Dinner at les Petits Plats, where les plats aren't really that petit!

This past weekend, I had my first visitor since my arrival in Paris.  My friend, whom I haven't seen in a year and a half came for a quick visit from Boston.  We both LOVE food and wine, so I really had to make sure I made reservations at some impressive restaurants.
This was also a chance for me to dine a bit more fancily at dinner.  Normally I only dine out at lunch as it is cheaper and not as weird to dine alone.
For our last night together, I made a reservations at a small restaurant not far from my apartment in the 14th arrondissement called "Les petits plats," meaning small plates.  The concept is to let diners try out different things in smaller portions.  The set dinner menu lets you choose 4 small plates for 35 euros.  You can choose any combination that you wish: I opted for 1 entree, 2 maind dishes, and 1 dessert, as did my friend.  We found out very soon that these plates aren't exactly as petit as we thought!

There was a little "mise en bouche" to start, with small crostinis and this amazing olive tapenade.  My first course was a white fish gravalax with a creme fraiche sauce wrapped in thinnly sliced carrots.  The creme balanced the fish well, and the piece of baguette was the perfect accompaniment.  My companion had a foamy soup that was poured into a bowl with fresh breadcrumbs right in front of us.  Again, one could probably go through a loaf of bread with the soup alone.

My second dish was pan-fried fish on top of a small crepe filled with leeks and pancetta.  The skin of the fish was crispy, but a bit under-flavored.  But the crepe certain made up for everything!  My friend's second dish was a "riz de veau" carpaccio.  It was served sliced cheese and an excellent cream sauce.  I think this was probably the best dish of the night.  The veal was flavoreful and tender (did I mention it was raw?)

My third course was kind of a decomposed paella.  It was served in two small hot plates, one with the seafood, and the other a wild black rice.  The sauce from the seafood was amazing that I could not resist another piece of bread, even though by this time I was already stuffed.  The other dish was a duck confit ravioli served with sliced pears and grapefruit.  Another inventive and unique dish.


We were both overly full by this point, and expecting our dessert to be just a small sample.  But then out came this big piece of hazelnut eclair and a big bowl of sweet fresh grapefruit and shaved ice.  If that was considered a small plate of eclair, then I don't even want to know what their version of a regular size eclair is!  The flavor of the eclair was to die for, and the caramel sauce complemented it perfectly.  My grapfruit ice dessert was a little lighter, but it was so much that I could barely handle the rest.


Les Petits Plats is a small and quiet restaurant that serves up fun and inventive dishes.  The service was good, and the wine options are plentiful with reasonable prices.  The menu changes everyday.  It is definitely a place that I would go back!

Things that you can ALWAYS find in Paris within a block's radius.

1. Pharmacie: Even the French admit it, every two steps you walk in Paris, you're never far away from the bright green neon light of a Pharmacie.  They do come in handy, especially when I got sick a gazillion times this past winter, and also the fact that I tend to hurt myself rather easily.
But really?  With all the Pharmacies around, you'd think that the French are all infected with some kind of illness or diseases.
There's also the "Parapharmacie" that sells body care products and such.  It's rather bizarre to see famous brands like "Biotherm" on its shelves, when they are sold at fancy department store counters in Taiwan.

2. Brasserie:  I love the multi-functionality of a French Brasserrie.  In the morning you can go and have a coffe with croissant or tartine.  At lunch, they serve lunch with very reasonable prices (usually around 10 Euros for the plat du jour).  In the afternoon, you can go and have coffee or a late-afternoon drink.  And of course dinner at night.  For me they are an excellent choice to rest my legs when I'm tired from exploring the city!
I can serious picture before the banning of smoking that these Brasseries were filled with non-stop smoking customers just chatting away.

3. Boulangerie:  The French love and need their bread for every meal, so it is essential for the existence of boulangeries every other step.  And also, you can even find some that are open on Sunday nights *gasp*
There is nothing better than passing by a boulangerie in the morning and smelling fresh baked bread.  I used to pass by one on my running route, and it'd kill me every time!  I guess since I'm not from here, I like to try out different boulangeries, since the quality differs emmensely.  But there are many French people who swear only by one boulangerie!!
Oh and just a side note, for some reason many of the award winning boulangeries are around the Montmartre area.  But so far my favorite baguette tradition is from a place called "les Ateliers des Pains" near Place de Clichy.

4. Banks:  I think Taipei and Paris should go head to head in who has the most banks in a hundred meter radius.  BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Banque Populaire, Credit Cooperatif, Caisse d'Epargne, HSBC, etc.  I think I can find all of these on Boulevard Voltaire.  Oh not to mention the Post Office also offers banking (and oddly, cellphone service).

