With our visit to Versailles out of the way, we were finally free to explore all of Paris at a leisurely pace. I didn't plan most of my time there except I knew some sites I wanted to see, like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, etc. Mom wanted to try a Vietnamese sandwich in Paris and I didn't want to go to Chinatown and thus opted to try a place near the Latin Quarter that had good reviews on Yelp. We got there around 9 or 10 am and found out they didn't open until 11! Well, I get hungry early, like as soon as my eyes open. On top of that, I had been working out 2/3 of my time in Paris at CMG, which mind you, is not cheap, especially after USD to € exchange. I think it came out to about $35 USD per day. Oh and I needed to take the metro to get there.
Anyway, we ended up going to get coffee at a bakery and I again got sucked into those menu deals and got a pastry too but I made sure not to fill my tummy. We walked around and around until they finally opened - we thought it wasn't going to happen because it looked so isolated. The shop is pretty small and easy to miss; there are a couple of bar stools for sitting if you opt to dine there, but there is a nice park nearby you can go to as an alternative. I got a chicken banh mi and my mom got their special caramelized pork banh mi.
SO, we are used to getting the special banh mi with everything including paté, but neither came with it. It was very much a banh mi created for non-Asians. I thought it was good and I liked the pork - it reminded me of some other dish I can't quite figure out. Mom was absolutely disappointed. She thought this was just bread and meat and shouldn't have been called a Vietnamese sandwich because it was not made in the tradition of Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. I think she set her standards so high as well that the letdown was magnified. Anyway, the chicken banh mi was rather greasy, I really liked the pork banh mi, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it again.
So all the stores around this area are wholesalers of jewelry and whatnot; we unknowingly went into one thinking that they were a retail store and were told that it was for retail owners only. I found this so odd! Everywhere I've gone here in the U.S. that is a wholesaler will sell retail as well, just at a higher price.
I can't remember when this day, but we stopped at the cutest coffee shop called Marcovaldo on a very small and quiet street. There weren't that many gourmet coffee shops in Paris but I've read it's a market that's starting to grow.
Marcovaldo serves dessert and lunch as well with vegan and vegetarian options but we opted for just coffee. I ordered mom a Caffé Frappé and myself an Americano. The barista had to walk across the street to do something and when she came back, I realized she went to go get ice! Yes, we are quite spoiled with ice in the U.S. and I remember reading about how a restaurant's worst nightmare is to have a broken ice machine. I personally drink a lot of my drinks at room temperature, but mom is a little bit picky when it comes to that. Before serving up our coffee, the barista put some dark brown sugar on the table which I think is a great idea. I've not really come across a coffee shop that serves brown sugar with coffee, but the caramel notes in brown sugar go really well with coffee, almost like it was made for coffee.
The iced coffee was shaken with the ice and then poured into a glass mug without the ice, which makes sense. I don't see why more coffee shops don't do that, I don't like my coffee watered down... but I'll admit that I like having the ice in there sometimes. Both coffees were nice and strong with no sour notes which I abhor in coffee.
So while in Paris, we made it a point to visit the restroom everywhere we stopped after our lesson in NYC and lack of public restrooms. The restroom here was tiny! It didn't bother me, but living in the giant state of Texas where everything is "go big or go home," this was very foreign to me.
Our day later took us to the Arc de Triomphe and of course the Champs Elysées. We didn't make the trek in the tunnel underneath to get to the landmark but just stood across the street and took pictures. This was the day I discovered Yves Rocher and they are now my go to for body wash! I got their organic oatmeal for myself and mom got them as gifts for her other daughters, or errr, my sisters which they ended up loving.
We also stopped at Jeff de Bruges. So they have these really tasty looking tall swirls of ice cream on a cone and now looking back, I wish I had tried it, but I had my sights on other desserts that day. I instead got some chocolate to take home. We got to Ladurée and I wanted to dine in, but they only had brunch service for diners and directed me to their to-go counter to make my dessert purchase. I ordered the St. Honoré for myself and the Mont Blanc for mom. We took it across the street to eat at Starbucks in the open shopping center, which was hot by the way and you have to pay and stand in a long stinky line to use the restrooms here. Mom eventually decided to wait elsewhere so she came back and we dug into our desserts.
The Ladurée Mont Blanc did not measure up even a fraction to Angelina - the chestnut puree was very soft and overly sweet.
