Paris {The Food}

10/5/2018

The food was truly the highlight of our trip to Paris. We'd dreamt of street side cafes and macarons for months leading up to our trip and we were overwhelmingly delighted with the quality of food in Paris.

Follow along on our journey to the many places where we collected fresh produce, sweet treats, and incredible restaurant meals across Paris. The added and unintentional bonus is your chance learn from our SEVERAL American traveler mistakes! This post is very long but includes tons of info and photos.

If you're here at Figs and Flights for the first time, please also enjoy the post on Paris {The Sights} and the basics of our trip via the Paris {Overview} post. Coming soon will be posts on Paris Disneyland, our cooking class in Paris, and visiting Normandy and Bayeux in France.

The food in Paris was exceptional. We enjoyed colorful macarons, dainty French pastries, simple meals, and a delicious meal eaten in a historic train station. The seafood was fresh, the apricots were perfectly ripe, and figs and rainier cherries were spotted all across town.

The food from our visit in Paris includes:

Markets:

Fruit
Seafood
Horse meat!!

Sweets:

Sorbet at Berthillion
Crepes
Macarons from both Laudrèe and Pierre Hermè

Restaurants:

Bistro Dupleix
Le Train Bleu
Brasserie Mollard

Colorful Pierre Hermè maracons in Paris

MARKETS

The markets in France are so interesting. We learned that the way of grocery shopping in Paris consists of visiting many of the small and specific markets (for fish, meat, produce, baked goods, etc.) rather than a large supermarket.

Figs and Rainier Cherries abound at a fruit market in the Montmartre neighborhood in Paris, France

Fruit Markets

We stopped in a small produce market as soon as we arrived in Paris and were shocked to find Rainier Cherries, which are originally from Washington. Among many other fruits we saw Rainier Cherries again and again, plenty of figs, and fresh apricots, which were to die for! I will think of Paris in the summer every time I see an apricot for the rest of my life.

A Parisian fruit market with so many beautiful apricots!

We were surprised to find the red and yellow Rainier Cherries, which originated in our state of Washington, all the way in France and in many markets!

Rainier Cherries and figs were popular in Paris fruit markets during our summer visit, in June - July 2018.

Seafood Market

..We spent a good amount of time at the 'Pirates de Montmartre' seafood market (as part of our cooking class with Cook'n with Class). They had every type of seafood imaginable: fresh fin fish, both whole and sliced, clams, mussels, shrimp, lemons for accompaniment, and more. It reminded me of the seafood stands at Seattle's Pike Place Market, of course.

The seafood market sells all types of sea creatures, plus lemons for accompaniment.

We got a really great tour with Chef Patrick, our cooking class instructor. He showed us how to tell which fish is truly fresh and which are from a few days ago!

Horse Meat Market!

While we didn't stop in, we did see a market for horse meat. The rumors are true, the French do eat horse meat! We learned eating horse is a tradition that lives on in the older folks who became accustomed to doing so in tougher economic times. It's not trendy or popular, but eating horse does still happen.

A horse meat market! It is still in operation but was closed on the day we were nearby.

SWEETS

My husband and I both have a sweet tooth and Paris had something sweet around every corner! The sweet treats were colorful, carefully made, and delectable.

Apricot Sorbet at Berthillion

A stop at Berthillion was part of the Fat Tire Tours Bicycle Tour. I'm not sure if I'd heard of the luxury ice cream and sorbet maker before arriving to their location on Ile Saint Louis, but as soon we as we arrived I knew it would be excellent.

The line for the small stand was long and moved quickly and efficiently. That is until I showed up with only US dollars in hand which they don't take, of course (presenting American traveler mistake #1). I ordered the apricot sorbet in a tiny cone, which they handed to me, before I realized that Bryce had all of our euros in his possession a few miles away! I immediately started sweating and panicking, reaching for my credit card with my free hand, which they also don't take. A very kind person on the bike tour paid for my treat in euros and I threw some US dollars her way!