5. Small super market chains: Franprix, monoprix, casino, etc.  They're convenient to a certain point, but what I don't like about them is it takes away my joy of shopping at local butchers, cheeseshops, wine shops, seafood shops, etc.  Their existence has also taken a lot of business from small shop owners.  Most of them are owned by the Casino Corporation. 

6. Traiteurs: which are more or less take out joints.  I'm actually really surprised how often the French eat pre-prepared food. 

7.  Ok I have to mention this again... DOG SHIT: and this is something you find every step of the way!

Parisian Cafés

I have always had a fascination with France ever since I was a child.  I would often dream of sitting in a outdoor cafe in the center of Paris, under the bright shining sun as if the time stays still, just like in the movies.  This scene has been romanticized in my head many times. 

Two of the most popular cafes in Paris is located on the Left Bank in the St. Germain des Pres quartier, not too far from each other.  They are the Cafe de Flore and the Cafe les Deux Magots.  Famous French, English, and American writers frequented these two cafes, and now they are a sure destinations for tourists charging an unthinkable amount for a cup of average espresso.   

The most expensive coffee that I know in Paris is located on, not suprisingly, none other than the Champs Elysees.  With a cup of tiny espresso coming to a tab of 7.90 Euros.  Yes you read that right, close to ten big bucks for a bad cup of coffee along with equally bad service.

Parisian Cafes come in a variety of forms, and prices vary from a simple brasserie, a fancy cafe, or of course there's always Starbucks!  Prices also differ depending on whether you want to stand at a bar to drink your coffee, sit inside, or sit on a terrasse.  If you decide to do what many French do, which is to order at the counter, the coffee is usually more or less around one euro.  I quite enjoy doing this because it's interesting to see the locals come in and chat a few lines with the owner along with their coffee and newspaper.  Also, because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay extra just to sit!  In the mornings many brasseries will also offer a tartine or croissant for breakfast at the counter. 
Of course if it's sunny outside and you have plenty of time to kill, then there's no reason to stop you from sitting at the terrasse, which costs double the amount of a coffee at the counter.  Rumor has it that cafes have to rent the outside space from the city, therefore, it's only fair that they charge you for using it.

But the best experience I've had was in the city of Narbonne, in the region of Languedoc Roussilon.  The weather was sunny, with not a cloud in sight.  The temperature was just right, I was comfortable in a light sweater (this was in March 2010).  We hadn't planned on sitting down for coffee, but it was simply too nice outside not to take advantage of it.

If you're not familiar with coffee in France, if you ask for "un cafe", it means a very very tiny cup of strong espresso that you can down in one sip.  If you want something a little less strong, go for a "cafe allonge" which is similar to our version of cafe Americano (it's bigger, and hence more American like right?)  You can almost never find drip coffee in restaruants or cafes, and free refills, forget about it!  In a restaurant, the coffee is always offered at the very end of the meal, after you have finished your dessert.
I would recommend going to different places to enjoy the coffee experience, there is not one way that's better than the other.  It's all about the experience!

Parisian Pickpocketers and Scammers

Paris is probably one of the most touristic cities in the world.  And for good reasons, the city has an endless list of things to offer to tourists.  But of course, as we all know, with the good, there comes the bad. 
Tourists are easy targets for skilled pickpocketers and scammers.  As I myself have experienced both. 
I consider myself a fairly careful person, but obviously I was outsmarted a few times, or at least almost.
Two years ago, I took my parents to France on a three week trip.  Paris was our last stop.  We took the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris Montparnasse.  We got on the metro with our huge luggage, and immediately a young girl offered to help us with our luggage.  As soon as I got on the metro, I thought, I had better check my messenger bag.  Surely enough, the buckle had been undone.  Luckily for me I had stuffed my smaller purse inside of it, so it was hard to take anything from inside.  As soon as I realized this I look to my mom, and saw that I could not see her purse.  I told her to immediately check for her things, and she too realized that someone had unzipped her purse.  But for some reason she had a towel at the very top of her purse, so again, it was hard to take anything from inside.  A few minutes later, a lady picked up my dad's wallet from the ground and gave it to him, saying that someone had tried to take it from his pocket.  All three of us had been targeted, and I guess we were just extremely lucky that nothing got stolen from us. 
The thing is, pickpocketers often work in groups.  They target tourists, especially ones with a lot of stuff on their hands.  They use kids as a distraction while the adults get to work.  It's rather sad actually to have young kids exposed to this type of lifestyle at such a young stage in their life.  So, now I always tell people when they visit Paris, or other cities like Rome or Barcelona, to never have their purse of bag outside of their eyesight when they are on the metro, near a touristy site such as the Eiffel Tower, or in a big crowd of people. 