My St. Honoré was okay, their whipped cream is not freshly made whipped cream like I'm used to and I wasn't sure what it is they put in there to make it seem like fake whipped cream. The caramel crusted choux was good though. I feel like perhaps we just ordered the wrong things - I really wanted to try their Marie Antoinette dessert, but they only had giant versions of it. I'll need to make a point to visit again when I go back to Paris or... NYC! Yes, I found out they have a location or two over there which is probably more realistic for me right now.
This turned out to be a long shopping day and we stopped at many random confectionaries to buy nougat, it's a huge deal over there and a lot cheaper too with a ton more nuts. They sold them by the slice like cake slices in various flavors. We also stopped at Fauchon which I was so excited about I forgot to take pictures. I bought gifts here and really wanted to buy their candied chestnuts, but at 24€ for 6 pieces, I couldn't bring myself to. This curiousity of candied chestnuts will later lead me to experiment at home.
Right around the corner was Maille, which I made a point to visit. Their mustard is the best I've ever tasted and their store has mustard "on tap". Purchase the jar and fill 'er up! Then you can bring in the jar to buy more mustard when you run out. My favorite is their pre-jarred pimente d'espelette.
All the shopping left us hungry and I can't remember which restaurant I had planned for that day, but we decided to try a place that was close and so I winged it with my trusty TripAdvisor app and found François Felix.
We were early for dinner of course since I do like to eat early and sleep early, even on vacation. It was about 6:30 or 7 in the evening and were starving from all that shopping.
So since eating meat again, there have been many dishes I've wanted to try and beef tartare was one of them; I actually put this on my list of things to try specifically in Paris so that's what I ordered! However, I did ask them to pan sear it on both side. Shameful of me, I know. But I didn't want to risk it and what if I couldn't eat absolutely raw red meat? Fish is a different thing and I was obsessed with sushi prior to becoming vegetarian, but red meat is a totally different story.
I ordered mom lamb chops since she looooves lamb, but we don't ever cook it at home. She thought it was pretty good. It came with a side if I remember correctly and we chose green beans. My tartare came with fries.
I'm getting lazy to go through all the stories from Paris, the next couple of posts to finish off my trip will be mostly pics!
Marcovaldo
61 rue Charlot
Paris, France 75003
http://www.marcovaldo.fr/
Ladurée
75 avenue des Champs Elysées
Paris, France 75008
https://www.laduree.com
François Felix
9 rue Boissy d'Anglas
Paris, France 75008
>
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Anyway, we ended up going to get coffee at a bakery and I again got sucked into those menu deals and got a pastry too but I made sure not to fill my tummy. We walked around and around until they finally opened - we thought it wasn't going to happen because it looked so isolated. The shop is pretty small and easy to miss; there are a couple of bar stools for sitting if you opt to dine there, but there is a nice park nearby you can go to as an alternative. I got a chicken banh mi and my mom got their special caramelized pork banh mi.
SO, we are used to getting the special banh mi with everything including paté, but neither came with it. It was very much a banh mi created for non-Asians. I thought it was good and I liked the pork - it reminded me of some other dish I can't quite figure out. Mom was absolutely disappointed. She thought this was just bread and meat and shouldn't have been called a Vietnamese sandwich because it was not made in the tradition of Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. I think she set her standards so high as well that the letdown was magnified. Anyway, the chicken banh mi was rather greasy, I really liked the pork banh mi, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it again.
So all the stores around this area are wholesalers of jewelry and whatnot; we unknowingly went into one thinking that they were a retail store and were told that it was for retail owners only. I found this so odd! Everywhere I've gone here in the U.S. that is a wholesaler will sell retail as well, just at a higher price.
I can't remember when this day, but we stopped at the cutest coffee shop called Marcovaldo on a very small and quiet street. There weren't that many gourmet coffee shops in Paris but I've read it's a market that's starting to grow.
Marcovaldo serves dessert and lunch as well with vegan and vegetarian options but we opted for just coffee. I ordered mom a Caffé Frappé and myself an Americano. The barista had to walk across the street to do something and when she came back, I realized she went to go get ice! Yes, we are quite spoiled with ice in the U.S. and I remember reading about how a restaurant's worst nightmare is to have a broken ice machine. I personally drink a lot of my drinks at room temperature, but mom is a little bit picky when it comes to that. Before serving up our coffee, the barista put some dark brown sugar on the table which I think is a great idea. I've not really come across a coffee shop that serves brown sugar with coffee, but the caramel notes in brown sugar go really well with coffee, almost like it was made for coffee.
