Eating Our Way Through Paris

Paris is known to many as le cité des amour yet to me it's more like le cité du manger and that's pretty much all we did.

The last time Coasts were on their European tour I packed my bags and my mother off to a quick sojourn to Berlin and then Hamburg. (How was that two years ago?) The only difference this time was that the venue/ country had changed and Coasts joined label mates The Hunna, oh yeah and there was a new album so I guess pretty much everything had changed really.

On Sunday night, after a delayed Eurostar trip, my mother and I checked in at the Saint Louis Pigalle hotel before heading out to explore the Pigalle neighbourhood, from the Moulin Rouge to the Sacre Coeur where the 10pm service was just about to start: cue the organ music.

Le Bon Bock was the venue for dinner/supper and was a great find. It is the oldest restaurant in Montmartre and used to be a popular haunt of artists like Toulouse La Trec. Here my journey through classic French dishes began with onion soup and confit de la canard.

On Mondays, many (if not all) of the museums and tourist attractions are closed which left us with no choice but to explore the cobbled streets of Paris, and, most importantly, the gastronomy.

When I had researched the foodie scene before we came out one of the places that had stood out to me was Soul Kitchen on the Rue Lamarck but I could not for the life of me find it. In its place, the Hardware Societé offered a very appetising alternative.

Fried brioche served with pannacotta, poached pear and lashings of chocolate sauce may not be your usual breakfast fare but omg you really need to try that like right now!

Hotel two of two for our Paris mini city break was the Best Western Saint Martin Bastille, just opposite the Bataclan and, as the name suggests, situated in the Bastille area of the city.

Dalloyau famously provided the Palace of Versaille with Pattiserie delights up until the French Revolution and they can now add me to their prestigious list of customers as we happily stumbled across one of their Salon de Thé(s). We sampled the gorgeously light Delice de Chef and the absolutely divine Tonka - brb in heaven right now.

The Little Café, in the Marais part of town, continued my foray into the world of classic French dishes with Boeuf Bourginon. For dessert, I opted for the Pain Perdu, made with croissants and served with a deliciously sweet caramel sauce.

Our final culinary stop or the day (Monday) was Jones, formerly known as Bones. Here diners can enjoy a four-course meal that is a delight to the senses or indeed for individual dishes. It would have been criminal to not at least try the exquisitely prepared food even if I had eaten a three-course meal only a few hours previously and those smoked carrots were simply stunning.

On our last full day in Paris, we visited the Pere Lachaise, the notorious graveyard where many famous faces are buried; Jim Morrison and Frederic Chopin included, as well as a memorial to Oscar Wilde. Alas, If I had only been there a few hours later I could have played everyone's favourite game 'spot The Hunna'

Frederic Chopin

Jim Morrison

Oscar Wilde - he's not actually in there though

The snowy stroll (read hike) left me feeling particularly hangry by the time we approached
Notre Dame. The aptly named Brasserie Esmerelda was as good a spot as any for a crepe and a chocolat chaud as it was getting pretty cold actually.

The plat du jour on the Rue Babylon was Côte du Boeuf, accompanied by dauphinoise potatoes and a bearnaise sauce. Our brasserie of choice just happened to be opposite Le Bon Marche, the Harrods of Paris which at the time of visiting housed the Sous La Ciel art installation by Leandro Erlich.

The Musee d' Orsay is not actually a museum at all but an art gallery housing five storeys of everything from impressionism to sculpture including work from Toulouse Le Trec who by the way I approve of your choice of restaurant/bar but dude what is that artwork?

On the way home to the hotel we stopped off at a patisserie for madeleines and a l'imperial - berry goodness encased in créme de pistache with a biscuit base.

Next stop: Le Maroquinerie.

P.S. We bought croissants for the journey home aka our super fun 7am Eurostar train.