Posts Tagged ‘dining’
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An Alchemist in Paris – Dining III
0May 10, 2015 by IPAlchemist
Turns out I was too hasty in condemning the queue at Angelina. This time however, and exhausted from the Louvre and the Mont Blanc debacle, the queue is scheduled. The third suggestion from Andrew was Chartier, but he warned me of likelihood of wait since they don’t take reservations. It closes at 10 so I thought I better go straight there, even though it is only an hour since the end of Mont Blanc #2. Sure enough there were at least 30 people waiting. However, there was a table waiting for a solitary friendless soul so I jumped past all the couples, threes, and fours.
I plumped for endive salad with Roquefort, choucroute alsacienne, and some pommes frites coz they looked nice. Steered clear of tete de veau and andouillette for reasons which regular readers will understand. Order is now duly written on my tablecloth. The room is cavernous and the sound of conversation echoing. I hope they take a long time to bring my food. I am sure they won’t.
Choucroute
So, judging from what appears only, since I have never made it myself, choucroute alsacienne is finely shredded pickled cabbage boiled with ham and assorted charcuterie and served together with the odd boiled potato lurking therein. If you want to try it in London I highly recommend the Delauney. At Chartier it was also lovely although – as with the whole restaurant- rather more basic. I attach the now mandatory pic above. It was also quite the best value meal I have had so far. My starter of endive salad had so much Roquefort on it I can’t imagine how they can buy it, let alone sell it, for the few euros that it cost. The frites were probably ill-advised but delicious so I was replete after only the two courses.
Category Travel | Tags: Chartier, dining, Paris
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An Alchemist in Paris – in search of le veritable Mont Blanc
0May 10, 2015 by IPAlchemist
Having been justly castigated and reprimanded on FB by Nicolas for having settled for a profane simulacrum of the real Mont Blanc at the Cafe Richelieu in the Louvre, I have resolved to cast aside the cloying substitute and seek the incomparable original. So I have now come to the temple of the Mont Blanc, Angelina. Alas every tourist in Paris has had the same idea (who has been spreading my FB posts ?) so I am at the back of a long and apparently stationary queue.
But eventually, I get in. After even longer a waitress deigns to take my order. So finally. Et voilà. Le veritable Mont Blanc.
Le veritable Mont Blanc
But then there is a problem. I noticed that the Mont Blanc at Angelina’s seemed very familiar, right down to the little chocolate widget on the top, to the one I consumed only moments before at the Louvre. Emerging into the Tuileries where there is a decent signal, judicious interwebbage reveals that the Cafe Richelieu at the Louvre is actually a branch of Angelina. So the cake that he has just scoffed is in fact identical to the one he guzzled three hours ago. This calls to mind a perennial philosophical question – can one have Too Much of a Good Thing? Based on recent experience, the answer seems to be “no”, since they were both delicious. Identically so, as it turns out…
Category Travel | Tags: dining, Mont Blanc, Paris
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An Alchemist in Paris – Dining II
0May 10, 2015 by IPAlchemist
So on Easter Day it was time for suggestion number 2 from Andrew – Ma Bourgogne. Also conveniently close to my hotel (are you seeing a pattern?). Packed but they squeezed me into a nice little corner table. Ordered safe starter of foie gras de canard but the main course is a sausage of unknown composition. I am sure it will be fine. I’ll let you know.
[A few minutes later]
So the sausage gamble paid off. Still no idea what it was made from. Except it definitely contains pistachio nuts. Oh it is called Saucisson chaud du beaujolais, but that is a new one on me. Here is a picture anyway.
The unknown sausage
A kind FB informant tells me it is pork also called “cervelas pistaché” a specialty from Lyon. And well worth it. And also, I was reliably informed by my FB observers, a much better choice than the andouillette, which I contemplated but rejected.
So tonight cheese but no dessert. (Apologies still have not managed the full four courser). A question. Why do lost french restaurants offer cheese singly rather than an assortment? Anyway I went for a new one on me. Bleu des Causses. I was hoping for something very strong but it was surprisingly mild for being both blue and goat milk. It was a massive slab. Picture attached but I suppose scale is hard to see. Of course I ate it all.
Le grand fromage
The restaurant was in the Place des Vosges, with a splendid 17th C vaulted ceiling. The whole square is surrounded with this portico and part of it forms the restaurant. Here is about half of one side – the restaurant part is the brightly lit bit at the end.
