On my fiancée’s birthday this year we took advantage of relaxing travel restrictions to head over to Paris. We spent a long weekend at Disney, then a couple of days in Paris city centre. At her bequest, we took a food-tour of the city; we ate our way from our hotel through to dinner, and even a couple of places the morning after. Here’s a whistle-stop tour of some of the gems we discovered tasting food in Paris.
Les Saveurs de Cler (Maison Julien)
Our hotel was a beautiful little place on Rue Cler; a quaint street bustling with cafés, markets and patisseries. It was safe to say we were spoilt for choice when it came to breakfast! The smells as we left our hotel a little after 10am were spectacular. There were fresh fruit stalls, people sat out enjoying a morning coffee and the smell of cakes and breads wafting along the cobbled street. After some time spent wondering around, looking place to place, we settled on Les Saveurs de Cler (Maison Julien).
We took a seat in their outdoor area with fresh bottle of lemonade and a couple of pastry pieces to try. This was our first exposure to a camembert pizza, which was pretty incredible. I’ve had cheese on pizza before, but this was two slabs of cheese on a nicely homemade pizza slice. I’d highly recommend one of these! We also had a cheesy hotdog to share. Nothing to write home about, but cheese, sausage and bread can’t really be done poorly.
Boulangerie Les Petits Gourmands
As we started our self-walking tour of the city, we decided we needed a coffee to get us going. Not too far from Rue Cler, just along Rue Saint Dominique, we stumbled upon a very attractive looking bakery. For those in the UK, it was somewhat Greggs-esque. That being said, I don’t want to discredit the quality of the food here. We ordered a couple of coffees and a giant vanilla eclair to share.
We took our treat on a short walk, before enjoying it in the park overlooking the Eiffel Tower. As you can see, it was a mammoth eclair! The filling was lovely, pastry light and fluffy, then the vanilla icing on top was just sweet enough to round off the taste experience! I’m no connoisseur (other than 25 years of experience of eating) but I’d say it’s the best cake/pastry I’ve ever had!
Boulangerie Patisserie Coudrier Geffroy
France is notorious for its bakeries (or patisseries) so it would be rude to not visit another on our tour of food in Paris! After walking past the Eiffel Tower we headed over Post d’léna (the bridge over the Seine) and up to the Place du Trocadéro. Here we had great views back over the tower, but walking through the gardens and up the steps had generated quite the appetite.
We began heading towards the Arc de Triomphe along Kléber Avenue and kept our eyes peeled for another little eatery. Nestled on a side street corner we found the Boulangerie Patisserie Coudrier Geffroy. It’s a small place with no indoor seating, but a few tables outside on the pavement with a bit of shade for respite from the sun. Here we got a drink and a different kind of treat. This one was a simple, but sweet, strawberry tart. Loaded with strawberries and a delicate glaze on top, it went down great!
Café Kléber
Before we knew it, after a quick pit stop at the hotel, we were getting changed and out again for dinner. It wasn’t too late, but we took a steady stroll back up to the Place du Trocadéro. Here there are a host of restaurants which overlook the Eiffel Tower and take full advantage of that in both their marketing and prices! We looked at a few of the menus to see what we fancied. Seafood is commonplace among these restaurants, though we hadn’t pre-booked anywhere or looked in advance at reviews. Thankfully, we were there on a Tuesday night so were able to get a table straight away. The only downside? We were inside and not exactly overlooking the tower. But they had a picture on the napkins, so we were close enough!
In the Café Kléber we sat down with a bottle of rosé from the Provence region and took a look over the menu. They had a massive range and pretty much covered all food in Paris! We went for a starter of snails (to try – when in Rome Paris…) and they went down with mixed reviews. While they were soaked in garlic, the texture was quite unique. I enjoyed them; I wouldn’t chose it over some other starters, but if they’re offered to me I wouldn’t say no! Beth, less so. We had all the tools to get the snails out their shells, but it was still a challenge and total mess in itself!
For our main courses, I really pushed the boat out with chicken and chips. I felt like I was cheating the French by going for this, but I wasn’t really in the mood for seafood. Beth went for a seafood pasta which had muscles (yuck) and the sort inside. Both of us were pleased with our choices and the plates ended up spotless!
Top Halles
The following morning we had some time to kill before our flight home in the evening. Dinner was surprisingly filling, so we didn’t want too much for breakfast. Nonetheless, our exploration of the food in Paris was still very much underway! Directly outside the hotel, we found a fresh fruit and vegetable shop. After our sweet-rich day yesterday, we felt well overdue a vitamin hint! We picked up some freshly squeezed juice and a mixed fruit pot to takeaway with us and took it to the Hôtel des Invalides. Not to take in as a little picnic, but to admire the building from afar and have a little breakfast.To be honest, can you really ever go wrong with fresh fruit??
Café Le Nemours
The final official eatery on our list of food places in Paris was the only one I actually intended on visiting before we arrived. It was part of the birthday plan, but we saved it until the final day before our visit to the Louvre. It was a spur the moment visit (to see the Mona Lisa in the flesh) but Café Le Nemours was somewhere I had heard about from other blogs, so I wanted to give it a try!
The service was fantastic, which just added to the whole experience. Not that any service we already had was rubbish, but this was notably good. We ordered coffees and some lunch; Beth a Croque Madame and me a ‘Le Nemours’. This was a baguette with bacon, cheese, salad and pepper mayonnaise. It went down an absolute treat with a really nice vanilla latte.
Paul
During our Louvre visit, we again built a little appetite. We spent a good couple of hours walking around the exhibits, particularly taking in the Egyptian artefacts. When we came out of the gallery, the main hall (if you will) of the site, under the glass pyramid, has a lovely little bakery.
We stopped in for a couple of sugary snacks to share, just to get us through the afternoon. And they looked great. Paul was the name of the place we went to, though there are others within the area available to grab something to eat and drink. We went for a chocolate macaroon and chocolate pain au chocolat. They weren’t like any I’ve had before though; everything in Paul seemed to be twice the size of normal baked goods! We weren’t complaining though, as both were delicious!
L’Éclair
Just before heading to the airport, we went back to the hotel to get our bags. We had time to spare, so stopped for a coffee on Rue Cler once again! This was just a cappuccino to keep us going as we had a full day of travelling, but it still counts as a Taste of Paris in my eyes!
That wraps up this episode of A Taste of the World. There is so much food in Paris and we didn’t even scratch the surface! It was certainly a totally different food experience compared to my time in New York. For anyone even remotely like me (a killer sweet tooth) then I highly recommend just exploring the streets of Paris and take in as much as your stomach, wallet and diet can handle!