Vegetarians in Paris: A trip report with no setai in sight!
Dec 1st, 2008 | 11:46 AM
#1
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 137
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Vegetarians in Paris: A trip report with no setai in sight!
Yes, I'm a vegan...but I must say that making the decision to allow dairy products and eggs back in to my life made my trip to Paris much more convenient and ultimately, something to remember.
For five days DH and I wandered through the city with our Rick Steves and our Paris Walks books--sometimes we read--most of the time we just got lost in the pleasure of not knowing, not caring, and letting our senses be our guides.
We landed at Orly on Nov 16. Did you know that the toilets at Orly are made by Villeroy and Bosch? I had to smile...I always associated the brand with a nicely presented meal. But what do I know?
We checked in at the Westin (yup, even though were oh-so-close to staying in the 6th arr. our lust for points and free nights was too strong). By the way, the Westin was lovely, great service, fabulous beds, blah blah blah. We had a view of the Tuilleries, Carrousel, Obelisk, and Eiffel Tower in the distance. DH said, "Well, you can take your photos and we can go back home tomorrow..." Yes, I slapped him.
We dumped our luggage in the room and headed out to the Louvre, because I wanted to pre-buy our tickets and skip lines. Thanks Fodorites!
As we stepped outside my heart was racing with excitement-- I could not believe I was in Paris! This is coming from someone who cried during the Ratatuoille movie because the scenery was so beautiful!
I did get teary eyed as we stepped off Rue de Rivoli out into the grand expanse of the Louvre grounds. EVERYTHING WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Right there and then I knew that my senses would be on overdrive for the next few days.
So we walked down into the Carousel shops, bought two tickets for the next day, took some cash out of the ATM machine, and wandered around for a bit.
DH wanted to check out the food court, so we did. Nice selections and variety. Asian, Moroccan, Italian, Spanish, a creperie, a cafe, burgers...Definitely not your run of the mill food court. DH looked interested and I told him that over my dead body did we come to Paris for a food court experience!
So we left...
We walked up and down Rue Fouburg, Rue de la Paix and explored the surrounding area until I had to eat something--lo and behold my first of many treats. I walked into a lovely little bakery and asked for a goat cheese quiche. I used my really bad French and the nice lady replied in English. Whew! I really should have paid more attention in school...
Anyway, This was my first of many wonderful treats, and mind you--quiche has eggs and dairy in it... How very, very naughty of me!
Some say that vegans have very sensitive palates. Our sense of taste is supposedly hightened because we do not contaminate it with crap (am I allowed to say crap here?) There must be some truth in it because that first bite of quiche was pure heaven--delicate crust gave way to melt in my mouth egg and that oh so lovely goat cheese! I could cry again but I didn't--I was too busy smelling, tasting, enjoying. Ok, maybe I did cry a little...
DH declined. He is a true stickler for meal times and it was not quite dinner time and he was going to spoil his appetite and on and on..."We are on vacation here!!! just eat when you are hungry for pete's sake!"
So we walked a little more, this time looking for a place to eat our dinner. Finally we agreed on a nice enough looking place--it was Sunday night, not too much open.
Oops,Gotta go pick up dd from school.
(To be continued...Our first Parisian dinner at the Cafe le Castiglione--235 Rue St. Honore)
For five days DH and I wandered through the city with our Rick Steves and our Paris Walks books--sometimes we read--most of the time we just got lost in the pleasure of not knowing, not caring, and letting our senses be our guides.
We landed at Orly on Nov 16. Did you know that the toilets at Orly are made by Villeroy and Bosch? I had to smile...I always associated the brand with a nicely presented meal. But what do I know?
We checked in at the Westin (yup, even though were oh-so-close to staying in the 6th arr. our lust for points and free nights was too strong). By the way, the Westin was lovely, great service, fabulous beds, blah blah blah. We had a view of the Tuilleries, Carrousel, Obelisk, and Eiffel Tower in the distance. DH said, "Well, you can take your photos and we can go back home tomorrow..." Yes, I slapped him.
We dumped our luggage in the room and headed out to the Louvre, because I wanted to pre-buy our tickets and skip lines. Thanks Fodorites!
As we stepped outside my heart was racing with excitement-- I could not believe I was in Paris! This is coming from someone who cried during the Ratatuoille movie because the scenery was so beautiful!
