expat on the go...

CHEZ PAUL

Chez Paul

13, Rue de Charonne 

Paris, 75011

Tel : 08 26 10 09 03

 

Today we, my friend visiting from the US and I, went to eat at Chez Paul.  I really like it there - don't get me wrong when I say this, but there are no tourists in this place.  The menu is in French only.  If you want an 'authentic' French bistro resto - this is it.

My friend had - 6 escargots (Burgundy style) and then had the stuffed cabbage.  It was very tasty.  I had the rillette de lapin (rabbit 'pate') and then the cuisse de lapin (rabbit thigh).  I was all rabbit today!  The table wine was wonderful, we had a light white wine to accompany our meal.

 

This restaurant is  a must.  The food is great and the atmosphere is really - French :)   It's not that expensive, either.  Let me know what you think...

LA TABLE LAURISTON

The other half and I just went to a wonderful, very French restaurant.  We usually stay away from these types of restaurants because we find that the menu is always the same - blanquette de veau, salmon 'a la plancha',  st-pierre fish, etc...  But this was very surprising, different (!) and wonderful.  My honey had escargots for starters, with a sea bass as a main course.  I had this wonderful crab and avocado 'marbre' as a starter and a daube de veau (veal) as my main.  The hon' and I ended up switching plates because I LOVE fish and he loves meat (!).  He had this giant Baba au Rhum as a dessert and I had my usual 'cheese plate'.  Miam, Miam!!!  The wine was wonderful - from Burgundy.

A MUST:  It's a bit on the 'pricey' side, but for a good meal, on a good occasion -

LA TABLE LAURISTON

129, rue de Lauriston - 75116 Paris       Tel.:  01 47 27 00 07

We walked back home.  It was a wonderful Paris, spring night.  The weather was warm.  People were out and about.   I stepped in a pile of dog shit - both feet.   Ahhhhh Paris, how romantic !!!!!!

RESTAURANT - LE RELAIS DE L'ISLE

After the visit, a group of woment went to this restaurant on Ile-St-Louis.  It was a really nice find.  The food was wonderful.  At night, they have jazz bands.  This is a really good restaurant if you are on Ile-St-Louis.  Also, there are 2 'gelato' places, that an Italian friend said were to die for - on that same street.  The name of the gelato place, has 'gelato' in its name.  It's a really nice place just to wander around.

Le Relais de l' Isle -  Jazz Restaurant

 37 Rue Saint Louis-en-L'ile
 75004 Paris

Metro  "Pont Marie" on line 7.  Or you can walk along the seine, head towards l'Ile-St-Louis and find the restaurant in about 2 minutes!  The island is quite small.

FERDI RESTAURANT

Ferdi

32, Rue du Mont-Thabor

75001 

Paris

Tel : 01 42 60 82 52

 

Yesterday evening, the other half dragged himself to the restaurant.  We went to Ferdi.  He really likes this place because, three years ago, when the company sent him here, he was alone for the first 6 months, since the kids where still in school (I would hate to switch them in the middle of the school year - personal choice).  He went to this wonderful place 4-5 times a week.  The owner and the staff became his substitute family. 

 

The owner is French, but his wife is from South America, so the food is NOT French but South American.  It is quite good and the wine that they select with the food that you choose is always spot on.  My honey heard (or read) about this restaurant in the New York Times - they stated that they had the best cheese burger in France - and, they DO!  The teen would attest to that!

 

My honey always gets the 'Latino assortments' and I get the 'Ole, Ole plate', but honestly, all is quite tasty and delicious.  Quite different from French cuisine in that the food has a bite - it's a bit spicy and quite flavorful.

 

You must try!

RESTAURANT LA LUNE

 

We just got back from the 13th arrondisement (the asian district of Paris).  We were going to go to this other restaurant - name I will withhold - and when we got there, it looked a little too 'greasy' for us.  We parked the car in the Massena 13 parking garage and walked around.

We found a nice little restaurant that serves south-eastern asian food (Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai).  My honey and I had Pho soups.  They were delicious.  Honey had a hot pepper and said the insides of his mouth melted!  The little guy had a beef dish - he ate everything and then ordered spring rolls.  He ate those also and loved it. 

If you are hankering for a Pho, this is a nice little joint.  The service is not 5 star, but, hey!, the food is good.  The restaurant was packed when we got there at 2pm!

LA LUNE  36, Avenue de Choisy  75013 Paris   Metro:  Porte de Choisy.   01.45.84.89.61

A NICE LITTLE TAPAS RESTAURANT!

The other half wanted to eat 'latin' food tonight, so I went on the 'internaute - restaurant' site - you can google it.  I hit the tapas key and all the tapas restaurants in Paris come up.  I then selected the highest rated and this little gem came up: 't'as pas des tapas?'  11 rue de la Ferronnerie 75001.  Here's their phone number 0142369233.  They are located at 'Chatelet' metro (line 1).

Their food was wonderful.  What a change from the 'blanquette de veau' and the 'steak/frites'.  They, apparently ship their ingredients in from Spain.  So it does taste authentic.  We had the jambon bellato, cherizo fritos, lomo ham, 2 types of cheeses, some spicy potatoes, a wonderful tuna tartine called 'la puce', roasted red peppers (had to be the best I've ever had and I make mean roasted red peppers!)  and, last, but not least, delicious sangria.  Normally, I stay away from that stuff (God only knows what they put in there!), but this one was very good.  The owner gave us a nice 'digestif' to end the meal.  You need to get that.  It was sublime!  I didn't get the name, unfortunately.

When we finished our meal, I told hubby that there is a cinema at that metro station.   As we approached said cinema (Chatelet), I felt like I was back in New York city - but in the bad part of town.  I don't have to tell you that we b-lined it out of there.

As we are entering, or trying to enter, the metro Chatelet, the turn-stiles aren't working!  Saturday night 9:30pm!  Can you imagine the pile up.  People started jumping the stiles and going through the exit doors (which is what we did!).  I told hubby that WHSmith might be open at this time and that it was on our way.  We decide to go - hey, we still have our unused metro ticket, right?!  We get to the WHSmith station (Concorde), get out and see that the book store is closed, so we get back on the metro, using our 'unused' ticket.

Well... as we get off our stop - Saturday, 9:45pm - RATP (bus/metro personnel) are at the top of the metro ramp checking peoples tickets!  Had we not had stamped, valid tickets, we would have been fined.  I did tell the RATP guy that the stiles at Chatelet metro were not working.  Do you know what he replied, 'Haaaa, Canadians!!!'   He doesn't care about the Chatelet metro stiles!  Ahhh Paris....