Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: Paris

Author: My Husband

If you are a foodie, there are few places better to be in than Paris. It’s not just about the bistros or brasseries or michelin-starred restaurants – there are all the weekend markets, patisseries, creperies, ethnic food joints, etc. The list just goes on and on.

Naturally, being from multicultural Vancouver where lots of ethnic cuisine is on offer, we came to France specifically to eat French food. Lest you think an arm and a leg have to be spent in order to eat well in Paris, let me assure you that there is nothing further from the truth. To eat out, you would have to spend a minimum of 15 to 20 Euros per person – that is true. However, there are some creative alternatives that wouldn’t break the bank.

For instance, breakfast or lunch could be had relatively cheaply at Paul – which is a chain of baked goods store with locations all over Paris. Pick up a croissant or an orranis and some chocolate chaud, and you’re set. The hot chocolate at Paul is to die for by the way… not as thick as Spanish hot chocolate, but very rich and way more chocolatey. And most importantly, not too sweet.

Or hit the grocery stores – grab a baguette, some cheese, some charcuterie meats, and a bottle of wine. Bring it to a park, or back to your hotel room and have yourself an ad hoc picnic.

If you want something a little fancier, hit the food halls at Galeries Lafayette. They have a fantastic selection of wines, a whole section dedicated to foie gras, and more types of charcuterie, breads, cheeses, and prepared foods that you can shake a stick at. My wife, being the foie monster that she is, bought a bottle of 100% foie to eat on our next long-haul flight (guess where?)

They even pack it in a little case like this for you:

And inside the box, a jar of foie gras d’oie:

This is cooked and ready to eat – just grab some bread and jelly and you’re all set.

And if you really consider yourself a foodie, how could a visit to Paris be complete without a stopover at Fauchon? This institution, which displays and sells food like haute-couture, is spread out over two buildings at Place la Madeleine. The stuff they selll ain’t cheap, but a judicious selection (watch the quantity) of goodies to take home, and some to eat in store, will not do too much harm to the wallet.

On the north end of Place la Madeleine, you will see this:

Here’s a sampling of the stuff we bought to take home.

We’ve never tried these previously. The are little crispy crepes rolled up around a cheddar filling. Sorta like the little Ritz crackers with the cheese feeling, but with a more cheddary taste.

Classic French madeleines, packed in a gold can all ready for gift-giving. We broke out one can to try and found the cakes to be rich, buttery, moist, and delicious.

And here’s what we had in store:

On the left, we have a “la black”. There’s a rich and velvety smooth chocolate ganache and vanilla cream inside the round chocolate shell. It was, as you might imagine, sinfully delicious. On the right, we have a classic mille feuille. Flakey and light to the extreme, Christina ate most of it up before she remembered she “doesn’t like sweets”.

I did mention the focus of this trip was non-cultural, but when my wife found out there was a Renoir exhibition at the Grande Palais, she couldn’t resist. So, on the way to Fauchon, we stopped by this place and spent a couple of hours taking in some of Renoir’s work.

My wife thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition; I would let you know my thoughts, but they really aren’t fit for publishing.

All too quickly, it is time for us to travel to our next destination. But here is one more photo for everybody to enjoy Paris by. Au revoir Paris, until the next time…

Our next destination? Home to this…

I really had a great time at the Renoir exhibition. We didn’t know about the exhibition when we booked our Paris trip but the timing turned out to be perfect. Two hours at the exhibition was probably a little bit too much for ET (I found him sitting on the bench resting his legs after the first hour) but it was a treat for me. I was a little disappointed that Luncheon of the Boating Party was not included in the exhibition, but I was glad to see Dance In the City in person. Who knew that I would get more than foie gras in Paris?

- Christina

Location: Paris

Author: My Husband

The next day in Paris saw picture perfect weather, and we spent it sauntering around the Opera district. Everything you could want to come to Paris for, you could find in the Opera/Madeleine districts. Fashion? Check. Food? Check. Culture? Check.

Paris is so pretty. Just look at this…

Cars were parked nose to tail in the Opera district, and what you’ll see in the next two photos is not an uncommon sight. The drivers are either extremely skilled, or extremely screwed.

From the Paris opera house, you will find fashion, food, and culture within the radius of a few blocks. We had already been to the places of culture on previous trips, so we focused on non-cultural activities this time around. From the opera house, it is about two blocks to the two pillars of French retail – Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.

