Paris Diary

June 3 - A small discovery

This bar caught my attention from the first days. Whenever I passed by it, there was crowding, queues, people with wine glasses in hand standing outside waiting... for something. Finally, I gave in to curiosity and asked what's inside that makes it so crowded. I was told the place is famous, that the chef from Le Comptoir opened a tapas-style bar, but with food inspired by French gastronomy and few Spanish accents. One evening I prepared myself for battle and headed to L'Avant Comptoir (3 Carrefour de l'Odeon). It took about 10 minutes to get in. Inside, the space is small, about 3-4 square meters for customers and a bit more for the open kitchen. You eat directly at the bar counter and a small shelf in the back. That's it. First challenge: reaching the counter to place your order. After some elbows and apologies left and right, I managed that too. In about two minutes our wine was passed from hand to hand through the entire room until it reached us. Then the food started arriving the same way. To my surprise, exactly what we ordered arrived: ham croquettes, sauteed shrimp, caramelized pork and beef carpaccio 😊 On the counter there were jars full of pickles, packets of butter, fleur de sel and bread at will. You eat in a crowd. I haven't seen happier people in one place and sooo close to each other. So, this place is special and I recommend it only if you're sociable and don't have too many problems with disorder. Because once you get past all that, the food is very good, the wine too and the atmosphere is special.

June 1, 2 - Culture and art

This weekend I dedicated more to culture and art. I started with a visit to the Pantheon, a mausoleum in the Latin Quarter, where Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Zola, Marie Curie and Dumas are buried.
Next was Versailles (I took the RER C for almost 1 hour to get there). I visited the castle and garden, both imposing and well preserved. I enjoyed the visit, although such castles are not usually to my taste. Especially the walk through the garden was extremely pleasant, in the background you could hear the water from the artesian fountains and classical music. I recommend comfortable shoes and packed food for such a visit. It takes a long time and food and water prices are outright shameless.
The Pompidou Center was the next target. Surprise! On the first Sunday of each month admission is free, so we saved 10 euros each 😉 Modern paintings and sculptures. Matisse, Picasso, Starck are some who are displayed in the permanent exhibitions. And of course Brancusi's workshop, located in a separate building, dedicated only to him.
With so many visits, I only had time for fast food, from self-service restaurants with sushi and Chinese food. Sushi is very fashionable in Paris, you'll find sushi bars everywhere and prices are very good.
I shouldn't forget a small show: an old man with a piano on wheels entertained us at breakfast. And the challenge of the day: who eats this cheese (see photo)?

June 1 - Happy Children's Day!

Just two words: Pierre Herme.

May 30 - My happy taste buds

Yesterday's post got lost. It seems there was a problem saving and I lost the text. I didn't rewrite it because I believe some things happen for a reason and should be left as they are. Maybe the universe knew that what was to follow would be incomparably better.
Les Papilles (30, rue Gay Lussac), the place where my taste buds went crazy with happiness for two hours. It's a bistro where the chef creates menus worthy of several Michelin stars, but at reasonable prices and in a relaxed atmosphere. The menu is fixed, but changes every day depending on what's available at the market. The price of a menu (soup, main course, cheese and dessert) is 35 euros. We arrived at 12:10 in the restaurant and it was almost empty, but after half an hour you couldn't find a seat. I understand that for dinner a reservation is necessary. The wine selection is immense, all the walls are "wallpapered" with bottles. I went with the bartender's recommendation, because I was overwhelmed by this selection. The portions turned out to be large, so for us one menu for two people would have been enough. The meal started with a cream of potato and leek soup with bacon croutons, parsley, onion and a little cream. We then received an oval copper pot containing nothing more and nothing less than a grilled chicken cut into pieces and penne, in a pesto sauce with onion, tomatoes, garlic and thyme. Then came the cheese of the day: Saint-Nectaire with apple jam and piment d'Espelette. And finally ganache with caramel foam. As in many Parisian bistros, the tables are small and cramped, so this time too we had pleasant company, a very nice local couple, who gave us some welcome recommendations for the following days in Paris.