I did get teary eyed as we stepped off Rue de Rivoli out into the grand expanse of the Louvre grounds. EVERYTHING WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Right there and then I knew that my senses would be on overdrive for the next few days.
So we walked down into the Carousel shops, bought two tickets for the next day, took some cash out of the ATM machine, and wandered around for a bit.
DH wanted to check out the food court, so we did. Nice selections and variety. Asian, Moroccan, Italian, Spanish, a creperie, a cafe, burgers...Definitely not your run of the mill food court. DH looked interested and I told him that over my dead body did we come to Paris for a food court experience!
So we left...
We walked up and down Rue Fouburg, Rue de la Paix and explored the surrounding area until I had to eat something--lo and behold my first of many treats. I walked into a lovely little bakery and asked for a goat cheese quiche. I used my really bad French and the nice lady replied in English. Whew! I really should have paid more attention in school...
Anyway, This was my first of many wonderful treats, and mind you--quiche has eggs and dairy in it... How very, very naughty of me!
Some say that vegans have very sensitive palates. Our sense of taste is supposedly hightened because we do not contaminate it with crap (am I allowed to say crap here?) There must be some truth in it because that first bite of quiche was pure heaven--delicate crust gave way to melt in my mouth egg and that oh so lovely goat cheese! I could cry again but I didn't--I was too busy smelling, tasting, enjoying. Ok, maybe I did cry a little...
DH declined. He is a true stickler for meal times and it was not quite dinner time and he was going to spoil his appetite and on and on..."We are on vacation here!!! just eat when you are hungry for pete's sake!"
So we walked a little more, this time looking for a place to eat our dinner. Finally we agreed on a nice enough looking place--it was Sunday night, not too much open.
Oops,Gotta go pick up dd from school.
(To be continued...Our first Parisian dinner at the Cafe le Castiglione--235 Rue St. Honore)
Sorry, couldn't resist...please keep writing! We will be back in Paris in June and I can't wait. I love reading trip reports, so please, keep writing.
Dec 2nd, 2008 | 07:38 AM
#3
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
Report continues...
Our first night in Paris we ate at the Cafe de Castiglione. We were tired and hungry. The cafe is a nice little place that sits right on the corner of Rue St. Honore and Rue Castiglione, just a few steps from our hotel.
There were a few people eating outside under heat lamps but we decided to go inside. We were ushered upstairs and were were to be the only two people there for our entire meal. Not much ambience but at that point I didn't care.
A very nice waiter handed us our menus and we ordered a bottle of Evian. Then he brought us a basket of bread and after the first bite we looked at each other--it was awful! Chewy and stale; and you know what they say about bad bread at a restaurant: Run!
Too tired...we figured how bad could a simple dinner be, right? Anyway, the waiter proceeded to explain the menu a little and even though I understood him, he did not get what I was saying--If you don't pronounce it just right you might as well be speaking Chinese.
We figured we had Spanish in common (my first language) and the rest of the meal went smoothly.
I ordered a cream of vegetables and a mushroom and tomato omelette. Dh ordered onion soup and penne with tomato sauce.
With the first spoonful I decided to forgot the bad bread sitting in front of me. It was absolutely fabulous. A lovely mini tureen of thick, rich amber goodness. So flavorful and satisfying. The portion was huge. We could have shared--and from dh's perspective, we should have shared. His soup was uneventful.
My omelette was perfection. Again, rather large and bursting with the tastiest mushrooms I have ever had. The tomatoes complemented them nicely. Strike two for Poor dh. His pasta was completely flat in taste--watery flavorless sauce. I offered to share my meal with him but he refused. We declined dessert and paid 46 euros, including service and tax. Ouch!
BTW, where can I find the euros symbol on an Ameruican key pad?
So we walked to the hotel. I was stuffed and very happy. Husband felt cheated out of a good meal. So we went straight to the concierge because dh wanted to make sure he had better dining experiences during our stay.
The concierge, a nice young man proceeded to tease us for actually having dinner at a cafe. "Don't you know that you cannot have a meal at a cafe? It is called a cafe because you go there for coffee, maybe a sandwich or some pate. Anybody can open a cafe. I could be painting walls and tomorrow I open a cafe and that's it!"
I was not going to waste my time having a philosophical discusiion about Paris cafes with this guy. He was probably upset because we did not consult him prior to dinner and he would not get his kickback.