The iced coffee was shaken with the ice and then poured into a glass mug without the ice, which makes sense. I don't see why more coffee shops don't do that, I don't like my coffee watered down... but I'll admit that I like having the ice in there sometimes. Both coffees were nice and strong with no sour notes which I abhor in coffee.
So while in Paris, we made it a point to visit the restroom everywhere we stopped after our lesson in NYC and lack of public restrooms. The restroom here was tiny! It didn't bother me, but living in the giant state of Texas where everything is "go big or go home," this was very foreign to me.
Our day later took us to the Arc de Triomphe and of course the Champs Elysées. We didn't make the trek in the tunnel underneath to get to the landmark but just stood across the street and took pictures. This was the day I discovered Yves Rocher and they are now my go to for body wash! I got their organic oatmeal for myself and mom got them as gifts for her other daughters, or errr, my sisters which they ended up loving.
We also stopped at Jeff de Bruges. So they have these really tasty looking tall swirls of ice cream on a cone and now looking back, I wish I had tried it, but I had my sights on other desserts that day. I instead got some chocolate to take home. We got to Ladurée and I wanted to dine in, but they only had brunch service for diners and directed me to their to-go counter to make my dessert purchase. I ordered the St. Honoré for myself and the Mont Blanc for mom. We took it across the street to eat at Starbucks in the open shopping center, which was hot by the way and you have to pay and stand in a long stinky line to use the restrooms here. Mom eventually decided to wait elsewhere so she came back and we dug into our desserts.
The Ladurée Mont Blanc did not measure up even a fraction to Angelina - the chestnut puree was very soft and overly sweet.
My St. Honoré was okay, their whipped cream is not freshly made whipped cream like I'm used to and I wasn't sure what it is they put in there to make it seem like fake whipped cream. The caramel crusted choux was good though. I feel like perhaps we just ordered the wrong things - I really wanted to try their Marie Antoinette dessert, but they only had giant versions of it. I'll need to make a point to visit again when I go back to Paris or... NYC! Yes, I found out they have a location or two over there which is probably more realistic for me right now.
This turned out to be a long shopping day and we stopped at many random confectionaries to buy nougat, it's a huge deal over there and a lot cheaper too with a ton more nuts. They sold them by the slice like cake slices in various flavors. We also stopped at Fauchon which I was so excited about I forgot to take pictures. I bought gifts here and really wanted to buy their candied chestnuts, but at 24€ for 6 pieces, I couldn't bring myself to. This curiousity of candied chestnuts will later lead me to experiment at home.
Right around the corner was Maille, which I made a point to visit. Their mustard is the best I've ever tasted and their store has mustard "on tap". Purchase the jar and fill 'er up! Then you can bring in the jar to buy more mustard when you run out. My favorite is their pre-jarred pimente d'espelette.
All the shopping left us hungry and I can't remember which restaurant I had planned for that day, but we decided to try a place that was close and so I winged it with my trusty TripAdvisor app and found François Felix.
We were early for dinner of course since I do like to eat early and sleep early, even on vacation. It was about 6:30 or 7 in the evening and were starving from all that shopping.
So since eating meat again, there have been many dishes I've wanted to try and beef tartare was one of them; I actually put this on my list of things to try specifically in Paris so that's what I ordered! However, I did ask them to pan sear it on both side. Shameful of me, I know. But I didn't want to risk it and what if I couldn't eat absolutely raw red meat? Fish is a different thing and I was obsessed with sushi prior to becoming vegetarian, but red meat is a totally different story.
I ordered mom lamb chops since she looooves lamb, but we don't ever cook it at home. She thought it was pretty good. It came with a side if I remember correctly and we chose green beans. My tartare came with fries.
I'm getting lazy to go through all the stories from Paris, the next couple of posts to finish off my trip will be mostly pics!
Marcovaldo
61 rue Charlot
Paris, France 75003
http://www.marcovaldo.fr/
Ladurée
75 avenue des Champs Elysées
Paris, France 75008
https://www.laduree.com
François Felix
9 rue Boissy d'Anglas
Paris, France 75008
