Cafe des Deux Moulins - France - Paris - review

Name: Cafe des Deux  Moulins

Address: 15 Rue Lepic
18eme Arrondissement
Paris

01-42-54-90-50

Food:

Average price: $2.80-$18.50 Euro.

Complimentary: Glass of water.

We ordered: Pain au chocolat - $1.30 Euro

Nice, not the best nor the worst.

Amelie's breakfast - $9.90Euro
Also pictured above

Quite generous portion of half a bread stick, a croissant, jam, butter, coffee, orange juice and an omelet (I forgot to photograph it, but it was quite large).

Everything was cooked fine, not fantastic but good value.

Cost: $11.20Euro for one breakfast meal and a chocolate croissant.

Service:  OK. The waiters were fairly rushed and it took a while to get our menus. But the food itself came out quickly.

Atmosphere: Kitschy. The decor remains mostly true to the movie with its tiled floor and pale green accents with pink ceilings, the glass partition that Amelie wrote on has disappeared and a large picture of her sits at the back of the cafe as well as another above the bar. The cigarette counter is also gone.The patrons are a mixture of locals, who sit at the front of the cafe, whilst at the back are the groups of tourists no doubt on an Amelie tour, behind us is a tour group of 15 Asian tourists happily taking a million snapshots of everything, including their cutlery. There was this one moment when a homeless person came in and stood in the middle of the cafe whilst the staff walked around him as if he were part of the furniture, eventually he made his way to the bathroom where he stayed until after we departed. I didn't quite gel with the atmosphere which felt so divided and also rushed.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website: None.

Hours:  Daily 7am - 2am.

Would I return: No.

Guy Savoy - Paris - France - Review

Name: Guy Savoy
 
Address: Rue Troyon, 
75017 Paris, 
France‎

01 43 80 40 61‎
Food: French, Modern French
Average price: - $100Euro -  $345Euro

Complimentary: Lots of bread and butter. We were given a different bread for each course - loved it.

We ordered:


Foie gras and sourdough toast

Despite my disapproval of him eating foie gras, R decided he wanted to try it 'once' - and although he enjoyed it he didn't think it was worth the cost.

Vegetable tart

Nice, but not as flavoursome as the ones from L'arpege.

Soup and a surprise.

R enjoyed this but I found the soup grainy and didn't enjoy it.

The surprise was small but nice. 

Tout Petit pois en demi  
egg  & peas

The egg slightly underdone with the whites a little too slippery for my liking. Half of the peas were cooked and half weren't, this 'textural difference' didn't really make much of a difference to me. The bread it was served with was over-toasted and therefore akin to cardboard.

Tomato tart tatin

Simple but tasty.

Tomato medley

Ok, but nothing exciting.

Tomato soup & tartare

Now this was probably my favourite dish of the night. The seaweed ice shaved on top really brought the flavours to life. Very yummy.

Fish with vanilla foam 

One of best dishes of the night for R.

Veggies with coriander sauce.

Ok, but fairly standard.

Carrots & mushrooms

Now this was much better. The sauce on the plate along with the mushrooms themselves were delicious.

Lobster 

R's second favourite dish of the night.

Artichoke soup with black truffles with a mushroom and truffle brioche

The soup was actually heavy on the artichoke and light on the truffle. The consistency was too watery for me had a greasiness; I just didn't particularly like it. The brioche on the other hand was delightful, great balance between crispiness and flakiness, but too heavy for the soup, best eaten on its own.

Mushrooms

Ok but a touch one dimensional.

Pidgeon with foie gras

According to R the liver overpowered everything.


Cheeses

Too many to count but the comte was my favourite.

Frozen lollypops

Cherry watermelon
This was ok, but not super cherry or watermelon.

Pistachio chocolate
Not much pistachio flavour and quite icy in texture. 

Textures de fraises 

The strawberry chips were a little overcooked and hard to eat otherwise the flavours were fresh and very strawberry. R found it a little boring though. The marshmallow and filled raspberry were ok, but once again, nothing more than expected.

Chocolate with lime, cardamom, pepper

The chocolate was a base note only with the other flavours heavier on the tongue, they made the dish rather un-sweet and didn't really add any intrigue. I wanted more of a chocolate hit.

earl grey sorbet 

Quite nice and surprisingly lemony.

Apple tart tatin

Slightly overcooked and chewy but nice.


