I have a few favourite pastry shops that I inevitably drop by far more often than I should. Or than my bank counsellor would advise. Given there are a good few other great pastry shops aorund town, I definitely must widen my horizon but the problem is, I normally try to not overindulge when it comes to sweets consumption. That leaves the times when I have visitors. Since they can’t eat their way around Paris by pastry only (or can they? hmmmm…) the options get whittle down too quickly and far too easily. It’s always back to the old favourites.

Pierre Hermé
Pierre Hermé should really gives me a carte de fidelité. I live far too conveniently between his only two shops (for now) that sell pastries in Paris, and this year’s continuous launch of macaron of the month had me popping in and out more times than I can count. Reality hits when I could tell the macarons apart nowadays without having to consult the little chart they give and I have an entire set of glasses courtesy of the émotions I’ve eaten… I know, I know, I should lay low on PH for a little while.

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Barely a couple of weeks following its opening, Nico’s brother suggested that we met for lunch at “a sandwicherie near Poissonnière”. It was all rather mysterious and upon arrival, I was confused by the name City Café Sandwich but something clicked – I have just glanced through a café-bistrot recommendation a few days earlier and this was the place! Gourmet sandwicherie on Mondays and Saturdays, and restaurant serving fixed-menus from Tuesday to Friday, there is already quite a buzz surrounding this venture by Japanese chef Katsuaki “Katsy” Okiyama, formerly of Robuchon and l’Agapé.

Despite arriving at noon (it opens on Saturday at 12.30pm, although many articles I’ve seen stated Saturday opening hour at 10am or noon), a queue has started gathering outside Abri and when it came to our turn to be seated, there simply wasn’t a table available for 5 pax. There were only a couple of potential tables for 5-6, except they have been split to accommodate groups of 3-4. The rest which remained were tables for two.

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One of my favourite treats from the many boulangeries around is les chouquettes. Little airy puffs topped with pearl sugar, it is incredibly easy to munch down a packet of them within minutes and then feel a twinge of guilt for overindulging and/or not sharing. They can be bought on per piece basis (€0.15-0.20 each) or by weight (€2-3 per 100g).

I bake them myself from time to time at home, but given my (bad) habit of baking-by-guestimation, it can be a bit of a hit-or-miss exercise. Oops. When it works though, they are pure delights to behold and taste. The list of ingredients for the basic choux couldn’t be simpler – flour, butter, eggs, water and sugar – staples in pretty much any pantry for anyone who cooks/bakes regularly. In the case of chouquettes, of course one should not forget the pearl sugar to sprinkle over. In Paris, it can be stocked from G Detou.

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For a while, in June and July, I was wondering if summer has decided to bypass us completely and transitioned from spring to autumn directly. There were plenty of grey skies, rainy days, and temperature hovering at miserable high 10s or low 20s. How unlike last year when my coats were practically kept in the cupboard between May and September… Eventually though, the crappy weather did yield in favour of sunshine and how I rejoice – time to celebrate with some spots of ice-cream tasting around town!

Grom

Grom has received a lot of love from my friends and I this summer. Following Anne’s recommendation last year, this gelateria has been a staple favourite and I’d happily take any excuse to swing by for some gelato. This summer, it includes introducing the boy to it, taking visiting friends over, celebrating friend’s new job and simply enjoying the sunshine. Of course, it’s a major bonus that I live relatively close to Grom (20 minutes walk), hurrah!

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On the eve before our departure for Reykjavík, I had the good fortune to across an article that talked about the emergence of Nordic cuisine, led by René Redzepi of Noma in Copenhagen. As I read through the article, my attention was steered immediately to the mention of DILL Restaurant, conveniently located in the city where I’d be visiting right the next day. I immediately sent an email to them, hoping to snare a table for LT and me with such short notice. We struck gold – they booked us in for Saturday night, hurrah!

Arriving back from the Golden Circle Tour, we hastily made ourselves presentable and requested the front desk for a taxi to drive us over. We were not far from the restaurant, but after the wet and windy day, we needed more comfort than ever. At least the rain seemed to have abated. I wasn’t sure my coat would be happy to get another dose of soaking!

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When it comes to the monetary aspect, Iceland is not for the faint-hearted. Food in particular don’t come cheap. Bearing that in mind, LT and I thought, why not splurge a little? Instead of paying dearly for supposed budget eats, we would indulge in higher-end dining that would actually be comparable in price to that in Paris. This way, we won’t feel like we’ve paid too much for what we can get cheaper in Paris; instead, we will get fine dining at the “regular” price. Another plus point – we will experience Icelandic dining at the top level.

We had our first evening meal at Grillið Restaurant, situated on the 8th floor of our hotel. As we were there very early, the place was practically empty and we scored a table next to the windows, affording us some impressive panoramic view despite the falling rain and setting fogs. Chef milled about in the kitchen that can be openly observed via see-through glass panelling. I find the interior decor a little tacky though, featuring the signs of the zodiac.

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Winter get-together chez Chloé invariably means there would be at least one raclette session, if not another couple of sessions of aligot and mont d’or too. These cheese-filled events are relatively easy to organise, feed a good crowd, and everyone’s always content after that.

