My partner and I have a very long travel day from LA to Paris. What do you recommend as the first thing we eat when finally arriving, exhausted, on a Saturday afternoon near the Bastille? After ~14 hours of car, bus, plane and train travel, how would you slough off the discomfort of travel and mark a first trip to Paris?
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Amarante: hearty menu for this fall/winter weather. 6 min walk from the Bastille.
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Chez Paul
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This is right next to where we’re staying so we’ll def check it out. Thanks!!
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Wingstop Has a franchise nearby! (No, Really!) I kid, but I was a little surprised when it popped up on the map lol
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For real, that “Wingstop Bastille” (maybe the perfect 21st Century phrase) pops up on Google Maps every time I’m charting the area in which we’re staying. They’re really pushing it, I guess.
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Nice menu. Crunchy pig’s foot with caviar, damn.
Update: We did Amarante for lunch. Somewhat austere, precise food in a non-chilly atmosphere. Don’t expect a lot of sauces. Got sole blinis (I think there were made with the fish’s oil as there was no meat in them), guinea fowl and some semi-bland dessert with a small, necessary scoop of ice cream on top.
The real highlight in the area was Bistrot Moreau in the 12th- extremely friendly guys working there, large helpings of couscous with some of sort of stew plus grilled chicken and a great merguez sausage. Duck confit visible in the background. A coconut-forward fish soup as well. Got full as hell. I can’t say enough good things about this place.
Fun at L’hirondelle bistro in view of the Bastille. Duck breasts with roasted potatoes. I was travel-lagged out of my gourd but this really hit. There were two unrelated demonstrations going on by the monument (one seemingly Communist, the other about Tunisia) so it was weird seeing bored, heavily armed national police come in and out of the restaurant to use the restroom. I guess not so weird now in the US.
Perhaps too much fun on a Sunday night at L’area where cigarette smoking is permitted, if not encouraged. Had a chicken shwarma but the real standout was having lots of drinks.
Great finds plus very helpful service getting bottles at Les Caprices de L’instant.
Lastly, and outside the area: maybe the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve had in my life at Le Boulanger de la Tour in the Latin Quarter.
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Yes this is true. Could use some sauce game
Tempting menu of offal in particular (brains, tongue, near intestines, trotter, etc), but order wisely because it can get quite rich.
wine list is very natural style. Not quite my jam but got a bottle of decent Thomas Peuchavy chenin - pear, gooseberry, a little smoke.
Crispy deboned pig’s trotter with Prunier. Nearly all gelatin underneath
Very good quality sweetbread. Huge and nicely cooked, crispy outer but not overdone inside a nice medium. Just begging for a sauce of capers, herbs, or something.
very burnt / acidic lemon crème brûlée. Like lemon peel and juice. Jolting.
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