April 16, 2008

• Battle of the Alains

  Ah, Paris.  We take a yearly pilgrimage there and I'll really miss our trips when we move back.  As soon as I found out that we were moving back to the States, I booked our Eurostar train tickets right away.  I had been to Paris 4 times thus far and we have never splurged on a nice hotel.  We've stayed in the smallest little hotels and rented an equally small apartment on the last trip. Meanwhile, I have been dying to stay at the Plaza Athenee or Four Seasons George V.  This being the last chance for a while, we booked the Plaza Athenee.   SATC fans should remember this hotel. 

  

  Upon arrival, I was thrilled that we had a Eiffel Tower view, albeit not the lovely suite that Carrie and the Russian stayed in.  Our more modest room. 

  

  We both had our Carrie balcony moment. 

  

  

  

  The hotel is divine and the service is world class.  It is not the type of hotel where you can wander around taking photos like a tourist but I took a few snaps.  

  The inner courtyard

  

  Our floor.  The hotel is 8 stories.  Note that floors 1-6 are decorated in this traditional style but 7 and 8 are completely modern, at least in the hallway.  I was much happier to stay on a floor decorated like this.

  

  The hotel was very special and I loved every minute of staying there.  Even tea and toast room service is made a bit special with 8 different kinds of jam. 

   

  Speaking of having tea, we were having afternoon tea in the saloon and Pierce Brosnan sat down with his son and mother. Unfortunately, he was sitting with his back against us but I took this sneaky shot before I was told to put my camera away. Not that you would recognize the back of his head anyway but he's the guy in black sitting down.

  

  We had a lot of fine dining, as usual, in Paris.  Our favorite restaurant was Le Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower.  I was a little worried that it would be cliche and touristy to eat at the Eiffel Tower but the food was amazing.  Sorry, no photos, but we don't take pictures while we are eating.  I had the best chicken of my life here, I think (well, I can't remember every single time I've had chicken).  You don't normally order chicken and expect your socks to be knocked off right? Well, this did.  I also had pea soup with lobster and caviar.  I have no idea what my dessert was called but it was so yummy.  It was pineapple something or another and it was just the right mix of sweet and sour.  Clayton had the green asparagus in cream sauce and truffles.  His main was veal with baby vegetables.  Like the chicken, it sounds quite basic but the veal was melt in your mouth tender.  For dessert, he had the tower of chocolate which came with a side of hazelnut ice cream and marshmallows.  The chocolate glazing was just immaculate.  It was sweet but had a very airy quality to it with layers of thin wafers on the bottom of the chocolate tower.  I highly recommend sampling this restaurant if you're ever in Paris.  Alain Ducasse is the chef and the restaurant has 1 Michelin star.

  The mod looking restaurant

  

  The unbeatable views from your seat

  

  Then, we were really excited to eat the 3 starred, L'Arpege, but we were not blown away.  I feel like I am being blasphemous by saying this but I have to be honest.  Irrespective of cost, I have definitely had better French meals for a fraction of the price.  Le Jules Verne, for one, was better in my estimation. However, you don't know until you try and try we did.  I mentioned the cost because the tasting menu that we ordered was 350 EUR pp.  If you are paying those kinds of prices, you should be leaving the table in a swoon.  I found some pictures of the food on http://www.chuckeats.com.  We had a different menu but some dishes were just about the same so I have taken those photos. 

  The meal starts off with the signature egg dish. It is a poached egg with maple syrup and some cinnamon (I think).

  

  Ravioli in artichoke consomme.  The ravioli is filled with beets in this photo but the ones we had ravioli with horseradish. 

  

  Foie gras and dates.  Our dish had a stuffed date.  Stuffed with what I do not know (the menu was all in French) but it was really good. Better than the foie gras.

  

  This photo shows the turbot in mustard sauce.  We had monkfish in wine sauce but the two dishes are a bit interchangeable I think because originally they told us we were having the turbot but then the chef decided we should have the monkfish.  So we were served the monkfish which was encrusted with salt and then steamed.

  

  Lobster in yellow wine sauce - another signature dish

  

  THE signature dish, Tomato 12-ways, wasn't on the menu.  Chuck Eats describes it as, "A classic dessert, a tomato “fruitcake” that’s heavily spiced and includes pistachios, raisins, nuts, and more. Absolutely unique. Very good".  I was really curious to try it so too bad it wasn't on the menu.

  The chef, Alain Passard, is known as the vegetable king, but I don't feel like the dishes we had highlighted his talents as the vegetable master.  There were not many vegetables that were the focal point of the dish.  One of my favorite dishes, the vegetable cous cous in a saffron sauce (no photo) was one of the only dishes where I thought the vegetables really shined.  That and the artichoke consomme were really impressive.  Chuck Eats writes that L'Arpege can be hit or miss and to only go when the vegetables are in season.  So maybe that was the problem.

  L'Arpege is meant to be the better restaurant compared to Le Jules Verne but perhaps L'Arpege was too minimalist for my taste buds.  I can appreciate subtlety in my food but sometimes the more in your face approach can work too and Le Jules Verne had more of the latter.   

  Other eats of note were Tan Dinh.  This was a restaurant serving Vietnamese nouvelle cuisine in the Saint-Germain area.  It is homey and the proprietors are super helpful in steering you through the menu and wine list. And we had brunch at Laduree, the famous house of maccarons that I blogged about last August.

  OK, was that enough talk about food? Nah, didn't think so.

   

  • 6:10 am
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