Dh thought he was pretty funny. I thought he was young and cocky, enjoying his moment of expertise glory. I went to sit down while dh asked for the best Chinese place in town...
(BTW, we ate most of our fabulous remaining meals in cafes, so there!)
Dh showed up with a reservation for next evening at Tong Yen, right off Rue Gabriel in the 8th.
We went back to our room. the bed was so very comfortable and lots of fluffy pillows. I opened a bottle of wine that had been left chilling and we enjoyed the view. Everything was lit up! I was giddy with excitement and ready for the next day.
We asked the concierge for the best Chinese place in town
Our first night in Paris we ate at the Cafe de Castiglione. We were tired and hungry. The cafe is a nice little place that sits right on the corner of Rue St. Honore and Rue Castiglione, just a few steps from our hotel.
There were a few people eating outside under heat lamps but we decided to go inside. We were ushered upstairs and were were to be the only two people there for our entire meal. Not much ambience but at that point I didn't care.
A very nice waiter handed us our menus and we ordered a bottle of Evian. Then he brought us a basket of bread and after the first bite we looked at each other--it was awful! Chewy and stale; and you know what they say about bad bread at a restaurant: Run!
Too tired...we figured how bad could a simple dinner be, right? Anyway, the waiter proceeded to explain the menu a little and even though I understood him, he did not get what I was saying--If you don't pronounce it just right you might as well be speaking Chinese.
We figured we had Spanish in common (my first language) and the rest of the meal went smoothly.
I ordered a cream of vegetables and a mushroom and tomato omelette. Dh ordered onion soup and penne with tomato sauce.
With the first spoonful I decided to forgot the bad bread sitting in front of me. It was absolutely fabulous. A lovely mini tureen of thick, rich amber goodness. So flavorful and satisfying. The portion was huge. We could have shared--and from dh's perspective, we should have shared. His soup was uneventful.
My omelette was perfection. Again, rather large and bursting with the tastiest mushrooms I have ever had. The tomatoes complemented them nicely. Strike two for Poor dh. His pasta was completely flat in taste--watery flavorless sauce. I offered to share my meal with him but he refused. We declined dessert and paid 46 euros, including service and tax. Ouch!
BTW, where can I find the euros symbol on an Ameruican key pad?
So we walked to the hotel. I was stuffed and very happy. Husband felt cheated out of a good meal. So we went straight to the concierge because dh wanted to make sure he had better dining experiences during our stay.
The concierge, a nice young man proceeded to tease us for actually having dinner at a cafe. "Don't you know that you cannot have a meal at a cafe? It is called a cafe because you go there for coffee, maybe a sandwich or some pate. Anybody can open a cafe. I could be painting walls and tomorrow I open a cafe and that's it!"
I was not going to waste my time having a philosophical discusiion about Paris cafes with this guy. He was probably upset because we did not consult him prior to dinner and he would not get his kickback.
Dh thought he was pretty funny. I thought he was young and cocky, enjoying his moment of expertise glory. I went to sit down while dh asked for the best Chinese place in town...
(BTW, we ate most of our fabulous remaining meals in cafes, so there!)
Dh showed up with a reservation for next evening at Tong Yen, right off Rue Gabriel in the 8th.
We went back to our room. the bed was so very comfortable and lots of fluffy pillows. I opened a bottle of wine that had been left chilling and we enjoyed the view. Everything was lit up! I was giddy with excitement and ready for the next day.
We asked the concierge for the best Chinese place in town
Dec 3rd, 2008 | 07:25 AM
#5
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
The next morning we headed out for our Ile de la Cite and Ile de St. Louis walk. The day before we had noticed very long lines at Angelina, Salon de The, so we decided to have breakfast there. The place is very beautiful--very "Belle Epoque".
We were promptly seated by a stuffy waiter but he seemed to be playing the perfect part to "elegant French tea salon"...so I went along with it...
As we entered, an array of exquisite pastries lined the take out counter and both tourists and locals sat at lovely tables.