The tiny size of the cone and scoop of sorbet were just right for satisfying an after dinner sweet tooth. Apricot just seemed like the right flavor to chose in Paris in the summer and I was correct! It was cold, refreshing, sweet, and unique and I doubt I'll find a better apricot flavor in my life, similar to the fresh apricots from the Parisian markets.

I'm not certain but I'd imagine that all of the flavors at Berthillion are just as great!

Apricot sorbet in the most perfect little cone!

Crepes

On our last morning in Paris we found Cafe Le Petit Pont and stopped in for breakfast before visiting nearby Notre Dame. We enjoyed cappuccino, mini croissants, and crepes: strawberry Nutella for me and banana Nutella for Bryce. We enjoyed the people watching from the corner cafe while the city came alive throughout the morning.

Our experience here was just OK, the service was lacking and the crepes were just good. I wish we'd done more research and found a true French creperie for our one and only time eating crepes! Don't make the same mistake as me, check out this list for the best crepes in Paris.

Bryce with his banana Nutella crepe.

It's a Strawberry and Nutella crepe for me!

Our crepes were good, although we don't have much to compare them to.

Macarons from Laudrèe and Pierre Hermè

And now, for the treats I'd been waiting for, French macarons! We tested treats from both of the big time macaron makers: Pierre Hermè and Laudrèe.

As I mentioned in Paris {The Sights}, we'd ventured into Galleries Lafayette in search of Pierre Hermè macarons. We arrived to the gorgeous macaron stand just minutes before the store closed but the staff at the macaron counter was excellent and patient, totally ignoring my frazzled demeanor. We ordered 7 macarons to go and giddilly accepted another, free, vanilla macaron to try immediately. The vanilla is not something I'd ever order, but the macaron man insisted that I try his favorite and it was exceptional! Sorry I doubted you, vanilla.

We'd arrived to the Paris airport having only bagged Pierre Hermè macarons when, much to my delight, we spotted a Laudrèe cart at the airport! We'd actually walked through the arrivals area instead of adepatrures and THERE IT WAS IN IT'S SIGNATURE MINTY GREEN GLORY. We ordered 6 macarons to go and hopped on our plane.

Head to head, here's how the macarons fared:

Packaging: A clear advantage for Pierre Hermè is their little plastic shell in the box to keep the macarons intact, you can see how much better condition the macarons are in the photo of both types, below.
Flavors: From Pierre Hermè we had: coffee, hazelnut, salted caramel, rose lychee raspberry, mandarin raspberry olive oil, mint chocolate, passion fruit, and vanilla. From Laudrèe we had: lime basil, salted caramel, chocolate, coffee, pistachio, and strawberry poppy.
Favorites: Mine was Pierre’s mandarin raspberry olive oil. Bryce’s was Pierre’s salted caramel.
Overall: We loved them all but Pierre Hermè WINS for us.

I'm almost too excited to enjoy a FREE Pierre Hermè maracon. It was vanilla and tasted amazing!

The Laudrèe cart in the Paris airport, near the arrivals!

In the Laudrèe vs Pierre Hermè battle, I chose Pierre!

RESTAURANTS

Of the three restaurants where we ate dinner, one was pre-planned with an advance reservation (Le Train Bleu) while the other two we stumbled upon while nearby and hungry. One was casual, two were more upscale, and all three turned out to be great!

Bistro Dupleix

We stumbled upon Bistro Dupleix on our first night in Paris. We scoped out all of the restaurants on the block before deciding to eat dinner at the picturesque corner bistro, as our Fat Tire Tour meeting point was just across the street. We ate in a hurry, as typical Americans do, while the restaurant guests' energy wildly increased as France closed in a World Cup game WIN! That's American traveler mistake #2, if you're keeping track.

We started with local wine and beer, I had a glass of Bordeaux wine and Bryce had a Blonde beer. My dinner was smoked salmon with toasts, which seems ironic for someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest, the land of salmon. It was simple and delicious with lemons and a white-dill sauce. Bryce had a Croque Madame, a French ham sandwich that's topped with melted, crunchy cheese and an egg. He loved it. Of course we had some delicious frites ("French" fries) which are great in any country.

The simple meal was just perfect for a quick dinner before our Paris adventures began.

Bistro Dupleix, where we had our first meal in Paris.

