Four Days in Paris

Starting off our European tour with Brian’s family is a 4-day stay in Paris. We were set out for a 12-day cruise which embarked in Barcelona, and Paris was our meeting point with Brian’s sister Lia, accompanied by her boyfriend Jason.

You can imagine how elated I was to see Paris again, since the last time I visited this beautiful city was for work and I only had one day to go around the city [READ: One Day in Paris]. If back then I ended up telling myself that one day just wasn’t enough to explore the place, now I’m telling myself that four days came out a little too short as well.  There are just so many places to visit and relish in Paris! Bitin as we Filipinos call it.

What I loved most about this first leg of our trip was all the planned and unplanned restaurants, markets and cafes we got to try. Every place offered good food and I don’t remember tasting “compliance food” (as Bri would call non-starters hah) in the four days we were there. Sure, there weren’t any walking around in more museums than we’d like, but our tummies were happy and full!

Here are 10 highlights from our Paris visit:

1) BREIZH CAFE AT THE JEWISH QUARTER

Our first agenda upon arrival in Paris were crepes, and according to Bri’s research, Breizh Cafe is where we can get really good ones. Once we reached our hotel, we literally just dropped off our luggages and made our way to what Parisians call the Jewish Quarter.  There was a bit of a line for Breizh Cafe (which is always a good sign!) and we managed to get a table within 10 minutes of waiting. That wasn’t so bad, compared to our 4-hour wait for Sushi Dai in Tokyo [READ: 15 Highlights from our Trip to Tokyo]. Hah!

Amuses-Galettes. Our first order was this Chorizo with raw milk comte cheese savory galette rolls. Each roll as you see in the photo above were thin and flat, each piece bursted in savoury goodness of chorizo with cheese.Brian who is a worshipper of all things salty and yummy obviously enjoyed it!Quimperoise. After one more savoury crepe after the galette rolls, Bri and I headed straight for dessert. This one in the photo above is what they call Quimperoise: a crepe made with apple compote, caramel sauce with vanilla ice cream. The crepe was warm and generously covered with homemade caramel sauce, topped with cold, creamy and melting vanilla ice cream. I am normally not a fan of desserts slivered with caramel sauce. But for this one specific dessert, call me a convert!

Where to find Breizh Café: 109 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris, France

2) POZZETTO GELATO 

I am an absolute loser for anything pistachio. Pistachio cakes, pistachio ice cream/gelato, or just the plain crack-it-open pistachio nuts, hand them over to me! A few blocks walk from Breizh Cafe led us to Pozzetto, a gelato store run by a Sicilian family. Their pistachio gelato is made of Sicilian pistacchi and I must say, it definitely made it as the best pistachio gelato I have ever had in my life. (P.S. 100 points for Bri for looking this up!)

Where to find Pozetto: 39 Rue du Roi-de-Sicile

3) NOTRE DAME IN CONSTRUCTION  On our second day in Paris, Bri and I visited Notre Dame, which is currently in construction due to it catching fire a month ago. The whole area was boarded up and had been made inaccessible to tourists and locals alike. According to our cab driver who drove us from the hotel to our Air BNB, the re-construction is estimated to finish in 10 years at the very minimum, 25 years at maximum. If the maximum projected time to finish re-construction really happens, I’ll be an almost senior citizen by then!Photo of a Parisian guitarist performing at the side of Notre Dame.

4) SHAKESPEARE&CO. A few meters from the cathedral is Shakespeare&Co. What would be a trip to Paris with Brian if I won’t drag him to my no. 1 must visit place in Paris? We ended up scouring the book shelves individually for a good thirty minutes, and we both left the store with one book each in hand!

5) SACRE COEUR CATHEDRAL We visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on our third day in Paris. It was a 30-minute walk from our Air BNB, and I’m glad Bri and I survived the climb up the highest point in the city (Montmarte)–FYI we’re both not as fit as our friends and family would like us to be. Apparently, this minor basilica is reportedly the second most visited church in the city. How can it not be? The view from up there was breathtaking!

6) UMLAT BIG BAND AT NEW MORNINGThis has got to be one of my most favorite activities we lined up for Paris. Booked by ate Lia, we were able to watch the Umlaut Big Band in New Morning Cafe (a Parisian music night club which puts the limelight on jazz and the blues). It was nothing short of exhilarating watching them perform, with highly participative guests dancing in front of the stage. For you to have an idea of how amazing Umlaut performances are, click here.

7) MARCHE BASTILLE MARKET

On the day we dedicated for the visit to the Place of Versailles, Bri and ate Lia planned out a morning brunch at the sunday market of Bastille. The market had stalls which sold fresh seafood, assortments of fresh flowers, assortments of fresh fruits and a few prepared food such as paella, sushi (I know right??), and raclette baguette sandwiches.Bri and I were amused by how big their shrimps were!Apart from that very fresh 18 euro salmon sashimi we had from one stall, Bri and I enjoyed their fresh strawberries the most. They were so huge, fresh and sweet, that we bought two packs!

8) PALACE OF VERSAILLES Aaaahh, how to start with the Palace of Versailles?! The extravagance of it all is, for me and my by far limited travel experiences, unmatched! We spent 3 hours here just walking through the different parlour rooms and the grand gardens. I specifically enjoyed going through its manicured and vast gardens up until we reached the grand canal.

9) ROBERT ET LOUISE

For Bri and I, visiting Robert et Louise was a must simply because this was one of the restaurants Anthony Bourdain (may he rest in peace) featured during his visit to Paris. Go where the locals go, as was Bourdain’s main life theme when it came to discovering food during travel–so there we went.

This fire place is where they cooked their meats — everything was grilled to order.We ordered a medium rare 900g rib steak at 50 euros. The menu said it was good for 2 pax, but ate Lia, Bri and I were able to share this serving. The most featured item on their menu is their black blood sausage (7 euros), which is made of 100% pig’s blood. It was, to my surprise, very good. Us four at Robert et Louise. Cheers to you, Anthony Bourdain!

Where to find Robert et Louise: 64 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris, France

10) BATEAU LE CALIFE DINNER RIVER CRUISE

On our last night in Paris, we went on a dinner river cruise at Bateau le Calife, which was pre-booked and treated by Jason (yay!). The boat went through and around the River Seine and offered set menus. Our set menu went for about 67 euros, which includes a welcome drink of champagne, an appetiser, a main course and a dessert per person.Champagne started off our dinner through River Seine!Bri, Jason and ate Lia as we await our dinner.Bri’s gourmet salad with foie grasMy gravlax salmon appetiserThe view of the river cruise at9:00PM.My Seabass with white tarragon sauce, wild rice and seasonal vegetablesBri’s Guinea fowl supreme, mushroom sauce with herbs, potatoes and roast appleBri’s Iced nougat, raspberry collis, ginger caramel. View from the river cruise at 9:30 PM.

This officially caps my top 10 highlights from our stay in Paris. There are still so many other experiences I didn’t include in this entry (i.e. that Moulin Rouge cabaret show!!), as it is just impossible to itemise every single thing we did. Especially when a city like Paris dishes out nothing short of the best they can offer in terms of food and other experiences–even our unplanned eats didn’t disappoint!

I have to say, this was the perfect way to start off the rest of our European trip!