The Paris Opera House.

The Galeries already had its Christmas decorations up, and it was very pretty. You don’t see many department stores in Canada looking like this…

After some time spent roaming the food halls of the Galeries, we headed towards Les Halles for dinner at Au Pied de Cochon. Those who have read my previous Paris trip report will recall that I ate at this restaurant the last time I was in Paris. However, Christina had never been and she really wanted to try the house specialty.

This restaurant has been in continuous operation for more than 60 years.

Tip: If you want to try this place out when you are in Paris, make a reservation; English will be fine. It is very popular with both locals and tourists alike, and there’s going to be quite a wait if you just walk in. The night we were there, there were a smattering of many different languages spoken, including English, Mandarin, Spanish, German, and of course, French.

We were presented with bread (cut up of course) and a rillettes de porc. It was the first time I’ve had it, and it was different. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not, and there was quite a bit left over after the meal was done. They also gave us two flutes of complimentary sparkling wine; I think this was given to all who made reservations.

Interesting, but we’re still undecided if we like or not.

This time, it was me who got the foie gras starter instead of my wife. A generously portioned slab of foie gras de canard, accompanied by two toast points. All for a price that was quite a bit cheaper than the equivalent dish at George V. Great deal. It should be said that the foie gras at Au Pied, being duck liver, was quite a bit milder than the George V version, which was goose liver. But I was perfectly happy with it.

Christina got the smoked salmon instead of her usual. French smoked salmon is quite a bit different than what we are used to having in Canada. The difference is all in the texture, with the French version retaining more of the elasticity of the uncooked fish. The French version is also quite a bit more oily (drizzled with olive oil after the fact perhaps) and have a milder smoked flavor. It was very good.

My main course was a pig’s knuckle braised in beer and spices, and served over a bed of choucroute. The meat was falling off the bone, and very flavorful. The rind has gotten to the point where the collagen was falling apart, which made one’s lip all sticky eating it. The choucroute provided just the right counterpoint for the pork, cutting through the fattiness/gelatinous-ness of it. Very nice, this dish.

Christina got their special – the one dish that is best associated with Au Pied de Cochon. She got… the pied de cochon – a whole pig trotter. It was a delicious mixture of rind, tendon, meat, and whatever witch’s brew went into the cooking of this dish – Christina couldn’t stop exclaiming how good it was. And I totally agree. This was the dish that made Au Pied de Cochon, and it’s easy to understand why.

Against our better judgement, we got a dessert each to finish off our meal. I got a gigantic creme brulee and Christina got a moist chocolate cake. They were very good, but we had to muster up every ounce of energy and concentration to finish it all.

Gigantic creme brulee.

Moist chocolate cake – so moist the insides were still flowing.

Au Pied de Cochon served up a grand meal, and their pork didn’t disappoint. Christina was initially concerned that the food wouldn’t live up to its reputation, but by the time we were done, she became a convert.

If you find yourself in Paris, this is a restaurant I would recommend – especially if you like pork. Remember to make a reservation!

We were so full after dinner, we had to walk some of it off. About a 15-minute walk away, on a small island in the middle of the Seine, is Notre Dame. I leave you with another two photos of Paris by night…

About to cross the bridge to get to the island that Notre Dame sits on.

Notre Dame, all lit up.

Having the pig trotter at Au Pied De Cochon was one of the highlights for me on this trip. Every bite of it was awesome. After we finished touring Spain, we returned to Paris again to catch a flight that flies out on the next morning. We arrived in Paris around midnight and I was really tempted to take the metro into the city and have another serving of trotters! I’m convinced that the French can turn any food into good eats.

- Christina

Location: Paris

Author: My Husband

My wife and I got little sleep on the flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt. I spent several hours catching up on some recent movies, which included “Julie and Julia”. I enjoyed Meryl Streep’s turn as Julia Child (Meryl Streep isn’t that tall in real life, is she?), but I just didn’t care much about the Julie part at all. Too self-obsessed and too high maintenance, in my opinion.

After 10 hours, our plane landed at Frankfurt and we promptly checked into the Lufthansa lounge for a shower. The quick shower really helped to make us feel human again, and I highly recommend it if you have a connection after a long-haul flight. In most air hubs, you can pay several dollars for a shower, and if you plan ahead enough, you might even have a fresh change of clothes with you. (we didn’t.)

