Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 2 dinner, Astier

I had recently come across Astier on a blog that I regularly read - after a quick rummage through my own guides, we decided to try our luck and head there for Monday night dinner. Luckily for us, we were dining early and managed to score a table despite having no reservations (we were surprised to see that the resto was doing a roaring trade even on a Monday night, a heartwarming sign and defying the grips of the recession, yay!)

Su Lin had recommended the marinated herring in her post so I decided to try it for myself. It was a lovely touch being given a whole bowl which I could help myself too - however, I was not quick enough with nabbing a few more fillets before someone else was requesting for their herring too!! Nice but a lot of work to fish out all the many bones in the fish :(

JD and I then shared the special of chateaubriand which took a while to arrive but was delicious when it did. The meat was served with lovely roasted new potatoes and a perfect bearnaise - simple but oh so lovely!!

I ended the meal with some nougat glacé - not a looker but yummy all the same. A lovely meal with attentive service. We were made to feel very welcome and really felt that the staff were genuinely concerned that our meal would be perfect. Astier may not be the most creative bistro out there but the combination of solid cooking and brilliant service would make me return if I was in town again :)

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 2 lunch, la Compagnie de Bretagne

I first heard of chef Olivier Roellinger through Ulla's blog and her visit to his resto in Cancale, Brittany. The food looked amazing and made me want to visit myself; unfortunately, chef Roellinger decided to hand his 3-Michelin stars back and close the resto for good at the end of 2008. Since then, he has opened a gourmet spice shop in Paris (Epices Roellinger) which I was able to visit last year and also, a crêperie called La Compagnie de Bretagne, serving what my friend Won calls "haute (couture) crêpes" !! :)

Of course, we had to pay a visit and managed to arrive on time for a late lunch. The interior of the resto is elegant and stunningly decorated in simple black and white. Our galettes were nice and well-made but I am not entirely sold on the fillings being deconstructed (I think I prefer the more traditional way of serving where everything is piled in the middle and you get a bit of everything in one bite like in Briezh Cafe). Since we have been eating so much, we did not enough room in our tummies to squeeze in a sweet crêpe - perhaps next time!

The highlight of our meal was observing our neighbour sitting at the table next to us; a well-presented gentleman who we guessed might be a manager/civil servant of some sort. By the time we arrived, he had already enjoyed a 3-course lunch with wine whilst mulling over today's newspaper. After a coffee, he then proceeded to have a power nap (!) at the table before making a few phonecalls and leaving around the same time as us, presumably 

heading back to the office......at around 4pm!!! C'est la vie, n'est ce pas??!! :)

My galette with caramelised onions and sausage - nice but maybe a little too modern for me :)

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 2, posh breakfast at Bread & Roses

Aaah!! The simple pleasures in life - baguette, croissant, organic jam and French butter. Blissful way to start the day :)

Brioche ancienne looking very tempting in the background - wanted to go back and buy one to bring home but alas, not enough room in my bag :(

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 1 dinner, Lao Lane Xang

Finding a place for Sunday dinner in Paris is not very easy so we defaulted to our local haunt in Chinatown, Lao Lane Xang. Despite not turning up right when they opened for dinner (its been to have queues frequently forming outside!!), we still managed to bag a table on arrival :)

Food still tastes good but portions have shrunk a lot since we were last there. Having said that, its nice and almost reassuring to see the old staff are still working there (last year, there were a few new faces front of house but they don't appear to be there anymore). An oldie but still a goodie and on the whole, good value for money :)

Paris patisseries - new(ish) kids on the block

With the help of the Internet and my friend Won, I managed to come up to speed with what's going on in the world of pastry in Paris en ce moment :) 

After our lunch, we wandered around the St Germain area for a bit; JD had actually spotted this patisserie before lunch and suggested that we go back and take a better look afterwards. As it happens, it was also one of the places that Won had highlighted as being VERY GOOD for kouign-amann so of course, we had to pay a visit and buy some goodies!!

Georges Larnicol is an MOF-patissier, originally from Brittany who opened his first shop in Quimper. Luckily for Parisians, there is no need to make the trip up North for goodies such as salt caramels and kouign amann's now that Monsieur Larnicol has set up shop in the capital!

The shop itself is lovely with all sorts of sweet goodies everywhere to tempt you - what makes it truly magical are all the imaginative and impeccably crafted chocolate sculptures that have been made especially for Hallowe'en. If I still lived in this city, I would've definitely treated myself to one of this yummy ghouls!! 

Another addition to the Paris pastry scene is Hugo et Victor - the shop is less traditional looking than Georges Larnicol, channelling a chic boutique-look instead similar to PH at rue Bonaparte. I'm guessing that it's a big hit with tourists (Asian and female most probably) hence the big sign on its window saying "No Photos"! Sadly, only a pic from the outside for this shop plus some of the macarons we bought (also tried some guimauve too). Whilst the flavour of the macarons certainly sounded inventive, they did not quite deliver on the taste front. Was not a fan of the texture of the guimauve either, tasted like grainy blocks of solid icing sugar :( 

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 1 lunch, Allard

To celebrate my recent b-day, JD suggested we head off somewhere for a few days. Several destinations were in contention but in the end, we decided to head back to a city that we know and love, Paris :)

A short and sweet trip but luckily, after a slightly soggy start, we were blessed with fantastic weather! Lots of wandering around punctuated with gorging ourselves on scrummy food, a perfect holiday!

Our first stop was Sunday lunch at Allard. Allard was one of the restos we went to during our first trip to Paris together (which was eons ago!) and we've never been back until now! Its very much a traditional French bistro cooking solid food; its not the best even in this category but for a sentimental meal, it was very enjoyable with occasional flashes of brilliance. Service, needless to say, was faultless :)

 Half a dozen snails for starter - yummy and garlicky!!

 Simple but delicious main of roast leg of lamb (gigot d'agneau) served with flageolet beans :)

JD's main of veal chop with roast spuds and wild 'shrooms - the best sauce he has ever tasted!!

Pudding not so impressive - tarte Tatin. Tasted good but not really any caramelisation and not warm either :(

JD's Paris-Brest - doesn't look like it but there is in fact a hole in the middle of the choux. Looks like one over-inflated tyre, no??!! :)

Bijou

JD and I (well, mostly me) are getting into the lazy habit of dining out on a Friday night these days :)

This week, we decided to head somewhere local to a resto up the road called Bijou for a bite to eat. Food was not bad and service OK too. I did feel sorry for the waiting staff having to navigate such an un-ergonomic dining room and the most unpractical of dining chairs but all in all, not a bad neighbourhood resto.

 Starter of smoked salmon with horseradish cream - nice fish but it appeared that someone to put the horseradish in the cream!!

 Main of roast hake, chickpea puree, spinach and chorizo - very nice overall

Handmade bread and butter pudding with creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream - too big a portion for a pudding, not warm enough and way too stodgy