Vaulting
Category Travel | Tags: dining, Ma Bourgogne, Paris
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An Alchemist in Paris – Day 3
0May 10, 2015 by IPAlchemist
Easter Sunday
Today, unable to decide between Notre Dame and St Sulpice, Darren is going to both – the gregorian mass at the cathedral at 10 and the solemn mass at St Sulpice at 11. Followed by the “audition” of the organ. I just about got the first piece of the audition but the second one needed some explanation from back home.
The music list
The warning outside that one should attend mass and not just come for the organ at the end was, as I was reliably previously informed, not remotely enforced.
A warning to be disregarded
So, for lunch I then took a punt. Just found somewhere that looked nice close to St Sulpice and came in. Time to live dangerously! Doubtless I will let you know how it goes.
Perhaps I should not have carried the living dangerously over into the actual ordering. On the daily specials was “fromage de tete”. Again please imagine the circumflex. The nice waitress confirmed that this was indeed head, a piggy one to be precise. She then helpfully said it was a kind of terrine. “Well, why not,” I thought, even though I don’t usually get on well with odd bits of animal. Bit of a mistake. It was gelatinous and cartilaginous. And is it just my imagination or does the salad look like a green head of hair? Anyway safe next course – chicken.
Head cheese
And now, time to compare organs – St Sulpice and Notre Dame. I should not really be doing it since I am not really an organ fiend, and I only heard a little bit of each and not playing comparable pieces. St Sulpice was lovely, multitextured and cuddled the listener with sound. At Notre Dame it was more like being slapped in the face. In a nice way. And I quite liked it. I think I would like to go back for more. The apparent complete absence of a music list however (I even asked but no joy) means I am not sure when would be good for a return visit.
There was a lot of offal on the menus in the french restaurants I have been to in Paris. Most I avoided. The fromage de tete was hardly a triumph. But it reminded me of a line from Mock the Week. Under the title “Things you never hear in France” Hugh Dennis said “This part of the animal, we just throw it away.”
Then it was time to meet up with my uncle Paul and his friend Caroll – and where better than the amazing Ladurée – the spiritual home of the macaroon.
Ladurée – macaroons
In company
In the meantime, I felt I had not had enough of the grande orgue at Notre Dame, and during the week they seem to use only the choir organ, so I popped back for a lovely vespers and lingered for the first half of the evening mass. Which was no less packed or solemn and choral than the morning one, although celebrated only by the auxiliary bishop of Paris and not the cardinal himself. The music was apparently identical. It was wonderful being slapped in the face by the mighty beast again. The bells were a lovely sound as well – although oddly very loud when approaching the cathedral but completely inaudible inside. Anyway, that is probably enough religion for a holiday.
Category Travel | Tags: dining, music, Paris
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An Alchemist in Paris – Dining I
0May 10, 2015 by IPAlchemist
I received several excellent suggestions for dining from my friend Andrew (you know who you are), transmitted in real time by Facebook. Saturday lunch was at Chez Paul, conveniently located close to my hotel, and was every bit as good as promised – with a main course of rabbit stuffed with goat’s cheese and mint.
Chez Paul – stuffed rabbit
The Parisians have left for the weekend and so there are no native French speaking customers at the moment. I began my meal translating the menu from french to Spanish for the lovely couple next to me (who ordered oysters and had no idea what to do with the shallot vinegar – although to be fair they worked it out for themselves by the time the oysters came, but they did begin by attempting to spread it on bread). From a more distant table came an amusing moment at the end. No one is more sympathetic than me to the problem of French faux amis, but attempting “billet” for “bill” was never going to work really, was it?
Continuing my culinary adventures, having over indulged for lunch, a more light evening meal suggested itself – so that means fish. And shellfish. And especially oysters. So the Bar a Huitres, also conveniently close to the hotel, seemed to be the place. And this is what has come.
Awaiting food
The oysters
The scallops
The ones that got away – for now
It was all stunning – my place setting both before and after the main attraction arrived – and the tanks containing I estimate several thousand pounds worth of assorted crustaceans. All illustrated herewith for your delight. Blurrily probably, but that’s how I see them myself.
On my last night, I did not have the energy to go far for dinner, so boringly but deliciously I came back, mainly for more oysters. Although I had resolved by this stage to post no more food shots, the lobster linguine was so beautiful I could not resist.
Lobster linguine
Category Travel | Tags: Bar a Huitres, Chez Paul, dining, Paris
