Chilli and Chocolate visit.. Paris : Chilli and Chocolate : A Belfast food blog (Northern Ireland, UK)

J’adore Paris!

Posted: 29 April '10 by Kelly

La Tour Eiffel

Niall recently surprised me with a long weekend in Paris. Neither of us had been to The City of Lights before, but the French live and breathe food, which is why Niall and I always thought that we’d fit right in.

As soon as we landed we left our bags at the hotel, which was perfectly placed just off Voie George Pompidou and right on the Seine, and went for a walk.

Our culinary adventure had begun!

You can see the photos here:

Day One – La Poule au Pot restaurant

On our first night out we wandered around the Les Halles quarter of Paris and discovered a quaint little restaurant down a little back street in rue Vauvilliers called La Poule au Pot. It was a beautifully authentic place with wonderful smells and sounds coming from the kitchen while waiters cut the massive freshly baked breads at your table and bustled about the floor. We were shown to our table by a very friendly waiter who, although did not have a word of English, managed to communicate with us very well. I am convinced though it must of been down to us speaking fluent French (?!!!)…

The menu in La Poule au Pot was very rustic and typically French. There was lots to choose from on the menu including, to start- spinach salad with chicken livers, burgundy terrine with parsley, marrow bones roasted with toast. The mains were just as difficult to choose from, there were many dishes, including, raw minced steak with seasoning, chicken hot-pot with vegetables, veal kidneys with mustard sauce and old fashioned braised lamb shank. (note here the vast array of meat… if your a veggie probably best to stay away!!)

After much deliberation Niall ordered the burgundy snails to start and the Tripes a la mode de Caen and I had the house-made duck foie gras with toast to start and for my main I had the duck confit.

The star for me was the house-made foie gras, it was unbelievably creamy, rich but yet very light – smothered over the warm thick slices of toast it was heaven!! Niall absolutely loved his starter of snails covered in garlic… Now for all you squeamish out there, eating snails sounds like some sort of challenge from ‘I’m a celebrity’ but honestly they are really delicious, almost like a very tender steak. Give them a go, you’ll be surprised!

My main course was gorgeous, although, my starter was very rich as was my main so I could of thought that out better. But needless to say there wasn’t a thing left on the plate, after all it would be rude to leave some, wouldn’t it?!

Niall’s main of ‘Tripes a la mode de caen’ made me feel slightly uneasy. I think you’ll either love tripe or hate it.. and I was shocked to learn that i loved it. It doesn’t look visually appealing and when you know what it is it doesn’t sound appealing either. But when you forget about all that and taste it, especially cooked in this recipe, it is really really delicious!! It is made by layering onions and carrots on the bottom of a casserole, then adding a halved cow’s foot with its meat, on top of which is laid beef tripe, garlic, leeks, and herbs. The whole is covered with apple cider and, since Caen is a city in Normandy, finished with a shot of Calvados. The casserole is then sealed under a paste of flour and water and baked for 10 to 12 hours. Finally, it is served in the pot it was cooked it.

I was very full after my starter and main but I left just enough room for dessert. I ordered the sorbets which were just to my liking, they were stewed apple, lemon and lime. They were fresh and zingy, perfect after the rich meal that I had just had. Niall went for the creme brulee which was delicious, very creamy with lots of vanilla through it.

After that amount of food Niall and I decided to take a walk (or was that a waddle?!) around the Siene and Ille de Paris. Paris is a beautiful city and I can see why people say it is the city of romance. There are lots of tourist-y things to do although Niall and I stayed away from these locations as much as possible to try and find the real city.

La Poule au Pot
9, rue Vauvilliers,
75001 PARIS
T: 01 42 36 32 96
W: www.lapouleaupot.fr
You can also find La Poule au Pot on Google Maps.

Day Two – Markets, Patisseries, Restaurants, and more

The next day we decided up take a walk around the Latin Quarter of Paris. The Latin Quarter is well known for its lively atmosphere and bistros and it did not disappoint. As we were aimlessly walking around we walked right into a daily food market, it was nothing like I had ever witnesses in Belfast. The outdoor market was filled with everything you could ever want to eat from cheeses, meats, fresh vegetables, freshly baked breads and of course lots of french wines on sale. The fish stall was superb, they had huge spider crabs, oysters, whole lobster, freshly caught fish and mussels…from Ireland!! I couldn’t believe that to be honest, I am sure you know how difficult it is to find fresh local produce in Northern Ireland, and now I know the French are taking them because not enough of us want them.