Before long, we hopped on another Lufthansa plan for the quick flight to Paris. Frankfurt is a pretty large airport, and if you have a quick connection, I highly recommend hoofing it to your departure gate asap. The airport doesn’t have many travelators, and there are mighty huge distances to cover.

This was the 733 that flew us to Paris.

We landed on a dreary day in Paris, with the weather feeling none-too-different than Vancouver. The bitingly cold drafts attacked the passengers as soon as we stepped off the plan onto the jetway, reminding us that we were travelling during winter.

Whoever designed Charles de Gaulle airport must have really had a thing for long narrow tunnels and tubes. These covered travelators connected the different arrival halls on various levels and they were designed as a series of bizarre tubes criss-crossing each other in an open atrium in the middle of the terminal.

We had pre-booked an airport transfer service to take us to the hotel, and ParisShuttle worked out pretty well for us on this trip. Taxis from Charle de Gaulle airport to Paris are pretty expensive if you are party of only one or two travellers, so airport shuttles are a more economical – and almost as convenient – way to go. We stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe this trip and found it to be a good hotel. It was about a 5-min walk to the nearest Metro stop (Courcelles), and about 10 minutes to the Champs Elysees by foot. While the Hilton is a US chain, this property still showed off a good amount of Gallic design flair.

Because we hadn’t gotten any real sleep over the last two days, our plan was to have a simple dinner and then get back to the hotel right away. There wasn’t anything open in the immediate vicinity of the hotel, so we hoofed it to the Champs Elysees to see what we could find. Once there, the beautifully lit up sights made us forget about sleep, and hand-in-hand, we walked down the enchanting avenue taking in all the sights and sounds. We saw many of the restaurants that we had eaten at before, and we gave them all a pass. After walking around for some time, we happened upon the “George V” brasserie and we decided we didn’t want to walk anymore; that’s where we had dinner that evening.

Now, if you are after good food and good value in Paris, you will not want to eat on the Champs. The restaurants located along the avenue pay huge rents, and they depend on selling expensive meals to tourists to drive their profits. However, if you are already on the Champs and plan on staying for a while, then eating at one of these places will be a lot more convenient than Metro’ing elsewhere for a meal and then Metro’ing back again. In our case, we didn’t want to eat anywhere that was not within walking distance of the hotel that evening.

Here’s how the interior of the George V looked like.

Design touches abound – even in this oldish brasserie.

Because of the chill, Christina asked for some hot water and the waiter said “I’ll bring you an order of tea and you can do whatever you want with the hot water. It’s a computer thing you know… ” – riiiight. This hot water ended up costing 6 Euros, 50 cents more than what my glass of wine cost.

Christina wasn’t particularly hungry, so she only had foie gras. It was a very nice torchon of foie gras d’oie, but the portion size was pretty measly. Two thin slices of foie gras, served with a disproportionate amount of toasted bread. Even for a Champs Elysees eatery, they should have been more generous.

I was feeling a little more ravenous, so I had onion soup and Boeuf Bourguignon (thanks to the Julie and Julia movie).

The onion soup was rich and hearty. Here, they were overly generous with the gruyere – there was so much cheese that I had to leave a good amount of it in the bowl. But aside from that, this was good onion soup.

The beef bourguignon offered up chunks of tender beef that were bathed in a thick, full-bodied sauce. The seasoning of the sauce was good, and the beefy flavours were all there. However, there was a good amount of alcohol still in it – it was almost as if the cook did not leave enough time for the alcohol to cook off before serving the dish.

We both felt very full after the meal, and decided to walk some of it off before heading back to the hotel. So we popped in the Mercedes Benz showroom for a quick look. They had yet another Mercedes-McLaren SLR convertible on display. I believe this is one of the last few $300,000 roadsters that came off the production line.

And then walking up towards Etoile, the Arc de Triomphe came into view. No matter how many times you see the Arc, it still impresses you everytime.

From under the arch, here’s a snapshot of the Champs with the flame of the unknown soldier in the foreground.

From the arch, a partial view of the lit of the Eiffel Tower

Lack of sleep started to catch up with us, so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

More to follow – stay tuned.

I had a really enjoyable time walking along the Champs at night. Known as the City of Lights, I have always found Paris beautiful at night. But I didn’t remember it was THIS beautiful and breathtaking. Our hotel is located close to the Arc De Triomphe and I found it looking even more magnificent at night. The Eiffel Tower, too, looked even more beautiful and romantic at night.

- Christina