Bistrot Paul Bert (Paris, France)

My sister L still has a couple more posts about her food experiences in France! This is the last in Paris.

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18 Rue Paul Bert
75011, Paris (11e arr.)

On our search for this much talked about bistrot, we ended up in the 18e arrondissement, where at 18 rue Paul Bert stands Café Paul Bert. We thought it must be the place and after sitting down and looking at the menu which did not have a steak frites in sight (neither the much lauded dessert Paris-Brest), we got up and left! It was pretty embarrassing but the place was crowded and the service was awful.



We ended up finding the restaurant in the 11e arrondissement. Unfortunately, it was fully booked for the evening (though in no way did it look full) so we made a reservation on our return to Paris. This was by far the meal I looked forward to the most. This bistro has no menu only an ardoise (blackboard) and the waiter will bring it to your table and prop it up on chair for you to read. This allows the chef to work with the best ingredients available and limits waste entailed by extensive menus. Unfortunately that means that all the lovely dishes that I had read about were not being served!

When we asked the waiter, he explained that only côte de boeuf (beef rib) for two was being served tonight, not the entrecôte, and the Paris Brest is too heavy for summer. We went ahead an ordered the côte de boeuf. I was really looking forward to the French bistro classic of snails smothered in garlic butter, but was persuaded to try a ceviche.


Ceviche.

The menu explains that steaks are cooked bleu (blue), saignant (bleeding) or mal cuit (badly cooked), proclaiming that anything but rare is inedible and they won’t serve it. On another board, a more forgiving statement reads bleu, saignant and jamais mal cuit (never badly cooked). Upon request with the waiter, it was actually fine for the chef to do à point, which means perfectly done or medium… but as you can see I can’t imagine what saignant or bleu would look like!


Our côte de boeuf à point.

Everything was very delicious but be warned, there is no ketchup or even mayonnaise in the house for your frites. The table next to us did get a bowl of gray salt. It was hard to manage our disappointment though the meal was far from poor. We decided to skip dessert and walked a bit to get a never disappointing glace Berthillon.


I had to include this pic for the final Parisian post!

La Crêperie Bretonne (Paris, France)

Another Paris post by my sister L, from her honeymoon in Paris.

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La Crêperie Bretonne
56 Rue du Montparnasse
Paris, France

Another favourite restaurant of mine that a Parisian friend took me to the first time I visited is a little restaurant specializing in food from the Britanny region. The menu includes savoury crêpes or galettes (crêpes made out of buckwheat) as well as dessert crêpes all served with sparkling cider.


The crêperie and our cider.

Montparnasse is riddled with crêperie, and unlike L’As du Fallafel, it is impossible to know which one began this trend, but I am so happy with my little crêperie that I wouldn’t try another.

Our galette and our dessert crêpe.

D and I both chose the savoury galette with stuffed with merguez and ratatouille. It came served oozing with a pat of melted butter. We had a lovely light cider which suited me fine and shared a specialty of the house for dessert: a chocolate and pear crêpe, flambée with Grand Marnier and served with vanilly ice cream. A great consistent casual meal!

Pierre Hermé (Paris, France)

various locations
website

(Another Paris post by my sister!)

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After reading that on top of having the best macarons in town, this pâtissier also made some first rate croissants, I knew I had to go. The boutique pâtisserie is tiny; while it's been around for a while its décor is uber modern, and the goods are laid out beautifully. I snapped a few shots and a curt employee informed me that pictures were NOT allowed. So we took our breakfast of champions to a bench by the Seine and I snapped pictures to my heart’s content!


Bag full of goodies!

It was still early so I went straight for the croissants, and a few macarons of course! The buttery croissant was definitely one of the best I’d ever had. Perfectly puffed and flaky so that it was just as light as it was rich. I was also easily seduced by the croissant Ispahan. One look at the description of pâte d’amande, framboises, glaçage à l’eau de rose and I was sold! It did not disappoint. I’ve read a few descriptions online but I don’t remember the description having lychee flavour nor did I imagine a solid filling inside. It was an almond croissant laced with raspberry and with the perfect flaky pastry on the outside.


Croissant Ispahan: almond paste filing, raspberry and lychee compote and rose water icing.

While I would not think I’d enjoy macaron looking at them, I had the chance to try some at a wedding and fell in love with them. Something about the lightness of the meringue cookie and the richness of the filling… I definitely had to try some Parisian ones. They are a totally different experience and are just an explosion of concentrated flavours in your mouth. And with flavours like strawberry-wasabi and vanilla-olive oil, who can resist?


Trois macarons.

For my first tasting I chose a caramel à la fleur de sel, perfect in its complexity of flavour. D chose an apricot-saffron macaron and we shared a chocolate one. They are a real treat to the senses. We brought a lovely selection back for Miss.Adventure and they are waiting for her in the freezer; news to come on how they hold up!

For L's other posts about Paris:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel

L'As du Fallafel (Paris, France)

I asked my sister L to write a few more posts about her eats in France. (She and her husband D got married in June and went to France for their honeymoon.)

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L’As du Fallafel
34, rue des Rosiers (M: St. Paul)
Paris, France

Having been to this fast food counter on previous trips to France, I was totally happy to see it on David Lebovitz's list of must eats in Paris. Being in the Jewish quarters of Paris, I wanted to take my husband with Jewish ancestry there. The second time I went to Paris I took my sister’s vegetarian friend (aka Trapezista) who was having a hard time enjoying food in Europe… it was a hit except (or because?) she found a two euro coin in her falafel! It is easily the best falafel I have ever had.