A few dessert tray items (there was quite a smorgasbord)

Chocolate macaron was good, not Pierre Herme great, but good. The chocolate tart was too bitter for me with a slight chalkiness. The mousse was also quite bitter but it did have a wonderfully creamy texture.

Cherry clafoutis

Very cold and quite rubbery. Only had one teaspoonful. I also tried some sort of nut slice but it wasn't great.

Cost: $580Euro for 2 prestige degustations (one vegetarian), and one bottle of Evian Pure.


Service: Very professional and eager. When you walk in you will be greeted repeatedly, we were greeted by no less than eight or so waiters just on the way to our table, which in all honesty, was a touch creepy. The staff was also quite vigilant and quick to respond to any sort of movement. Whilst this ensured my water was never less than 3/4 full and my bread of butter replaced before I had even swallowed, it was just a bit too attentive for me, I always felt watched and felt like I had to self-monitor. That aside they were all very friendly, although the head waiter was circulating the same joke to each table, and after the fifth time we heard his spiel it became slightly annoying - like a repeating record.


I should mention that all of the restaurants in France, especially the Michelin starred ones, were very camera friendly and encouraging of photos. Unfortunately, I was so used to the un-snap-happy vibe in Aussie restaurants that I still felt guilty taking pictures and would shoot super fast despite the chefs at times telling me to take many shots and waiters offering to do different poses and freeze mid pour.


Atmosphere: Refined but a little like an institution. The restaurant is very large and we were seated way down in a side room with only three other tables that seated around 10 other customers. One table of six came individually and each time another person arrived, Guy Savoy came out again to greet them, personally he could have just waited until the entire party was there and said hello once rather than 5 times. For some reason the room felt like a small cafeteria to me as we were all able to clearly hear each others conversations and between lulls in food would try not to stare at each other which was hard to do as we were quite walled in. The decor in our room was wood with coloured glasses and butter dishes as well as a rather intriguing black and white African-abstract painting on the wall which was nice. I should note that men are required to wear jackets AT ALL TIMES. So make sure its comfortable. And ladies, they do crank up the air conditioning, I assume so that the men are comfortable in their coats, so do bring a wrap to keep the chill off.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website: http://www.guysavoy.com/ 

Hours: Tue–Fri - 12pm–2pm, 7pm–10:30pm, Sat - 7pm–10:30pm
Would I return: No.  Food was nice, but nothing really stood out and at those prices, you want at least one really memorable dish.

La Terrasse - Galeries Lafayette - Paris - France - Review

Name: La Terrasse
 
Address:  40 Boulevard Haussmann, 
75009 Paris, 
France‎ 

09 57 70 83 30‎

Food: French, cafe, Fusion
Average price:$10-20Euro.

Complimentary: 3 slices cold bread and tap water.
 

We ordered:

Pates de Cecco - $15Euro

This was a macaroni and cheese with yuzu. The pasta was cooked perfectly and I found the amount of parmesan was spot on, the yuzu added a fruity-bitterness to the dish was made it less heavy, although I would have loved a bit more sauce. This was a generous serving.

Filet de boeuf - $27Euro

R loved the seaweed butter and the potatoes were nice, but other than that the meat was chewy and he couldn't eat much of it.

Cost: $42Euro for two mains.

Service: Curt. For a shopping centre restaurant I found the staff to be quite brusque in their manner and almost felt as if they were 'looking down at us' - perhaps it was my feeble French, but it was the unfriendliest service we had on the entire trip. The food wasn't super quick either and our water wasn't topped up.

Atmosphere: Sweeping views. Even if you don't eat at the restaurant do yourself a favour and at least get to the roof for the views alone, I kicked myself for not bringing my proper camera. Aside from a view-to-die-for the decor is very breezy and light and fairly open with a tarp roof, allowing the soft breeze to blow through - a great mix of indoors/outdoors. Kind of a beachy feel.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus which stop right outside the department store.

Website: http://www.galerieslafayette.com/content/votre-magasin/france/haussmann.html

Hours: Tue-Sat, noon-6pm until Autumn.

Would I return: No.

Amorino - France - Paris - Review

Name: Amorino
 
Address: 42 rue Cler
75007 Paris

Tel : 06 16 17 36 45


Food: Italian, Sweets
Average price: $5Euro+.They charge by the size of the cup or cone, not by the number of flavours.

Complimentary: Tap water.
 