What’s fun is that Chloé has a good old fashion raclette apparatus, unlike the more modern contraption/grill that is used to heat up sliced cheese inside some small pans. You don’t get to racler properly with the grill apparatus! (And yes, she even has the specific knives to racler the cheese.)

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Chateaubriand has been on my restaurant list for a while. My email archive shows that the first time I talked about it with my friends was all the way back in 2009. Ah, those were the days I dreamt about living in Paris. And that email was written ahead of one of my countless trips to Paris. The restaurant visit failed to happen then (I left it too late to make a reservation) and I’ve been procrastinating since. No more.

The boy and I smartened up last weekend, after he made a timely reservation (2-weeks ahead), and head out towards Parmentier in anticipation of the surprises which we would be served. Menu in Chateaubriand changes daily, with the majority of the dishes set in accordance to what’s fresh in the market. Certain amuse-bouches have so far been always featured in the menu, and in the case of desserts, they change every few months.

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After much delays in getting my posts up, I thought, finally, I’m done with Sri Lankan travel series. Until I realised that I have not. What about the food? That’s something very important and shockingly, I haven’t mentioned anything about them up until now. Abnormal for a girl who eats a lot and likes to, as much, talk about food.

When I travel, I like to eat what the locals mostly eat. In Sri Lanka, that means many meals of rice and curry. Some were absolutely delicious, some a tad more pedestrian, and most times the portion size was just downright scary. At least I wasn’t overpaying for “foreign” meals. I’ve seen the price of a plate of spaghetti bolognese easily being equal or higher than a meal of rice and curry that could generously serve two.

Rice and curry sounded so simple, but often it had more elements and ingredients than a typical Western home cook would encounter in a week! Rice was, well, rice. Often times they were plain boiled/steamed rice. But the curry! It wasn’t a single curry dish that I would cook at home by throwing 3-4 types of vegetables and/or meat in with some curry paste and coconut milk. We’re talking of typically 3-6 different curry-base dishes to go with the rice. Not unlike the concept of thali in India, or nasi lemak in Malaysia. And oh how good they often were too.

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The quest in cheese tasting continues. This month, there were a couple of French and a couple of Swiss cheeses on the plates. Given the spirit that kick started this project, you must be wondering why I am not devouring only French cheeses and have instead grabbed some Swiss produce at the same time. Well, some of these cheeses are popular and when it comes to food, sometimes, it is hard to stop at the modern border. Consider though, historically, by region, then I guess (or so I hope) I’m not too far off in my mission. ;)

Week 5: Gruyère
Originated from the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland, Gruyère is a hard pressed-and-washed cheese made from cow milk. Its aging time typically runs for a few months and the longer it’s cured, the more complex its flavour. With rusty brown rind and pale cream pâte, the cheese cracked relatively easily when cut into and its texture in the mouth felt dry and somewhat crumbly. It tasted nutty yet sweet, of which this sweetness reminded me of P’tit Basque from a couple of weeks ago. It is a handsome cheese by all means, although I suspect this wedge that we’ve got is a middle-age affinage variety. I should have grabbed some grand cru variety too for a comparison.

Week 6: Mimolette
There is a small disagreement of the origin of this cheese. A couple of my friends believe it’s Dutch but it’s supposed to be French, from the northern city of Lille. It is, however, made to imitate Edam, except it has orange flesh (Edam is in creamy shade of yellow) with rind of soft sand colour. Its shape is a tad particular, nearly melon-like when whole. Yet another hard cheese, and I think we’ve gone to the other extreme to last week, choosing one that was rather aged, because it was really hard to cut into it and likewise, eating it. Taste-wise, it was nutty but relatively mild nonetheless. Not particularly memorable, I’m afraid, but I was told this was not a good wedge of mimolette. Perhaps I shouldn’t write it off just yet.

Week 7: Tête de Moine
This cheese comes in a very pretty serving. Pretty? Yup. Pretty. Massive thanks to Chloé* for picking this up just so I can try it! carnation-like cuteness to boot. Swiss in origin, the name of the cheese means “a monk’s head”, a hat tip to the original producer of this cheese – monks of the abbey of Bellelay. It is cylindrical in shape, but in order for the flavour to develop, it is “cut” circularly using a girolle, then gathered together, resembling the flower carnation. The thin slicing method meant the texture of cheese in hold was soft and pliable, and it quite melt in your mouth. The flavour of the cheese was rather complex, aromatic yet nutty (sorry, I am not quite the turophile yet to be able to describe it properly). A joy to behold and a delight to taste.

Week 8: Beaufort
Back to another hard cheese this week (I need to expand to other type of cheese soon) Beaufort is a hard cheese from cow’s milk and it is very similar to Gruyère but with longer affinage time (double that of Gruyère). Its shape is a tad particular, as the mold in which Beaufort is pressed in has a concave shape to give it “heel”. In addition to the distinctive heel, its rind is brown in colour and it has yellow pâte. Texturally it is rather smooth in the mouth but there’s a spicy note to it, which took me by surprise. There’s complexity to the flavour too, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s to my taste. I’m on the fence for now.

* On an important note, I must also say many thanks to Frédéric. Between him and Chloé, they have been the biggest supporters of this project thus far. Not only are they going the extra mile to get cheeses for me to try, they’re essentially funding the cheese tasting for each and every time they bought yet another variety – which is pretty much all the time! I am a very very lucky girl. :D