May 28 - Macarons

I just finished the second pastry course, the MACARONS one. It was much harder than the first course, the croissants one. Maybe because, with the maitre patissier constantly behind me, I suddenly found myself with two left hands... While maitre Pierre was demonstrating, I realized that today I wouldn't just learn to make macarons but also to be efficient.
I suddenly realized that at home I'm very careful with ingredients, how I process them, the final appearance, but I'm never careful about my movements. In other words, I give more importance to the food than to myself. I understood then why some operations seem very tiring to me. Until today I thought it had to do only with my physical condition and hands that are too weak and without strength. But that wasn't all... While the master was very fast and elegant, I contorted myself around the spatulas or the whisk. Same result, but what a waste of energy! My hands hurt terribly! And then I started to pay attention to myself and the master's movements and suddenly everything became much easier. I learned to rub the yolks with sugar with just minimal effort and without using my whole arm, I learned to mix efficiently into the meringue, I even learned to use the pastry bag in a veeery elegant way... I felt like a painter handling a brush. I learned a lot today, small things I didn't expect, and these are the most precious. I think I also learned a lot of French today, because the courses are conducted in French, without a translator, and I had to use every milligram of attention not to miss any detail. And it was damn hard to keep up with their verbal flow. And in the end I also got some delicious macarons: with chocolate, raspberry and caramel.
I deserve a reward. I returned to Da Rosa where I didn't have to decide, in the end I took everything: risotto, sandwich with jamon iberico (did I tell you how good it is? it melts in your mouth!!!) and membrillo with cheese. And Rioja again, it's too good. For home a bag of Pimandes (almonds dipped in chocolate with chili) and raisins with Sauternes, dipped in dark chocolate.

May 27 - La Vie en Rose or La ViDa Rosa?

Today the temperature is perfect for wasting time on the streets of Paris. I started the day with a quiche with three kinds of cheese and a mini apple tart. They were still warm. I took my book and went to the beach in the Luxembourg Gardens for about 2 hours. Lunch was again at Le Risale (I told you I loved their food), where I chose spinach with yogurt and stuffed eggplant with meat. Very filling... so a 40-minute run was needed in the afternoon. Towards evening, La Vie en Rose turned into La ViDa Rosa. Because on our evening walk we ended up at Da Rosa (62 Rue de Seine), a tapas bar with the best hams from Spain (jamon Iberico and jamon Serrano), olives from Spain and Italy (including taggiasca olives), fresh sandwiches and salads, a good selection of wines from Spain, Italy and France. We had a tapas platter (with jamon iberico, olives and bread with tomatoes) washed down with two glasses of Rioja each. I want to go back tomorrow evening for membrillo with Manchego cheese and for a sandwich or maybe a risotto... hmm, I can't decide yet.

May 26 - Something old and something new

I started the morning on Rue Mouffetard, with a simple, traditional breakfast: baguette with butter, orange juice and a coffee. Since 9 in the morning, the street was crowded and there was a great bustle... it was a flea market. I also took a look, but at that hour I didn't have the patience to rummage. I went down two small streets and found a vegetable and fruit market. They also had cooked food with the products offered for sale. I got a bag of chouquettes (choux with pearl sugar) for the road.
Visit to the largest science museum in Europe, located in Parc de la Villette. An interesting place, especially for children, where all natural phenomena are interactive, so they can be easily understood. I personally liked the area with materials of the future, especially the self-tanning pajamas based on natural oils. I think they should work on the design though, it was probably designed by a man, because it's V-shaped, and I think I wouldn't want to wake up in the morning tanned like that 😋 There was also the pajamas that adapt their temperature so you're comfortable at night, plus they were treated antibacterially so I understood you don't have to wash them either 😉 I would have also gotten a t-shirt that gave information about physical condition during the day (how much exercise you did, temperature, stress level, etc).
Very late lunch at the Lebanese restaurant with self-service I mentioned before (Al Dar at 8/10 rue Frederic Sauton). The cooked food was good, but not as good as it looked. The only one that stood out was the rice with almonds, it was cooked almost to perfection. And the desserts are excellent, they're not overly sweet.

May 25 - Shopping

Shopping day at Les Halles, with all kinds of shops concentrated on a few streets. That's where the best-stocked kitchen utensil shops are. Bovida, A. Simon and Mora were the first three I entered. I particularly liked Mora because it has a lot of pastry utensils. But I saved the best for last: E Dehillerin. This shop "blew me away." Not only because you find everything you want (from knives, pastry molds/rings of all sizes, some even strange), copper or cast iron pots/pans, etc., but the shop's appearance instantly took me 100 years back: high, old, crowded shelves, little drawers with interesting bits and pieces. You need time and patience to rummage everywhere. In this shop prices are not displayed, so either ask, or take the codes from the products and then look them up in the books hanging at the ends of the shelves. I got some tips for the pastry bag, a tray with molds for canelles and a tart pan with removable bottom from them.
Then I went straight to heaven. It was the moment I entered G. Detou, a shop with delicacies at exceptionally good prices, even for Paris. This shop must not be missed by foodies. Edmond Fallot mustard (I took the green pepper one), piment d'espelette (chili from southern France), sherry (xerez) vinegar, pistachio oil, bourbon vanilla, Bomba rice (for paella), Maldon salt and fleur de sel Guerande are just some of the products that ended up in my backpack. And just when I thought I was done for the day, the next entrance was also a G. Detou shop but specialized in pastry products: from Valrhona cocoa and chocolate, to Barry chocolate bars (for pain au chocolat), to large bags of shelled pistachios or almonds and to special baking additives... a dream, a wonder!
I had lunch also in this area: fish fillet with risotto and asparagus. Good, but with too much butter: butter in the rice, fish fried in butter, sauce with butter!!!

