No dear readers I have not been frequenting the Restaurant
at the End Of The Universe but I have decided to let you into the much more
exciting world of Parisian restaurants and eateries. As a student I don’t get
to eat out much as I am usually sat at home with a cup of tea and half a kilo
of pasta trying to power through some revision or essay work, well either that
or catching up on Game Of Thrones.
Since my time in this gastronomic city I have been lucky
enough to visit some delightful places to partake in culinary pleasures. French
food is often known as the best in the world and I can confirm that 90% of the
time it is. You’d think that you could never get a Croque Monsieur wrong but apparently you can. In my not so humble
opinion the best place for French food is Chartier
- a traditional restaurant that has bene going since the Belle Epoque and doesn’t seem to be shutting down any time soon. If
you want to get a three course meal of classic cuisine for 15€ then this is the
place for you.
The Parisian waiter is usually known to be surly but oh no,
not in some of the establishments I have frequented. Some have been positively
jovial! From the man at Chartier who
called me Princess Kate after the name I happen to share with the Duchess of
Cambridge to the cheery gentlemen who worked in a restaurant around the corner
from a hotel my parents stayed it who found it to be extraordinary that I could
speak French, I would say that all you have to do with a Parisian waiter to get
them on your side and to not spit in your moules
frites is to flirt with them. It may
seem backward or degrading but a flutter of the eyelashes and a slight giggle
at their jokes can go a long way and who knows you might even get free stuff!
Who can say no to perks like that?
But it shouldn’t just be French food you eat in this the
most culinary city. A little motto Mum and I coined when we first came to visit
my old flat is “When in Paris, Eat Tapas” after finding a charming place called
La Bodega on Rue Cambronne that I have
visited around half a dozen times since that first visit. Italian, Spanish,
Lebanese, Israeli and Japanese are just some of the styles of cuisine that you
can sample in Paris, so why bother eating steak all the time when there’s
falafel or katsu curry around the corner?
Something I never tire of is French supermarkets. Now this
might seem quite sad and tragic but seeing half a cow’s tongue in a plastic box
just next to the chicken breasts never fails to spark my excitement. The exoticism
of continental food outlets always manages to make me salivate at what kinds of
things I can delight my taste buds with. And on that note, what’s in the
fridge?......
