Cooking The Books

Macarons

One of the nicest things about Paris for me is the cafe culture.  People sitting around drinking coffee and chatting and, even though I don't do it myself any more, having a cigarette.  The cafe is even better when it has a pâtisserie attached.  It was in one such establishment, just at the bottom of the funicular down from Sacré Couer, where I had these macarons.  They weren't even the nicest macarons, being a little overcooked, but it made for a nice rest and snack - plus I think they're really photogenic.

I've been meaning to try my hand at these for a while.  When I do I'll now have something to compare them to.

A Paris Market

I don't know what to think of Paris food.  This is a nation that many, themselves included I imagine, would consider has the finest food in the world but whilst tasty and generally well executed I was far from blown away.  Maybe it was my choice of three brasseries - rather than bistros - but the food was very plain, lumps of meat with chips, simple salads or cold shellfish.  They proved they know how to hang a piece of meat, how to season it well and that minimum cooking can go a long way but give me Kuala Lumpur's food scene over Paris's any day.

I was still very keen to see more of it though so Sunday morning headed off to find one of Paris's many food markets.  Originally we were heading over to the market at Bastille Square but on the way to the Metro station (Place D'Italia) we found one a mere few hundred metres from the hotel.  A quick walk through here showed me what a nation of food lovers the French are and has made me want to explore what their country has to offer further.

With markets it's all about the photos, I don't think they're as interesting as those from Phnom Penh but they're interesting nonetheless.

Bofinger, Paris

The second of our chosen restaurants caused an exclamation of 'Ah' from the hotel receptionist upon its mention so I was looking forward to it.  Bofinger claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris and is a stunning art deco decorated glass domed room by Place de la Bastille, Paris.  Place de la Bastille has a bit of a Leicester Square feel to it but all is forgotten once you're inside.  The girlfriend proclaimed it her favourite restaurant ever, and this was before we'd ordered let alone eaten.  Many a restaurant in Paris has its shellfish displayed outside on ice, with diners tucking into huge platters of it inside, and as we'd not tried it ourselves we decided to make Saturday the night.

On the menu there were three platters: one with a crab, one with half a crab and half a lobster and a final one with a whole crab and whole lobster, this one labelled two persons.  I thought the first looked reasonable for two people though and so ordered it for our starter to share.  After giving the waiter our main order (I opted for andouilette) he suggetsed we have the platter first and then we decide if we wanted anything more, let alone a huge grilled chitterling sausage and chips, as the platters were pretty big.  Needless to say from the photo above I didn't have the sausage.

The platter was huge - a big crab, two small crabs (not sure if you're meant to eat these), a dozen oysters, brown shrimp, prawns, raw mussels, raw clams and bulot.  I've never had bulot before and they ended up being my favourite, big sea snails with a fabulous meaty texture.  The rest was fantastic too, don't get me wrong, but the bulots really did it for me.  We didn't even finish the platter (a few oysters and clams remained), let alone have mains. 

We did have some munster to finish though.  Served alongisde boiled potatoes and with cumin seeds to scatter on top this was another first.  Cheese is quite a new one for me, only 5 years ago I didn't really eat the stuff but I've force fed myself for years and now happily eat lumps of Stillton -something I couldn't have imagined a few years back.  The munster was still a bit much at first though, it was really quite pungent stuff.  The mouth seemed to get used to it though and it was pleasant another a few mouthfuls in.

On top of great cold and raw seafood (I can't comment on the chefs' abilities really) the service here was fantastic.  Our waiter bent over backwards to help and answered every question posed, a true professional.  When we left he gave us a pamphlet detailing the history of the place along with photos  of various celebrities who'd eaten there's signatures - I haven't got it to hand but one that sticks in mind is Steven Spielberg.  If I'm in Paris again I'd love to return here for some cooked food, maybe I'll finally eat an andoilette there.

Brasserie Lipp, Paris

I had booked up a couple of places for evening meals in Paris before going but ended up leaving the details in London and so had to start again from scratch.  Two places had been recommended to me though, Brasserie Lipp and Bofinger, and with them being some of the longest running restaurants in Paris, with interesting interior interiors to boot, I got straight onto the hotel's concierge for bookings.

The first we visited was Brasserie Lipp, a Paris institution in St Germain.  I'd read up on the menu beforehand and so knew what to expect - brasserie food and Alsace specialities.  After the lunch of pig's trotter I started light with a salad of frisee with lardons and a poached egg, a classic combination delivered well.  The girlfriend was lighter still skipping straight to the main course.

Pork cheeks featured a couple of times on the menu, as part of a choucroute and with lentils, and as much as I fancied them they seemed to similar to lunch.  Wanting to keep traditional I went with a choucroute garni which was joined at the other side of the table by a pate en croute.  If you don't know what a choucroute is it's a pile of sauekraut with boiled cured meats and sausages.  If you don't know what a pate en croute is it is pork pie, this was a bit of a surprise to us too - luckily the girlfriend loves pork pie.  The choucroute was very tasty but huge, possibly not the best choice after a big lunch.

For dessert we chose tarte tatin and nougat glace.  The tarte was well executed and the glace divine, I don't think it works too well with the raspberry coulis though and so ate them separately.

The food was plain but but nice and the decor beautiful.  It was marred by poor service though, we waited 30 minutes for our order to be taken (not even drinks taken earlier) and then another 20 before the drinks turned up.  The pate en croute also turned up mid-starter rather than as a main, although being cold it was taken away and redelivered without too much loss.  The tarte tatin came with free clingfilm.

All in all it was a very nice evening with good food though and the faults far from ruined the experience.

Au Pied De Cochon, Paris

I was the lucky recipient of a trip to Paris this weekend.  The girlfriend and I have been the girlfriend and I for 4 years now and to celebrate she treated me to the trip.  Whilst the aim was romance I couldn't make my first trip to the French capital without checking out what they had to offer regarding food. 

Whenever I travel abroad somewhere new I always read up on it ahead of time and one place that court my eye was Au Pied de Cochon , more specifically their signature Grilled Pig's Trotter with Frites and Bearnaise sauce.  I read that the place had become more touristy over the years but people still spoke highly of their food and it ended up being the first thing I ate over there.

 
The first thing that hits you with this dish is the sheer size of it.  My favourite lens for food shots is a 50mm prime (quite zoomed in and no ability to change it) and I couldn't fit the whole of it in without standing up and stepping back.  I'm not one for being shy when snapping food in restaurants but even I draw the line at that.  The trotter here, as far as I can tell, has been simmered till melt in the mouth before being giving a coating of breadcrumbs and the grill to crisp up.  What you're left with is gelatinous, melt in the mouth skin and fat (even the occasional few morsels of meat) with some crunch to break it up.  The bearnaise was rich and the leaves added some welcome bitterness.

Not one for boiled feet the girlfriend went for a Tarte au Boudin Noir.  As much as I wanted to try the trotter this dish blew it out the water for taste.  Buttery puff pastry topped with sweet fried onion then thick slices of soft, rich boudin noir.  It that wasn't rich enough it was surrounded with a dark, meaty sauce.  Again bitter leaves made a welcome foil to the richness.  Luckily for me there was far too much of this for the girlfriend so I had a third of this too.  Stunning, and hopefully something I can replicate easy enough at home.

On top of great food (there was many a platter of fruit de mer on tables) this restaurant has a fantastic location and a beautiful interior - touristy or not I'm a fan.