Friday in Paris

We arrived at Paris Austerlitz at 9.03 and caught the metro line 2 to Gare de Nord. For our second stay in Paris I had picked a hotel in the area of Gare de Nord so we have easy access to the station for the Eurostar departure on Sunday. The Hôtel du Square d'Anvers is half a mile from the station and is situated opposite a lovely park called Park d’Anvers.

We took our luggage to the hotel where they stored it for us and walked around the area. The Sacre Couer is visible from the front of the hotel, up the hill of Montmartre which starts at the end of the street. After a wander we sat in the park enjoying the 22 Celsius temperature. What a difference to be so comfortable while sitting out in the sun! We suddenly realised there were white fluffy things in the sky. We’d not been conscious of it, but we’d last seen clouds in Milan, it was nice to see them again.

We went to lunch in a small restaurant at the end of the street called La Table d'Anvers. Drew had Mozzarella et tomate to start while I had Verrine d’avocat et gaspacho aux écrevisses, both were served in small glasses and while they looked similar – the tomatoes in both I assume – they tasted very distinctive. Mine had a lovely dill flavour to the seafood, Drew’s was full of basil.

Our second course was hamburger avec salade et pomme frites for Drew, though to be fair he did ask for it in French! I had Suprême de volaille aux citron confit ; riz pilaf. The chicken was an amazing yellow colour with the lemon through it, the taste was amazing, clear chickeny flavours but with a strong citrus burst to every bite.

We checked into the hotel at 2.00 and had a couple of hours to catch-up on the lack of sleep we had, had on the train last night. Then I updated the blog.

Friday Evening

We walked for about 30 minutes tonight before finding a restaurant called La Panorama, this was a traditional French restaurant, us getting there at 8.30, which would have been empty if this was Spain, meant we were comparatively late and the other diners were well on their way through their meals. Having only just got used to Spanish eating times we clearly need to unlearn it for France.

Drew began with soupe a l’oignon gratinée, he couldn’t help to compare it with the sopa de cebolla he has in Spain. He felt the Spanish version had more flavour and more onions, where as the French one was more like a broth with onions floating in it. I opted for escargots a la bourguignonne, the French snails are much more meaty than their Spanish cousins. They were really tasty and the sauce they were cooked in made perfect dipping for the lovely crusty French stick.

Drew had ordered Tartare de Bœuf for his main, the waiter had doubted that Drew knew what it was and had asked ‘are you sure’ it is uncooked meat. Drew who did know what it was said yes please. The uncooked high quality beef with an egg on top was served with pommes frites and Drew was happy to eat the lot. I opted for Souris D’Agneau confire aux épices, a knuckle of lamb is not a cut we regularly serve in the UK, it was served in a peppery sauce and had a lot of meat on it. The lamb was served with green beans.

We had coffee and finished the meal, returning to the hotel and getting to bed by 11.00. A quiet day as the holiday gradually winds down, but still an enjoyable reminder of what France does well - great flavours.