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| "Chéz Eugène" |
17, pl du Tertre, 75018 Paris. http://www.chezeugene.fr
This big and touristy creperie is situated on the Place du Tertre square up in the heart of the Montmartre "tourist district" right behind the Sacré Coeur. Many guide books describe the square as "filled with portrait artists". I personally would describe it as "filled with aging alcoholics who for some reason think I would like to have a big-toothed charichature/a portrait drawing that looks like one of those make-up heads that I had as a child, of myself and that I would happily pay 20 € + for it". In the context of that square, this is a relatively nice place to go to (but within this context only!). Not expensive, food is worth it anf service is efficient. The waiters all wear braces and a cap and are your typical tourist restaurant tip-hungry young men. Some of them are even kind of cute, so even if they're really flirting with your wallet (nice try), their little winks do warm a single girl's frozen heart a bit, I have to admit. Apparently this place also has some cabaret-side to it, but I know nothing of that. I've had dinner here with Raisa and her parents and lunch with Mari and Annika. I always eat the Crèpe "Chéz Eugène" with chicken, mushroom, cheese and egg (see picture).
I have to add here that just a street away from Place du Tertre there is a really cool créperie/bar that I actually honestly would like to recommed. It has the most awful toilets, reminds me of many bars I like. Door not locking, never any paper, dishwasher in guise of a hand soap etc. I'll go check the name of the place and add all the details.
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| Paradis du Fruit |
Paradis du Fruit
A chain of restaurants around the city. www.leparadisdufruit.fr/
This is a perpetual easy-to-go destination. They're everywhere and they're all the same. As the name hints, the speciality is fruits and they do in fact have fantastic fruit cocktails (non-alcoholic). They also have a nice "build-your-own-course" type of a menu solution with 20 little things to choose from. And be warned: Their ice creams are HUGE. The last one I had was probably 30cm high. Now that's what I call an ice cream. Except that now that I think of it, I can't call it an ice cream since it was a frozen yoghurt, but that's just technicalities. Raisa loves the place, so we were there on the pl de la Bastille for her b-day with also Joachim, Saija and Hamada and the boyzz, Elias & Adam. (Elias anecdote: When Raisa mentioned Gare de Lyon, Elias started explaining me about the lions of this "Gare de Lions". Love those kids.) We also went to the St Germain de Prés -one with Raisa, Mari and Annika and I had lunch with Milda once in the one on George V. A good place also on the day after, those fruit cocktails are so refreshing and make you feel cleansed if you have drenched your insides in alcohol the night before. Citronnade Sicilienne is my favorite. Not too sweet, nice and zesty with a hint of fresh mint. I think I need one now...
O'Kay Café
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| View from the terrace of O'Kay Café |
The best part about this place is the view. The terrace is practically on the Bassin de la Villette. We came here after a free Caribou concert at the Parc de la Villette with Henna, Elisa and Annemari. The food was basic, I had a crèpe again. Probably a complète (ham, cheese, egg, the classic and the best) and I remember the absurd difficulty of trying to get une carafe d'eau, a jug of tap water. (btw if you should learn only one french expression ever, that would be the one. Almost always the tap water is free, it's completely, absolutely drinkable as well and doesn't taste any worse than any water you could get from a tap in Turku. If you just ask for "still water" they will bring you a bottle of Evian or Vittel. And you have to pay. Plus, it's less ecologic. So repeat after me: Une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît.) We asked for this probably about 10 times but it never came so we just drank wine (tough life). And the waiter had kind of stupid jokes, but the waiters here often have. Just smile and then disapprove in finnish. But once more: One of the nicest terraces in Paris.
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| Museau at Le Limousin |
1, rue de Satory, 78000 Versailles. versailles/restaurant_le-limousin
This is in Versailles and I definitely recommed going here to eat on your Versailles day rather than paying the same money for something much less particular in the restaurants right by the castle. I haven't been to those nor have I been to the other restaurants on this restaurant-filled street where Le Limousin is, but in a totally unfair, unfouded and unjustified manner I reserve the right to declare Le Limousin the best. We had lunch there on our office wellbeing-day after visiting the château and it was such a nice experience. The speciality is gigot d'agneau, some part of lamb, please excuse my lack of lamb bodypart vocabulary here. It's sliced at the table by a guy who looks like he's had a slice or few himself. I had that for main course, obviously. For started I had museau, cow's face/nose in vinegar sauce. Yes, in France they eat all parts and most of all, they know how to make them edible. My museau was sliced thin like your average charcuterie and served with plenty of creamy vinegar sauce. It tasted like a very good ham, only a little bit leathery. I'm not squeamish at all about eating something that they don't sell at your average super market and every time I've tried something like this, I've been very happy I did. The only thing to remember when eating these more exotic animal parts is that the more you pay, the more likely you're going to get the real deal. These parts are very difficult to prepare and to cook (I've learned this by watching Top Chef here) and can have unpleasant flavor, odors and textures if not prepared right. I guess the very best stuff you would get in some countryside village in an old lady's kitchen, where she would be serving the head of her beloved veal, that she has been preparing for hours. I have yet to try that. For dessert I had (a bucketful) of crème de marron with vanilla ice cream and chantilly with almond chips. I could get so fat here. All drenched down with some lovely Pomérol. We had champagne also as an apéritif and it was probably the freshest, nicest champagne I've ever had. I have completely forgotten the brand, obviously. And to add to this our waiter was hilarious. His jokes actually were funny. He was also super professional, I love the professionalism of the waiters in some places here, the little metallic spatulas for wiping bread crumbs from the table on a little plate with a folded cloth serviette on it, and all the rest of the tricks of the trade. Please never ever make them disappear. As you might have guessed by now, it's not the cheapest one, but not totally unaffordable either. And oh how worth every cent.
Le Café Charbon
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| Le Café Charbon |
This is a "typical" bar-brasserie type of a place on rue Oberkampf (a super spot for an evening/night out in Paris with it's bars, restaurants and a really nice concert venue, Le Nouveau Casino.) Waiters are nice, atmosphere is relaxed and the food is good and so are the prices. I ate Encornets farcis de Piperade avec pommes de terre confits de l'huile d'olive (see photo). I ordered it for the simple reason that none of us four francophone/francophile eaters knew what it was ( I mean the first part was a mystery, potatoes in olive oil is the sort of food vocabulary that even I can master.) and the rest was your basic brasserie dishes, all of wich I've already tasted somewhere. And making a blind order is just so much fun. When I got the plate the encornets looked like endives and that's what I assumed they would be, since often farcis is some kind of stuffed vegetables, usually peppers or tomatoes (yum yum both of them). I wasn't too pleased because I'm not a fan of endives, but thought well, I only have myself to blame for ordering blind. I was pleasantly surprised as I cut into my dish, wich turned out to be stuffed seafood instead. The stuffing was nice and spicy with peppers and juicy sauce. A google later I now know that I ate this:
So I had a lovely, basque/gascon dish by accident. Ace! I almost feel like I've been to the sea. Almost...
Also, as I got home and went to bed, I read a chapter of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" (yep, that's the reason for the name of this blog), that tells about the years he spent in Paris. And in this very chapter he ate potatoes in olive oil. Just like me. And he really enjoyed them, wiping the rest of the oil on a piece of bread. I totally knew what he was talking about. Ernie and me, were basically BFF's now, I think. Since we both like potatoes in olive oil.
The only negative thing to say is that the restaurant had a funny, "fin de soirée" type of an unpleasant smell of human origine floating into our noses when it wasn't covered by the aromas of the food. It wasn't overpowering but everyone could smell it. But that aside, do eat here.
That's about it for now. I'm so hungry.
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