Another thing happened to me today.  I live near a pretty touristy area, but I thought that it was a sign that it would be relatively safe since there are always people around.  I was withdrawing money from my bank.  Just after I had entered my pin code, a young man held up a piece of paper on the screen and started mumbling stuff.  I told him to leave me alone but he wouldn't stop.  I started to get nervous at this point.  At the same time a young French lady came up and told the guy to leave me alone or she's going to call the police.  He still wouldn't budge, and she started dialing her phone.  The guy ran away, and I realized that 300 Euros had came out of the ATM, when I had not specified the amount I wanted.  It was obvious that he had done something to the machine while trying to distract me with the piece of paper.  A few seconds after, the police came.  She explained the situation to the police, and he informed me that his colleague is going to go after the guy and see if he actually took any money from me.  I waited a few minutes with the police officer (and this is when I had to be somewhere in the next hour!).  He informed me that all seemed fine, his colleague didn't find any big sum of money on the guy.  I guess I was extremely lucky that the French girl had intervened, or who knows, I would've ended up losing 300 Euros!! 

So with these experiences, am I considered lucky?  It was bad luck to encounter these events, but at the same time lucky that nothing really was lost?

Needless to say, what a great way to start 2012.

Hot food vs. Cold food....a small observation

I was aboard a TGV on my way from Paris to Frankfurt to visit a friend.  The weather was rainy and cold.  Not long after the train crossed the German border, two guys came up and sat on the 2 seats next to me.  They both pulled out a cold sandwich from a sack and started eating.  I thought to myself "How can they eat that when it's so cold outside?"  Then it all of a sudden dawned upon me that in many cold northern European countries they tend to eat cold food during their meals.  When I visited a friend in Denmark, for dinner we would buy rye bread, cheese, ham, and cold meat spreads to put on the bread.  Nothing hot was involved.  And March in Denmark was still very very cold!  In Germany too, everywhere I see people eat cold sandwiches, the only hot item they seem to have were sausages.  And during the winter months of France, the boulangeries at lunch time always has a long line of people waiting to buy sandwiches.  Sandwiches that have been put in the fridge.  Oh and add a cold drink to that please! 
Are Americans the only ones to ask for our bread to be toasted?  So that it's nice and hot? So that the cheese and butter can melt nicely on top? 
All I want on a cold, windy and rainy day like today is a big bowl of hot noodles and soup, or even better hot pot!  Or just something to spice up my coldness here in Paris!!!

Which brings me to my next ironic observation.  People in hot countries tend to eat hot food.  Even on hot mornings in Taiwan, you can still see people at noodles stands slurping up a bowl of hot noodle soup.  At other breakfast stops, food are still cooked warm, such as egg pancakes, hot sandwiches, etc. so we rarely eat anything cold for breakfast, with the exception of maybe soymilk (even that comes hot!)  Spicy hot pot is a favorite during the summer, I don't know why, but maybe we like to sweat even more so than we already do in the hot and humid conditions of Taiwan.
When I visited Cambodia for a few days, hot rice noodles in soup was the typical breakfast staple.  Same thing in Malaysia, even their afternoon snacks involved a hot bun and hot tea.  And no, AC was not available, duh!

I mean are people in cold countries so adpated to the cold weather that they 're more cold-blooded (literally) than the rest?  Anyways, all I know is that the last thing I want to eat on a day like today when it's wet, cold, and humid is something less than 90 degrees!

Oh and of course these are some generalizations, and does not apply to every country or region.

bon appetit!

The Creperies at Montparnaase

I have a very bad impression of the Montparnasse area in Paris. You would think that for a metro station called "Montparnasse Bienvenue" meaning "Welcome Montparnasse" that you would actually fell very "bienvenue", uh but no. Last year when I took the train from Bordeaux to Gare de Montparnasse in Paris with my parents, the 3 of us were nearly pickpockted, and I mean each of us.

However, one will surely feel very "bienvenue" when one discovers the Creperie scene! Honestly who doesn't love crepes? Most of us know mainly crepes with nutella or banna. I personally love the savory crepes, which are called "galettes" even more. The batter of the galettes are made from buckwheat flour, instead of plain flour, and gives it more texture and taste to me. And frankly I like savory food better. It's hard to find galettes anywhere else in the world. For good crepes you can find in a lot of places, but Montparnasse is the place for the galettes!