We ordered:

L'Inimitabile, Frutto del la Passione 

If you like creamy icecream, even those that are fruit flavoured, then you will love these. The chocolate was luscious but not super rich, it had a wonderful creamy texture and wasn't too sweet. The passionfruit had a great amount of tang and tasted fairly genuine in flavour. I should note that they are known for their cones, which when filled with icecream are sculpted to look like an edible rose.

Mango, Lampone, Cioccolato amorino

R loved them all, I personally found his chocolate not chocolate-y enough for me and a little too creamy. The mango was also super creamy and too sweet for me but the raspberry was nicely tart.

Cost: $10Euro for two cups.


Service: Takeaway - quick and to the point.


Atmosphere: Relaxed streetside. The decor was shades of chocolate with a small interior dominated by the glass ice cream case and some tables outside.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website:  http://www.amorino.com/fr/


Hours: Daily from 12pm - midnight


Would I return: Yes - if I happen to be walking past and craving an ice cream.

Le Clos des Gourmets - Paris - France - Review

Name: Le Clos des Gourmets

Address:
16, ave Rapp, Champ de Mars, Tour Eiffel,
Paris, France 75007

01 45 51 75 61

Food: French, Modern French
Average price: Entrée - $9.50-19Euro, Mains - $18-33Euro, Desserts - $7.50Euro, 3 course dinner - $35Euro

Complimentary: 4 slices of cold bread.

We ordered:
Map of Season Dinner 35 € uros

Drinks: Orange juice- $5.70

R liked the pulp and freshness, I found it a touch too sweet.

Velouté glacé de courgette et roquette, crumble au Parmesan Reggiano et poudre de tomates séchées
Iced Cream of zucchini and arugula crumble, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and dried tomato powder

Nice but mellow in flavour. The eggplant soup was cold and smooth with only a hint of zucchini. The tomato powder gave slight zing but other than that pretty subdued but a generous serve. It was pleasant but I wouldn't order it again.

Décortiqué de tourteau au crémeux de corail, Cappucino léger à l'anis étoilé
Shelled crab in creamy coral, Cappucino Light Star Anise

R liked this a lot and said it had oodles of crab flavour, he particularly liked the foam and tried to get me to have some. The only incident was a small fragment of shell, luckily no tooth was chipped.

Wok de légumes du moment à la verveine fraîche
Stir fried seasonal vegetables with fresh verbena

I was thrilled with the presentation of the vibrant colours in a black based wok-style bowl, really gorgeous. The veggies were cooked perfectly with a lovely lick (or perhaps a dunk) of butter and seasoning, the selection worked well together with a special mention to the mushrooms - a delicious bowl of veggies.

Tête de cochon croustillante, vinaigrette d’herbes fraîches pommes Ratte écrasées au beurre demi-sel
Crispy pig's head, fresh herb vinaigrette, Ratte potato mashed with butter salted

This was the dish that suffered from the speediness of the service. It was very soft - absolutely no crispness. There was a lot of rendered fat and not much meat and therefore not much flavour. On a positive note, the potatoes were nice.

Pèche pochée au romarin, granité safran et sablés au mascarpone
Peach poached in rosemary, saffron and granita biscuits with mascarpone

I was a bit dismayed at presentation only because it wasn't what I was expecting (otherwise I loved the bowl and plate). It was ice cold, even the peaches. The peaches texture was spot on, perfectly poached whilst the sorbet was very subtle. I felt the dish needed more textural difference, the crunch of the biscuits was lovely, but I needed more than three as they ran out fast. The mascarpone was a little too light (more like a whipped cream) and was washed away by the sorbet and peach. I couldn't taste the rosemary but found overall, whilst I liked it, it needed a little more flavour and textural balancing.

Feuillantine pralinée au chocolat de St Domingue, glace à la fleur de thym
Praline chocolate puff of Santo Domingo, ice thyme

I quite enjoyed this. The chocolate was light, sweet and sticky. The thyme ice cream went wonderfully, and gave the dish a great herbal note. The thyme was the initial flavour which once dissipated, allowed the chocolate to come through, muting some of its sweetness.

It wasn't choclaty enough for R who felt the thyme made it too herby.

Cost: $80.70Euro for 2 entrees, 2 mains, 2 desserts, 1 orange juice and 1 bottle of Evian Pure.

Service: The fastest service I have ever experienced in my life. The waiters spoke English and gave us a translated menu to read. They also gave me a stool to place my camera on. As soon as we ordered our entrees arrived in four minutes. The entire meal was served and removed within 30mins with our water always topped up. Despite their extreme efficiency I did feel the service was a little cold, perhaps due to our speaking a different language.

