It was a good thing we also walked about a hundred thousand steps in the few days we were in Paris last week, because sacreblue, what a gastronomic Valhalla that is. I hadn’t been there for a year or so, and not that I’d completely forgotten about it, but I was still struck by how good food can be in the French capital; if only because of the range of gourmet shops.
For example, on a Saturday morning we walked down the Rue des Martyrs and passed one after the other display of dead straight white asparagus, high-gloss strawberries and small, powdery apricots, which seemed a bit early in the year to me, but whose saleswoman told a customer heard it said they would be perfectly ripe the next day. In addition to such a vegetable jeweller, there turned out to be a patisserie, a charcuterie, a chocolate shop, a epicerie fine or a boulangerie artisanal to sit. I saw wine shops, fish shops, macaron shops and those maddeningly attractive cheese shops that go by the old-fashioned name crèmerie. And everywhere it was one va-et-vient of Parisians who did their weekend shopping there.
Those Parisians, that also struck me, were also a lot more pleasant and open than in my memory. Right from the first evening we made new friends at Chez Marcel, a neighborhood bistro in the 6th Arrondissement where the patron (the captivating, recorder-playing Pierre, who took over the business from Marcel) immediately hands you a glass of white wine upon entering and where you then almost literally on your neighbors lap at a table against the poster-covered wall, you are directed to enjoy classics such as poireaux vinaigrette, confit de canard and îles flottantes.
You understand, I warmly recommend this address. I took it out myself Bon appetit Paristhe delicious, slightly snobbish eating guide by culinary (Parool) critic Mara Grimm, in which she not only shares her favorite bistros, broths, brasseries, caves à manger, star restaurants and so on, but also addresses for the best croissants, baguettes, madeleines and chocolate and in which she teaches you how to get a table in a popular restaurant, how to eat oysters and even what to wear in a Parisian establishment (in summary: stylishly sober).
We tried out two other tips Bon appetit Paris. The first was Oui mon General by renowned television chef Stephane Reynaud; also a neighborhood bistro, but slightly more high end. Both the food and the atmosphere are very good – again we got into a conversation with a neighboring table, what about that cliché about unfriendly French people? The second was Clamato, a trendy restaurant in the 11th Arrondissement, which also received nothing but praise.
Furthermore, my brother and Parisian sister-in-law took us to Le Fumoir, the ideal lunch spot after a visit to the Louvre. Not only because all those 17th and 18th century food still lifes make you hungry, but also because it is located directly behind the museum. And finally, we returned to an old favorite of mine: Le Comptoir de La Gastronomie on Rue Montmartre. I did remember that the food here is dangerously good, but what I apparently suppressed is that the waiters are also dangerously handsome and charming. Well, one more recommendation.
Eat, walk, sleep for four days. With the occasional glass of something in between, of course. Paris is still, to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, a party without end.