Local wine and beer in Paris, cheers!

Our simple and delicious first Parisian meal.

Le Train Bleu

Le Train Bleu, "the blue train," was the one restaurant I had my heart set on visiting while we were in Paris. It is located inside the active Gare de Lyon train station! You enter into the hustle and bustle of the active train station, before you're instantly transported back in time as you walk through the doors of Le Train Bleu. The restaurant has been an institution since 1900 and the history, atmosphere, and service inside are remarkable. I don't exaggerate when I tell you it's the most beautiful restaurant I've ever seen. The gold accents, magnificent paintings, and hat racks are just my own favorite parts of the interior.

Bryce ordered one of the specialties of Le Train Bleu, the roast lamb. He may have made the decision to order it after watching a nearby table get the full table side treatment. Bryce was giddy as the cart of roasted lamb rolled up to our table and the meat was sliced just for him. He promptly ate, and savored, every single bite. While ordering, Bryce didn't give much thought to the accompanying side dish of potatoes au gratin with Fourme d'ambert cheese. Yeah we should have as that's au gratin potatoes with bleu cheese. Not just any blue cheese, but one of France's oldest cheeses from the nearby Auvergne region. We passed the potatoes back and forth across the table until we couldn't stand another bite, they were exceptional.

Our dessert was a Paris Brest, made of choux pastry and filled with pistachio cream. It's typically made with praline cream while Le Train Bleu made theirs with pistachio, and it was AH-MA-ZING. I'd never eaten anything like it before, it was so dainty and a mess to eat, while the soft dough and sweet filling were a great flavor and texture combination.

The overall experience at Le Train Bleu was perfect. I'd recommend this restaurant for a special night in Paris, celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or any special occasion, even if the occasion is simply that you're in Paris! The pistachio Paris Best is tied with macarons and apricot sorbet for the best sweets we ate in France. The lamb and potatoes, were some of the best (savory) things we ate on our trip.

Disclaimer: We did, however, order two appetizers which were over the top fancy, miniature, and not our favorites. My dinner, the vegetarian fricassee of vegetables with pureed greens and soft boiled egg, also wasn't worth writing home about.

Le Train Bleu is absolutely the most beautiful restaurant I've ever seen!

Old + far away are my brand of magical. Hat racks!

Asking servers to take our picture and loving it.

This is the sight of.a happy man while his dinner, the lamb, is carved for him table side.

Roast lamb and the best potatoes au gratin EVER.

The beautiful Paris sunset from inside Le Train Bleu.

Paris Brest, an amazing pastry!

Brasserie Mollard

We stumbled upon Brasserie Mollard one night after returning to Paris from Normandy, as the restaurant is located near the train station. While we were starving and severely underdressed we entered to find the over the top restaurant interior and level of service. We felt pretty awkward for the first few minutes, dressed in shorts with a backpack in tow. We quickly got over our complex after watching a man at a neighboring table LICKING his gravy boat, ha. We enjoyed a perfect meal of a few seafood entrees, a cheese course, and another amazing dessert.

Both of our entrees were so fresh, seemingly simple, and delicious. The Salade Haussmann included grapefruit, orange, chives, salmon, and Granny Smith apples. The Gambas (shrimp) with mango and avocado was delightful and sized just right.

We also had the cheese course, a selection of three traditional French cheeses. We ordered this along with our two entrees and our server asked us when we'd like it. We waffled on the timing and he told us that, in France, you typically eat the cheese course after dinner, so we did! French dinner courses aren't as complicated or numerous as Italian courses, from what we could tell. We also learned that French cheeses are typically soft and not our favorite types of cheese. We stopped ordering them after a few tries.

Now for another stellar dessert, we finished our meal with a special menu item of their rice pudding. It doesn't sound glamorous at all, but it was incredible. It was served cold and topped with fresh fruits, sweet fruit sauce, and nuts. I wanted to order another one immediately and hope to again find a dessert like this in my life!

Brasserie Mollard was great. I'd imagine it's even more fun when you're dressed just right and feasting on a seafood tower! Bryce wouldn't commit to sharing one with me :).