A foodie weekend in Paris
The following day we decided we really should make the effort to see some famous sights, so we paid our €26 each for an Open Top bus tour. Two hours later, I knew everything there was to know about Paris (did you know that ‘on the Champs Elysees you can buy everything from cars to video tapes’ – wow, video tapes!) and I’d also acquired a suntan. Marvellous! We disembarked and fought our way through the shopping tourists at Galleries Lafayette to find a cosy little arcade called Passage de Panoramas where we dined on some fabulous Lyonnaise sausages and goats cheese.
We had a big night planned for Saturday, a dinner at the ‘world’s 9th best restaurant’ – according to Restaurant magazine – Le Chateaubriand. It’s notoriously difficult to get a table there but Mr Coke somehow managed to cajole Sat Bains (‘celebrity’ chef and fellow Lenton resident) into organising it for us via Twitter. How very modern! When we arrived there at 9pm after a stroll through an area called ‘Belleville’ – a particularly inappropriate name! – it was heaving and we started to have a small panic. But then Sebastian greeted us with ‘Oh you must be Sat’s friends!’ – well, THAT made us feel very special indeed. The restaurant was small and lively, with an open kitchen and the skinny staff running around like their pants were on fire whilst the queue outside the entrance grew longer. We had a tasting menu which included such delights as duck heart, squid in black ink, tuna, consommé (with coffee beans!) and mushrooms in chocolate – it was certainly unusual. The waiters were charming and the wine was lush… unbelievably though, there was only one loo and people were queuing for it almost into the kitchen…which I found hilarious – again, probably as a result of a bit too much alcohol.
So, our final meal in Paris was Sunday lunch – Sebastian at Chateaubriand had recommended a place called Le Verre Volé in Marais, near the canal. It was teeny, and we enjoyed yet another splendid feast – carpaccio of grey mullet and raspberries, squid, beef, stingray, fine wine and yet more young skinny waiters (honestly, Paris is full of them!).
In terms of tips for Paris, all I can say is – take a lot of Euros with you. Luckily our trip was a prize from Lending Stream, so all we paid for were our expensive meals – but of course, they were worth every penny!
This post is an entry for the Travelizer competition, and below is a blog hop that you can add your entry to, and then copy the code to add to your own blog – I look forward to reading your travel tales…
It sounds like a fabulous trip. Paris is one of my favourite cities and one of the few places I’ve been back to. Your trip sounds like my husband’s dream – he puts “cheese” at the top of most of his lists!
Sounds ace!
Nice blog Di, you look very chic and relaxed! Where do you put all that cheese!? 🙂