It's a popular joint!

On the Sunday (note it is closed Friday PM and Saturday for Sabbath) that we went there was a huge line, and the outlet has young men outside taking both orders and payment in line. You then receive a ticket for your meal. Since it has become an institution of sort, wannabes have cropped up all over des Rosiers Street, and hawkers yell out "Great Falafels, no wait!" for you to come to their counter. I can’t vouch for the other counters but L’As has perfected their system and the wait was not long at all.


Falafels being prepped and D double fisting the falafels!

Being quite hungry, we ordered the two falafel special (with fried eggplants) and a serving of fries. The format has changed since I last went; there is only the one special, so you get the fried eggplant whether you want it or not.



Your pita comes stuffed with 7 or more delicious little falafels and a mound of shredded cabbage and cucumber, a tahini-based dressing and hot sauce at your request. How satisfying! The fries were totally forgettable, if you’re hungry, just get another pita!

We enjoyed it so much that we returned for another quick lunch on a later date.

For L's other about Paris:
* Honeymoon in Paris

Honeymoon in Paris

My sister L and her new husband went to France for their honeymoon. I asked her to share a bit of their food experiences since I knew they would be eating amazing food.

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We were advised that as newlyweds we should ask to be bumped to first class. After being refused at the Air Transat counter, we asked the flight attendant during boarding. We were still in our aisle seats when we took off before finally being switched. Yay! Honeymoon lesson: keep asking to be upgraded until someone says yes!

In first class we got free cocktails, a "snack" accompanied by wine and a hot breakfast all served on real china with real cutlery! The "snack" was composed of a slice of cold roast beef, a Caprese salad kabob and a Lindt chocolate. The hot breakfast was Eggs Benedict which was disappointingly scrambled eggs!

La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc
83 rue de Crimée
75019
T 01 42 40 64 55

We were staying in Belleville in the 11th arrondissement by the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. Our first food endeavour was to seek out La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc, a boulangerie recommended by David Leibovitz, which was nearby.


La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc.

As an afternoon snack (after an evening of three meals), we shared a chocolate pear tart. D definitely thought that this was the epitome of chocolate tarts. I was much more charmed by the little bakery with its lovely displays and the picturesque old building and sign. Interestingly in France everyone loves fresh bread, so bread is bought by weight and you can purchase half a baguette if that’s all you need, and a few hundred grams of a loaf. I was able to enjoy half a loaf of a lovely organic whole grain bread which I had for breakfast for the next few days.


Different breads sold by weight and our chocolate pear tart.

We also passed by a few lovely fresh fruit and vegetable stands where I found these lovely green stalks laying on beautiful cherries. According to the merchant, they are young asparagus or some kind of asparagus…



Before leaving for Paris, I couldn’t wait to stuff my face with good cheeses and croissants. And boy did we get to… We did not waste any time by hitting up the local fromagerie for a little pre-dinner wine and cheese.


Cheese galore!

Le Pain Quotidien
various locations
website

Breakfast in France consisted of toasted baguette with butter and jam (tartine) sometimes served with a croissant or other viennoiserie (chocolatine, etc.). Our favourite breakfast by far was from Le Pain Quotidien, recommended by my Paris food guru David Leibovitz. At Le Pain Quotidien, actually a Belgian chain, they took breakfast a step further by serving different sliced breads from their organic breads selection, half a baguette, a flaky croissant with fresh pressed orange juice, a bowl of café au lait and unlimited spreads from all kinds of jams (including sugar free jams) to hazelnut butter, chocolate hazelnut and white chocolate spreads. All this for 9€. This was actually plenty to share between two people, but the first time we ordered an extra croissant and café.


Communal tables at Le Pain Quotidien.


Croissants & jams.


Chocolatine.

Chez Paul
various locations
website

Lunch was often a sandwich and our first lunch was from one of my favourite chains in Paris Paul. We hit up the Louvre outlet of this large chain for a Parisien (ham and butter on baguette) with an Orangina and an apricot tart. The sandwich, ridiculously simple was just delicious, the tart was flaky with a thin custard filling and apricots, yum! If I could eat at Chez Paul every day I would. Well, every other day at least.


Lunch at Chez Paul.

Le Bistrot des Peintres
116 Avenue Ledru-Rollin
75011 Paris, France
01 47 00 34 39

Bistro eating is very good in Paris and after a fruitless search for Le Bistro Paul Bert for steak frites we ended up at Le Bistrot des Peintres for a very eclectic supper. I ordered a Salade de ravioles farcies au basilic, Saint Jacques poêlées, haricots verts, tomates confites (12.90 €). Saint Jacques, which is the term used for scallops instead of the word pétoncle used in Québec. The scallops were served raw in a pesto like dressing with an assortment of sides, eggplant tortellini, a green salad topped with cooked string beans (overcooked à la française), a salmon salad and bread sticks. It was oddly satisfying. D ordered Poulet de la ferme d'Alice (10.90 €),
the more traditional roast chicken and frites. The dessert on the menu that caught our eye was profitérole géantes (6.90 €), and they did not disappoint; the cream puffs were filled with ice cream and topped with a chocolate sauce, a perfect ending to our casual meal!

Salade Saint-Jacques at Le Bistrot des Peintres.

Hope you enjoyed reading about some of our meals in Paris!