A bit of culture at the end of the day: the Chagall exhibition at the Luxembourg Museum. It's open until July 21, so if you get to Paris during this period, make a run there.

May 24 - Addiction

Some friends (we won't name names so as not to embarrass them publicly, but they know who I'm referring to) were in Paris and complained that they almost starved because they couldn't find anything to their liking to eat. What? In Paris? Does what you just read seem strange to you too? Now you understand why I didn't give names 😊 Well, I thought I'd show them that you can eat quickly and "classically" (read "food-without-strange-ingredients-preferably-containing-chicken-and-potatoes") even in Paris. And on top of that it's also cheap! So I planned a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens: a rotisserie chicken and a large bag of potatoes roasted underneath, which basically cooked in the chicken's juices. These cost 12 euros (about 3 good portions were there, so 4 euros/portion). We also got a bottle of Chablis and... it started pouring rain. Goodbye picnic 😢 But the meal was a success, even though we ate it at home. And the truth is that the thing with my friends was just a pretext to dig into that mountain of potatoes, which I had been thinking about for 3 days, since I saw them on my first walk on Rue Mouffetard. Well, now you've found out how addicted I am to carbohydrates and how easily I can be tempted 😊 Just some potatoes...

The cheeses of the day (from left to right): Roquefort, Gloriotte (aged goat cheese from Loire), and a cheese similar to Mont D'Or, but made from sheep's milk. The same Chablis wine next to them and a "boule traditionnelle" bread.

May 23 - Here everything seems possible

Traditional lunch at Le Timbre. This restaurant is proof that where there is passion and will, things get moving and turn out well. The restaurant is extremely small, I don't think it's bigger than my living room. It has only 12 tables of 2 seats each, stuck together. To sit down, the only waitress there pulls the table out just enough for you to squeeze onto the bench and then puts it back. Like it or not, you end up chatting with your table neighbors. In the small open kitchen there's room only for the chef and his assistant. The food is traditional, simple, correct and very very fresh. For appetizer I had crispy pig's head with capers and snails in tomato sauce. For the main course I chose lamb with roasted peppers stuffed with mashed potatoes and duck breast with onion. Today I didn't hold back from dessert (I saw you can jog in the Luxembourg Gardens 😉) and I chose something seasonal: cold strawberry soup. Coffee, wine... as usual, the French don't conceive lunch any other way and I like to please them. Prices a bit higher than at Le Risale. Very good service, friendly waitress.

May 22 - How to waste time in the Latin Quarter

Quiet morning. Breakfast: Bordier butter, plain yogurt, red fruit jam and baguette, of course (all bought from Androuet the night before).

I had lunch at Le Risale, a Turkish-Greek restaurant, across the street from our apartment. I went with the menu of the day: eggplant salad and beef meatballs with potatoes in tomato sauce. A red wine and a coffee completed the lunch which lasted an hour and a half (! and I swear we were the fastest). The restaurant is intimate, pleasant, very clean and the food cooked in my style, which delighted me beyond measure. Prices are affordable and service is fast. Siesta in the Luxembourg Gardens.

The evening walk was in the Notre Dame area, quite crowded. On the way I found a Lebanese restaurant with very appetizing food. I only bought some baklava from them, but next time I'll get food too and if it's good I'll give you the address. I "stumbled upon" a shop with "caramel, bonbon et chocolat" where I indulged a bit. Caramels are my weakness, you know how it is.

For dinner I only had room for some cheeses: Brie and Epoisses.

May 21 - How not to waste time in Paris

First day in Paris! Tired after the trip. I recover quickly, because the "Croissants et Pain au Chocolat" course starts at 9 and lasts 4 hours. It's chic to cook in a kitchen with a view of the Champs Elysees, alongside a maitre patissier from the LeNotre school. An unforgettable experience and... one to repeat.

Towards evening I still have a bit of energy, enough to walk on Rue Mouffetard (5th arr.), one of the oldest streets in Paris. They say it has over 200 restaurants. I didn't count them, but there were maaany. I stopped only at Androuet, a cheese shop, and bought a few things for breakfast.