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I realized we don't have a current Paris thread, but it seems too significant of a city to just be lumped into the "other cities" thread. I'm just here in town for a few days to get a visa to Liberia, and will be leaving town this weekend, so I have to cram in some cool meals. I'm not looking for absolute fancy $300 dinners, partially because I'm traveling solo for work and don't have anything nicer to wear than slacks and dress shirt with tie. I'm mostly looking for: a) really niche regional or international cuisines that are hard to find, like Corsican food, or Malagasy (Madagascar) food b) unusual, experimental, and craft food and drinks c) at least some traditional French food at moderate price. So far I've had: - dinner at Comptoir de la Gastronomie, had their foe gras tortellini in truffle cream sauce which people have raved about online, and it was pretty awesome - lunch at Bistro Paul Bert since they're supposed to have the best steak tartare in the city - drinks at Experimental Cocktail Club - beers at Le Super Coin; they have some really cool bottle beers, but part of me is aghast that one of the most-blogged beer places in Paris literally only has 3 taps. On my to-do list is Lemurien de Madagascar (awesome name), and Prescription Cocktail Club. I really wanted to find somewhere with good cider from Normandy, but all I'm seeing is a few crepes joints, and the one full-time ciderhouse closed down here. Anyone got some must-visits? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Jul 21, 2015 19:39
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 20:28 |
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I'm staying at the huge hostel up by Gare du Nord, but am finding it pretty easy to get all over town. Going to West Country Girl tonight for crepes and cider! Then maybe La Fine Mousse if I have some drinking capacity left. Thanks for the other suggestions too, adding them to my possibles list. Any other niche foreign cuisines that pop up here? I've had the usual favorites of former French colonies elsewhere (Moroccan and other North African, Vietnamese, etc). I'm not having any luck finding restaurants of France's former Pacific/Oceania colonies. Madagascar is the most unusual one I've found a place or two for, and though I think I've had Cambodian once in the US, I'll try it again here. Also found a place that has cuisine of French Guyana, though glancing at their menu it looks to be pretty close to the usual Indo-Caribbean stuff you find in Trinidad. Any other nationalities worth checking out? Other than Senegal and Niger since I've had those cuisines before, and also imagine that while though not identical to Liberian food there's probably a lot of crossover. Might poke around to see if Chadean or Malian food is around and interesting. Any other niche regions of France with cool restaurants? I've already had some good Alsatian food in the past (in New Orleans, of all places), but if there are some cool regional specialties that are hard to find outside of France, or usually require visiting their home regions but can be found in Paris, I'm up for it with my remaining days.
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Jul 22, 2015 18:18
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Ate at West Country Girl tonight and had a great Bretagne meal. A fat black buckwheat crepe with cured ham, emmenthal cheese, and soft-cooked egg. Had three glasses of different kinds of cider, a digestif of lambig (cider brandy) and a dessert of crepe with salted caramel and cream. Was going to call it a night but turns out La Fine Mousse was only 7 minutes' walk away, so got a glass of a hoppy Pale Ale made by two French brothers who studied brewing in the US, and a glass of Norman cider. Great eating tonight.
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 22, 2015 23:58
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I looked into Chadean, Malian, and Malagasy joints, and I'm finding just one of those each, and they appear to be more lounges than restaurants, so only a few dishes at each. I think I'll give those a pass and check out Le Cambodge for some Cambodian chow. No luck in finding any really niche colonial cuisines like New Caledonia (down by Australia) or St Pierre et Miquelon (island off the coast of Canada's Newfoundland). When I was at West Country Girl the barman was from Normandy, and he said that while a ton of pan-French places include Norman dishes on their menu, he's not aware of any purely Norman restaurant in Paris, but to let him know if I find one. Basque is cool stuff, but I've had Basque in some of the US's main ethnic enclaves, Bakersfield and Boise, so already checked that box. I've seen a number of African joints, but mostly Maghrebi (which isn't hard to find in the US) or Senegalese, which is the single most common kind of West African food in the US (relatively speaking), I think because Americans find Senegalese cuisine less off-putting than Nigerian or Ghanaian food, which can be an acquired taste. Also have had Haitian in DC, though Haitian is interesting enough that I might try it again here. DC had a really cool Haitian joint, but it closed down in 2010 or so after having *several* strong-arm robberies during working hours; it was in a pretty sketch neighborhood. EDIT: just remembered another drink that sounds awesome: pommeau. It's a type of mistelle, a fortified cider produced by adding calvados or lambig to hard cider. I need to find a bottle-shop here that carries it; any ideas how to find it? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 12:26 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 23, 2015 12:18
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Went to Le Grand Épicerie de Paris, lots of cool stuff there. Got a cured sausage sandwhich, cheese souffle, Piedmont potato salad, and a variety of olives I've never tried before (and that's saying something) from their huge olive bar. They also carried just one brand of pommeau and I got that: not bad but not amazing, "does what it says on the tin", it's hard cider with cider brandy spiked into it. At 18% it's not something you'd want to have a pint of, more something for a cute little apertif glass (though several of them). I am a big fan of the Continental-style ciders (Spanish, French, Quebecois) rather than the British-style ciders; Continental are a lot drier and more wine-like. Basque ciders are really awesome, and at least in DC a local chain of bottle-shops has been carrying several Basque makes, really funky stuff with that kind of Belgian-beer-esque wild fermented taste. Apparently they've gotten way stricter about picnicking in parks with alcohol since some college kids started taking it way too far and causing hassle, so I opted to be discrete and got some paper cups for mine. The huge industrial hostel I'm in (St Christoper's) doesn't allow bottles in the rooms so had to leave mine at reception. This morning got up and got a Coca Cola, drank part of it, then dropped by reception and asked to have my bottle back for just 10 seconds, and poured a measure into my can of Coke. Got rather a look from the girl working the front desk. Really tasty mix. Went to Dirty Dick in Pigalle which is supposed to be an awesome tiki-bar, but it's closed for upgrades.  I think today's goal is Cambodian. That and buy DDT and malaria medication to take to Africa. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Jul 24, 2015 |
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Jul 24, 2015 09:30
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 20:28 |
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Getting settled into Liberia, fixing to be here a year or so. Paris and Brussels are our main hub to get to the outside world so I expect to be hitting this thread up whenever I have a trip upcoming. Le Fine Mousse is sure to become one of my drinking mainstays. The craft beer scene in Liberia is... exceedingly limited. If I'm here long enough I may see if I can get some kind of tiny business set up to make proper craft beer as I imagine the small but well-off expat and cosmopolitan crowd here would buy up a few thousand bottles easily. That and/or mass produce mead since honey is cheap and widely available here. I'm really missing the raw oyster happy-hours that are popular in DC; any advice on a good raw bar in Paris where I can get some good raw seafood and a glass of bubbly in a convivial environment? I'll use Brussels for at least one of my trips out of Africa, and looking forward to some good horsemeat, moules frites, and beers. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Sep 13, 2015 |
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Sep 13, 2015 19:03
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