Long weekend in Paris (without a rice cooker)

Back to reality…after 3-nights in Paris its back to the grindstone of work tomorrow and the normality of life.  I’ve been to Paris several times over the years so its great to be able to just wander round the city taking in the atmosphere off the beaten track without trying to fit in the sights.

Staying in a nice little boutique hotel by Bastille the weekend was spent relaxing round Le Maris, the Latin Quarter and St.German where we also managed to find 5 fabulous restaurants and ate wonderful food – what more could you ask for?

Friday
Friday night, having arrived late afternoon and popping briefly into the Louvre, was spent in Pho 67, a truly wonderful Vietnamese restaurant on Rue Galande.  Not content with devouring 3 starters between us of Prawn Spring Rolls, Pork Dumplings and RAW GOAT salad…we then ploughed into 2 mains washed down with Saigon Beers…
 

…so after demolishing these three wonderful dishes it was onto a bowl of Beef Pho and, as the owner told us his mother’s special recipe for, Noodles with Coconut, Prawns and Pork…

                 

Saturday

Having turned down a little side street and ambled through a little square we found a quaint little restaurant off the beaten track in Le Marais for lunch where the plat du jour options included starters of duck terrine and the ubiquitous escargot (snails)…

                 

…followed by delightful main courses of sausage with lentils and fish on a bed of finely sliced courgette and potato…


 

…just what was required to give me the fortitude to face an afternoon of shopping, before we found ourselves in a wonderful fish restaurant near St.Michel Metro for a super dinner.

I adore carpaccio so couldn’t resist the tuna and scallop option on the menu, while my wife opted for the fish soup – which was out of this world…


 
…we’d walked a long way that day, so even with our hearty lunch and these starters inside us there was nothing stopping us as we descended on a huge bowl of moules mariniere and a melody of raw fish french style – not what you’d expect back in Japan from a plate of sashimi, but without doubt 3 exquisite dishes of salmon, shrimp and … (a white fish that i’ve totally forgotten) oops!


 
 

…oh what culinary delights.

Sunday

The last day of our shopping and eating escape to Paris started with us once again hitting Pho 67 for much of the same at lunch, plus a thin noodle dish (not unlike ramen) that contained shrimp, wonton, minced pork and chau sui…



…our last meal was then spent in a lovely romantic dimly lit restaurant where i’d have looked more of a fool than usual to have been clicking away with my camera, so you’ll just have to let your imaginations conjure up images of frogs legs with a salsa verde and duck ravioli with a foi gras sauce for starters, followed by red mullet in a hericot-blanc and whisky sauce, and venison for the main courses…
…yummy!

Back to running tomorrow – have to shed the 1.5kg extra I found somewhere in the course of these culinary adventures. But, oh was it worth it!