Food highlights

Ok enough about the holiday I hear you say. But please, let me make one last post and then I promise it is straight back to food after a long hiatus. I wanted to very briefly list some of the wonderful restaurants we visited. Our very insightful apartment owner, Nicole, left us with a list of seven good restaurants and we ended up going to five of the restaurants and all of them were excellent. This woman knows her restaurants. We were also lucky to be in Paris with a good friend who also knows his restaurants too, so he had a few little gems for us. I am just going to give a list with a very brief description. This list is as much for my own records as for the blog.

Brasserie Bofinger was a wonderful old style brassiere that specialised in seafood and Alsatian style dishes. We arrived at the restaurant late and only started dinner at about 10:30pm. We finished up at about 1:30am at which time the restaurant was still buzzing with people eating. This is one things I miss in Australia. Over here people eat very early in the night and you would seldom see a restaurant open past midnight.

One of the specialities of Bofinger is Choucroute, sauerkraut laden with cured and boiled meats. This is a monster of a meal and I was such a greedy guts here that I didn't have to eat at all the next day.

Brasserie Bofinger
3, Rue Bastille 75004 Paris
+33 1 42 72 87 82

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Chez Michel was a gorgeous little restaurant that was only 5 minutes from our apartment. We arrived late and were led to a table downstairs that had an old world feel to it with all the stone walls, large wooden tables and cellars of wine. The menu was very gamey and the food was delicious. What we ordered was all slowed cooked meats with rich sauces and delicious vegetables. The desserts were excellent too and my Paris-Brest was a wonderful introduction to this old favourite.
Chez Michel
10, Rue Belzunce 75010 Paris
+33 1 44 53 06 20

Chez Casimir can be found just a few doors down from Chez Michel and it was only when I googled this restaurant to find it's website that I realised that it is owned by the same guy as Chez Michel. This was great little cheap eat restaurant that was just around the corner from where we were staying. They have a wonderful menu with lots of good hearty food on it. We enjoyed a slow cooked stew where the meat just feel apart. The staff here were wonderful. Especially when we kept wanting change tables because more people were joining us.
Chez Casimir
6 rue de Belzunce 75010 Paris
+33 1 48 78 28 80

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Restaurant 404 was a treasure of a Moroccan Restaurant that our friend T had booked for us. It was recommended to him by another friend. Isn't 'word of mouth' great. The decor was so impressive. We arrived for dinner at 8:00 and there were a few other people there. By 8:15 the whole restaurant was full so I reckon it would be a good idea to book here. We started the night off with a round of fresh mojitos that got us in the mood for the meal to come. We ordered a selection of tagines and cous cous dishes that were all great.

If you are booking ask for the tables upstairs which have the big cushions and the round moroccan trays for tables. You get a great view of the festivities in the main part of the restaurant.

I couldn't find a web site for this restaurant but I did find this article which was talked about it Ny times article

Restaurant 404
69, Rue Gravilliers 75003 Paris
+33 1 42 74 57 81

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Chez Louisette is an absolute gem of a cafe. If you can find it in the market you are over the first hurdle. our friend, T, had been here and with the help of a few locals we stumbled across it tucked away in the corner of one of the markets at Les Puces. The day we decided to visit the flea markets we were all very hung over after an all night session of dancing and drinking. We needed hangover food and we needed it immediately. Thank god we weren't after anything too up market because this food was good wholesome fare with not even a smidgen of fancy thrown in. We did have the necessary escargot (when in France) that were juicy and oozing with hot garlic sauce. The mains were a little bit too greasy for all our likings so maybe go for a salad or something that doesn't call for oil in the cooking process.

The decor in here did absolutely nothing for our hangovers and it was almost necessary for us to keep our sun glasses on. I've never been in a place more gaudy in my life with tinsel, Christmas balls and shiny paper as far as the eye can see. But this is what makes this restaurant so fantastically unique. Of course the wait staff shouting the orders to the chef upstairs was also quite unique but nothing beat the dulcet tones of Emmanuelle singing her heart out as she did
her best Edith Piaf impersonation.

Chez Louisette
136 avenue Michelet 93400 Saint-Ouen
+33 1 40 12 10 14

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The Moulin Rouge was everything we hoped it would be and I'm not even talking about how happy J was to see all those topless young ladies. We arrived a little late for our reservation as we got delayed in the queue to go up to the top of the Eifel Tower. We had made a reservation for dinner and a show and to be honest we didn't realise the dinner was going to be so good. I only wish we had had more time to enjoy it as we only had an hour before the show started the waiters were giving us super speedy service. They did allow us to take our time over the dessert and of course there was always that second bottle of champers to enjoy.

There are a few different set menus depending on how much you are willing to pay. Our menu started with some succulent lobster which had already been removed from the shell - no hard work for us thank you very much. For mains we both had an almost perfect fillet steak with shoestring fries and creamy béarnaise sauce.

Dessert was eaten in the dark as the show had already started but I have a recollection of a dark chocolate torte and a fruity little number which we both shared.

The show was wonderful and was a lot less tacky than I thought it was going to be. I loved watching all the girls in their magnificent costumes but not as much as I suspect J loved watching them. This is a tourist attraction that is a definite must-see.

Bal du Moulin Rouge ®
Montmartre
82 boulevard de Clichy 75018 Paris
+33 153 098 282

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We did manage to get to a few foodie shops but its hard to get J to traipse all over Paris in search of the perfect Macaroon as he just isn't into food like I am. We did visit a Mariage Frères shop where I was so excited to see all the different selections of teas displayed in an old world style shop which had gentlemen in linen jackets looking after everyone's requests. I would love to get my hands on some great tea because I drink so much of it but I find it overwhelming when you have so many different teas to choose from. Bar having a sniff into the tin, how can you tell what the tea will taste like? Trial and error I guess. I asked for a recommendation for the guy who was serving me and he came up with a black tea that he said had a 'fresh' taste. It was good but would it be blasphemous to say that I prefer my cup of Lipton tea - so uncultured.

I never made it to Pierre Hermé's shop but as a consolation I did drop into a La Maison Du Chocolat shop and get me some of those tasty little macaroons. There were so many beautiful looking chocolates there I was in my element.

And so our 5 week holiday eventually had to come to an end and what a fitting view from the airport as we sat waiting to board our plane back home. Right so, time to start planning the next holiday.