Dh ordered a pain au chocolat and a bottle of water--we are not coffee drinkers--I ordered a chousson aux pommes and an "infusion tieulle" (Linden tea). I ordered the chousson, which is basically an apple turnover because I had recently read a lovely article about the author's discovery of chausson aux pommes in Paris. She had described a beautiful experience of the perfect blend of buttery crust that contrasted with delicious and slightly tart apple filling...Along comes our waiter with this huge pastry that looked like it could feed a family of four. So I took my fork and knife and proceeded to cut it in half. It was all air!!! I had to actually dig around to find one lonely apple slice in the entire pastry. to say the least, I was dissapointed. The pastry was a large crust filled with nothing--
The good news was my tea. It was beautiful--as if the waiter had just returned from a nature walk and had collected the dried leaves and flowers himself. I opened the pot and inhaled deeply. Such perfection! So I enjoyed my tea and made dh puppy dog eyes so he would share a bite of his chocolate croissant. He did...nothing special. Cold croissant with cold chocolate chunk in the middle. I really had the expectaion of fantastic pastries in an even more fantastic setting. well, lets say that we had a very pretty breakfast...We did not go back to Angelina. Total for one infusion, one chausson aux pommes, one chocolate croissant, one bottle of water: 18 euros including tip.
So off we went to explore the Ile de la Cite--The historical center of paris! We crossed the jardin des Tuileries and mane a left following the river. The wather was lovely and we held hands as we strolled. I'm glad we brought our sweaters and coats because we did use them every day. The high was about 12 degrees Celsius and overcast. My perfect kind of day.
As we walked, with the Siene to our right and the Louvre to our left, we watched busy Parisians going about their day and tourists enjoying themselves as much as we were. I snapped pictures of everything in sight. Mostly the bridges and the bouquinistes we passed on our way to the Pont Neuf.
I had brought along my Nikon D-60 with me. A heavy nuissance but well worth it. Dh always ends up carrying it for me--he actually threatened me with throwing it in the river a couple of times during the trip. "Why cant you just bring a point and shoot?" --What , to Paris? No way!
Truth is, we leave for Rome, Florence, Venice in January and I may take his advice. Towards the end of every day my shoulders were killing me.
More later...
We were promptly seated by a stuffy waiter but he seemed to be playing the perfect part to "elegant French tea salon"...so I went along with it...
As we entered, an array of exquisite pastries lined the take out counter and both tourists and locals sat at lovely tables.
Dh ordered a pain au chocolat and a bottle of water--we are not coffee drinkers--I ordered a chousson aux pommes and an "infusion tieulle" (Linden tea). I ordered the chousson, which is basically an apple turnover because I had recently read a lovely article about the author's discovery of chausson aux pommes in Paris. She had described a beautiful experience of the perfect blend of buttery crust that contrasted with delicious and slightly tart apple filling...Along comes our waiter with this huge pastry that looked like it could feed a family of four. So I took my fork and knife and proceeded to cut it in half. It was all air!!! I had to actually dig around to find one lonely apple slice in the entire pastry. to say the least, I was dissapointed. The pastry was a large crust filled with nothing--
The good news was my tea. It was beautiful--as if the waiter had just returned from a nature walk and had collected the dried leaves and flowers himself. I opened the pot and inhaled deeply. Such perfection! So I enjoyed my tea and made dh puppy dog eyes so he would share a bite of his chocolate croissant. He did...nothing special. Cold croissant with cold chocolate chunk in the middle. I really had the expectaion of fantastic pastries in an even more fantastic setting. well, lets say that we had a very pretty breakfast...We did not go back to Angelina. Total for one infusion, one chausson aux pommes, one chocolate croissant, one bottle of water: 18 euros including tip.
So off we went to explore the Ile de la Cite--The historical center of paris! We crossed the jardin des Tuileries and mane a left following the river. The wather was lovely and we held hands as we strolled. I'm glad we brought our sweaters and coats because we did use them every day. The high was about 12 degrees Celsius and overcast. My perfect kind of day.
As we walked, with the Siene to our right and the Louvre to our left, we watched busy Parisians going about their day and tourists enjoying themselves as much as we were. I snapped pictures of everything in sight. Mostly the bridges and the bouquinistes we passed on our way to the Pont Neuf.
I had brought along my Nikon D-60 with me. A heavy nuissance but well worth it. Dh always ends up carrying it for me--he actually threatened me with throwing it in the river a couple of times during the trip. "Why cant you just bring a point and shoot?" --What , to Paris? No way!
Truth is, we leave for Rome, Florence, Venice in January and I may take his advice. Towards the end of every day my shoulders were killing me.
More later...
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