a beef-based dish. The first time I went to France, I did not know I had a gluten intolerance so I ate many pain au chocolates! And croquet madams. On my next 2 trips, I was GF but still ate well. Macarons are one of my fave desserts and they are GF luckily. So I did a little macaron tour on both trips. There are so many good ones!
I remember the first time we travelled to the US we couldn’t believe how cheap the food was but our last trip (admitedly it was to New York and Washington) we found it expensive. A similar meal here would cost the same but in Aussie dollars (so about 40% cheaper) and I don’t consider eating out in Australia cheap.
Paris! I love love love Paris, and I love that you did a food tour, and goodness you ate well. I want to go back right this very minute.
Food tours are probably one of my favourite things to do when we travel.
I love food too, and especially French food. The last time I was there, I made my friend go to like five different restuarants with duck confit so we could compare them all. Funny too, I was looking at your picture and I thought it looked familiar. I went to Bullion Pigalle too! I also went to one near that called Le Petit Canard, which looks like sadly has closed…
I am not a huge sweets fan and that bonbon thingy looks intense. However, I can definitely get on board with a croissant (especially almond or chocolate) a day, and a baguette too. I think I gained like 15 lbs in the week I was in France last time. 🙂 totally worth it.
Melissa, this all makes my mouth water! I also like to explore food when I travel, but you really put a lot of planning and effort into it!
I love my food!