The thing I loved most about Paris (apart from the sights, articheture and culture) was the amount of boulangeries that were scattered around the city, there seemed to be at least one on every street. These shops were not like our bakeries (which i love also), they were more like an up-market cake and bread shop. All of the cakes were absolutely stunning. As we were walking around the Bastille area there was a que outside of French people waiting on their daily bread ‘fix’ so we thought we would join them and ordered coffee and cakes. My cake was like a work of art that I almost didn’t want to touch it, but I did, and it was amazing. The outside was brightly raspberry coloured with an alcohol soaked cherry and gold leaf, inside was pure indulgent chocolate. Niall had the tiramisu cake that, although it would not be my choice (as it had no chocolate) looked and tasted beautiful.

After many hours of walking around the markets and popping into different cafes for our daily fix of Cafe Au Lait we decided to head back to our hotel, sit out on our balcony (with a view of the eiffel tower) and have a little picnic with all the produce we bought that morning at the market… washed down with some local wine of course!!

Later that night Niall had booked us into a restaurant called Robert et Louise. It was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s programme ‘Why the French don’t suck’!! Robert et Louise is a cozy, unpretentious restaurant in Le Marais, run by a second generation of owners, specialising in beef and lamb cooked over a large fireplace open at the end of the room. The food is simple – grilled meat, roasted potatoes and greens with a simple Dijon dressing. The restaurant is very informal and you may end up sitting with other diners at the wooden tables. We ended up sitting with a local family and bunch of friends.

Again, if you are a veggie you might as well stay away from this place as it served meat, meat and more meat!! You will notice straight away that the restaurant is very rustic with big wooden tables, red and white gingham table cloths and a huge open fire at the back of the restaurant where they cook the meat. The menu was fantastic, to start Niall had the Rillettes (a preparation of duck and pork that is quite similar to pâté) served with cornichons (gherkin) and freshly baked crusty bread. I had the mackerel with potato salad. For the main we ordered the rib of beef for two with goose-fat potatoes and a green salad.. And a Flintstone-sized slab of sizzling beef was promptly delivered to our table.

I had noticed that Niall was acting strangely by not finishing his half of the steak… It wasn’t until later when we were walking along the Seine that I realised just what was up… he was nervous as he had planned to propose!! Of course I said yes and it was time to celebrate!!

Robert et Louise
64 Rue Vieille du Temple,
75003 Paris
T: 01 42 78 55 89
W: www.robertetlouise.com
You can also find Robert et Louise on Google Maps.

Day Three – The Bastille Market and Le Petit Zinc Restaurant

Waking early on the Sunday, we wanted to cram in as much as possible on our last day in Paris.

A short walk from the hotel took us to the Bastille area and another sprawling market – the largest in Paris, in fact. We spent over two hours exploring the market: butchers with such a wide variety of meat and sweetbreads; fishmongers with every colour, shape and size of fish; stalls selling dusty bottles of wine, from €1 to over €20s a bottle; and lots of ethnic and local hot food stalls. Wonderful!

From there we strolled across the bridge at Qual Henry iV and into the Saint-Germain area. Filled with bars and cafes that spill onto the street, Saint-Germain has a really lively atmosphere. We decided to have a few glasses of wine and take in the scene.

Niall and I decided to celebrate our engagement by enjoying a great meal somewhere. Le Petit Zinc had been highly recommended by a number of books that Niall had read on his research, so we decided to give it a go. We were so glad we did.

The restaurant is classically art nouveau style and the little corner seat we were given by the window very intimate and romantic. To start Niall selected oysters from Normandy which were promptly delivered on a silver tripod filled with crushed salt – very very impressive and oh-so tasty. They came with red wine vinegar and shallot dressing which was perfect with the slightly sweet and ozone-y taste of the oysters. I ordered the crab salad to start, which, if I am honest was just OK. Although it was well presented it had apple in the salad which I don’t think complimented the crab. For the main Niall and I both ordered the Steak with pommes frites et bearnaise sauce. It was superb: the frites were crisp, the steak was tender and cooked to perfection, while the bearnaise sauce was creamy and full of aniseed.. heaven! Although I have to say not as nice as Niall’s (he makes the nicest bearnaise sauce I have ever tasted).

We ended the night with another stroll up the Seine, past the area where Niall proposed and found a little place to have a few glasses of red wine and watched the world go by.

Le Petit Zinc
11 Rue Saint-Benoît,
75006 Paris
T: 01 42 86 14 51
W: www.petit-zinc.com
You can also find Le Petit Zinc on Google Maps.