If I am not mistaken, galettes come from the region of Brittany. Therefore you will often here les galettes de bretonnes. In the early days since trains from Brittany all arrive at Gare de Montparnasse, there were a lot of Bretons that settled in the area. So when you arrive at the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro, which is really big and ridiculous, go towards Blvd. Montparnasse, and then to Rue Montparnasse where you will find about 10 creperies on that road alone. The most famous one is the Creperie de Josselin, there is always a line, and some say that have the "best" galettes and crepes in the area. But it's always frun to check out some of the other ones around. And who seriously decides what the best galettes are anyways?

During lunch, many creperies offer a set menu including a galette, a sweet crepe and a cider for less than 10 Euros. And I guess cider is also a specialty from Brittany, because every creperie has then. Creperie de Josselin, however, being so popular doesn't need to offer a special menu, and since it had a line I decided to go elsewhere.

I settled at "Creperie St. Malo" which was offering a galette with egg, cheese, ham, and one extra item; a sugar or chocolate crepe, and cider or wine for 9.5 Euros.

There is something about eggs and cheese in a galette that appeals greatly to me. The galette was warm and tasty, and oh and a lot of butter was added to it, which makes it that much better! I was completely stuffed after eating another chocolate crepe.

I'll definitely return to the area again and try out another creperie!!! So Bienvenue a Montparnasse pour les galettes et crepes!

Paris for cheap!

Paris is probably known to many tourists, as well as the rest of the non-Parisian French as a very expensive city. I can attest to that, first of all, the rent is ridiculous, and the price won't be dropping anytime soon since there are more people searching for apartments than there are available. Oh we all know that lovely supply and demand chart don't we? For tourists, the most visited areas are filled with restaurants, expensive boutiques, and fancy pastries that all cost a fortune. But honestly, if you do your homework and ditch all the cliches in Paris, you'll find that you can actually do a lot for not a lot!!!
Yes, you have to go to the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, and all that jazz, but there are a lot of worthwhile museums that won't cost you a dime. Go to www.musees.paris.fr to check out the list!
One of my favorites is definitely Musee Carnavalet, since I'm such a history geek! The museum is located in the Marais district, so after you grab your falafel from one of the stands, head straight over and it'll be an afternoon well-spent! Also if you're a Victor Hugo fan, head a few blocks over to the Place de Vosages, where you can visit his house.
One of my favorite finds so far is the "Maison Europeene de la Photographie". It is free every Wednesday nights from 5-8pm, where normally it's 7 Euros to get in. The is an amazing permanent exhibit as well as temporary exhibits.
Another great thing about Paris is there there are a number of Cavistes aka wineshops in every quartier! And if you check out some of their websites, they often hold free degustations (tastings) on Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays. This is a great way to learn and taste wine from different regions of France. One of my favorite wineshops is located in St. Germain de Pres called Le Derniere Gutte. They have happy hour every Friday night where you can sample wine and eat some tasty cheese, and on Saturdays they have winemakers come in for a free degustation.
If you want to taste good food in Parisian restaurants, then go during lunch. Restaurants usually over a food menu (a 3 course meal) or a formule (appetizer plus entree, or entree plus dessert, but keep in mind that in France entree means appetizer!). I've had tasty formules for 10-12 Euros. Even some of the really fancy restaurants often have menus for less than 30 Euros. Also if you're a crepe fan, then head down to the Monparnasse area where on rue Montparnasse, you'll find endless Creperies that offer a menu of a savory crepe, a sweet crepe and a drink for about 10 Euros. Montparnasse is an area filled with authentic Bretonne style crepes.
Also a must-do for is a picnic lunch at one of the many beautiful parks in Paris. Let's be honest, France has the best baguettes, cheese, and wine in the world so if the sun is shining one day, there is no reason to stay inside a restaurant. I personally prefer the baguette tradition over the regular baguettes, and also some baguette de cereale is worthwhile too. And please go to a boulangerie to get one, the ones at Monoprix or Carrefour might be cheaper, but they are horrible! Also for those fearless people out there go to a boucherie, and try out their terrines, pates, rillettes, and other charcuteries.
If you're lucky enough to pass by one of their open markets by chance, then stop by and check it out. My favorite thing to do is go when they're about to close, they'll try and sell everything to you at a bargain.
Oh and of course if you're a winelover like me, then this IS the place to drink wine. I'm not wine connoisseur, but I do know that for less than 10 Euros, you can get a really good bottle of wine. I usually go to the Caviste now and tell them what I'm having for dinner, or what I'm looking for in particular, tell them my budget, and they can usually make a pretty good recommendation.
Oh and last advice, skip the Louis Vuitton bag, if you've been in France long enough, you'll realize that French people DO NOT carry LV anything! So for however much you're spending on that LV bag, you can probably afford a week's stay in Paris filled with fun and eventful activities!