Atmosphere: Relaxed elegance. The front of the restaurants opens up so that you are looking out onto the street able to feel the breeze. The decor is dark reds and browns with white tablecloths and panelling separated by large mirrors accented by steel with a bar at the back dressed with fresh flowers. The chairs are comfortable with a maroon printed cloth. The design was lovely and the restaurant had a quite, reserved energy.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website: http://www.closdesgourmets.com/

Hours: Open Tue-Sat 12:15pm-11pm

Would I return: Yes.

Pierre Herme - Paris - France - Review

Name: Pierre Herme

Address: 
72, rue Bonaparte,  
75006 Paris, France 

01 43 54 47 77

Food: French, Sweets
Average price: $1.50 - $85Euro

Complimentary: Nothing - boxes cost more.

We ordered:

Eden  - cream in yellow peach and saffron, chunks of sweet apricots - $1.50Euro

Very subtle and quite sweet. Didn't appeal to me that much. What must be said for all following macarons is that the texture and biscuit-to-cream ratio is perfect, they couldn't be executed better, the technique and form is faultless.

Mogador - passionfruit and milk chocolate

In its banana-speckled pyjamas this was the cutest macaron in the cabinet and what a macaron it turned out to be! Even my husband who has never liked macarons, LOVED this. The texture was perfect with a crisp shell (although they aren't super crisp as many of these began to crush within 2mins walking from the shop) and soft interior - that perfect amount of 'toothness'. The passion fruit was tart and bursting with freshness whilst the soft, creamy milk chocolate tempered its acidity beautiful. Well balanced and delicious.

Rose

I love florals, and rose is perhaps my favourite floral. But I was a little let down. It was too sweetly creamy for me. The rose was there but it was overpowered by the sweetness of the cream.

Mosaic - pistachio, cinnamon, vanilla and cherry

The cherry really is what made this flavour combination. Without the deep tartness of the cherry in the middle the pistachio and vanilla are too subtle.

Jasmin

More like sugary vanilla. Only a hint of that Jasmine floral depth with a ton of sweetness.

Infiniment Caramel

I am a sucker for salted caramel - I love the salty sweet combination. This, however, was burnt. The macaroon only tasted bitter and hardly salty. Very disappointed as this was the macaron that I came for.

Isaphan - lychee rose and raspberry - $6.60EURO

There was lots of rose, perhaps a touch too much to allow the other flavours to shine. The fresh raspberries would offer bursts of tang to cut through the heady rose but the lychee was lost completely in the floral overthrow. I was hoping for a balance of three great flavours but all I got was a rose tyranny with raspberries as its second in command - perhaps my hopes were set a little too high. (And in case you are like my husband, do not try to eat the small label, it is not made out of rice paper, it is made out of cardboard...)

plasirs sucres - dacquoise biscuit with croquant nuts, praline feuillete, fine chocolate leaves, chocolate chantilly cream - $6.20EURO

The chocolate snapped beautifully and melted instantly on the tongue. The Chantilly cream was of similar greatness, the weak link was the dacquoise which was a touch tasteless and stale. Otherwise, on a whole, it was a lovely slice of delectable chocolate .

Cost: $25.13Euro approx for 8 macarons and two desserts.

Service: Super professional and curt. The staff were all dressed impeccably in black and white. They were sharp and to the point, not inclined to wait for lengthy decisions, so try to have everything you want to order ready to go when they ask. A little French helps also as some of the servers don't speak much English. They also don't like photographs to be taken inside the store.

Atmosphere: Jewellery-store chic rabbit hole. The way to spot this shop is by the line going halfway down the street. The windows showcasing the goods on street level reminded me of Cartier and Bvlgari. The interior is dark with polished wood -the glass cabinet takes up most of the space with everyone peering in as if picking out a diamond. There is also a bookshelf on the back wall stocked with products. This is a takeaway only shop - luckily there's a beautiful fountain with benches a few metres away to taste your bounty.

Parking: Forget about it. Parking in France is a nightmare (and sometimes laughable at how ridiculous it is, we saw an instance where are car was so pinned in, both cars next to it were touching its bumpers). Do yourself a favour and take the Metro (trains every 3mins) or a bus.

Website:  http://www.pierreherme.com/

Hours: Monday to Sunday 10am to 7pm
Saturday, open to 7:30 PM

Would I return: Maybe - but only for the Mogador.