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France 2010
Day 3 - 5th October - Paris: Duck Dinner
My Rough Guide was published in February 2010, and already the price of métro tickets was wrong!
"Défense de déposer des ordures sous peine d'amende. Règlement sanitaire du département de Paris (arrêté N 79-561 du 20 novembre 79)"
("No dumping of rubbish on pain of a fine. Sanitation Rule of the Department of Paris (Law number 79-561, 20th November 1979")
This was one of the few examples of accents with capital letters. I was bemused that they cited the specific law.
My sister and I went to a restuarant specialising in Southern French food for dinner ("Restaurant du Domaine de Lintillac"). Specifically, it specialised in food from Périgord. I figured that we were going to the North of France later, so we wouldn't see much Southern food.
The most types of foie gras I'd seen on a menu; there're more types of foie gras than salad
A very international restaurant
The most types of duck I'd seen on a menu
Duck specialities, including duck blood
The English menu had no prices. I was wondering if this was deliberate. But then it is difficult to change prices if you have 15 menu translations.
Notice how almost all the main courses are Duck. The terms were very specialised (since they had no generic foods like steak frites and coq au vin) so we were both bemused and needed the English menu to compare the French one with.
"La Carte. De la Basse cour à votre assiette... Aucun intermédiare!"
("The menu. From the barnyard to your plate... Nothing in-between!")
An unfortunate juxtaposition of menu translations (and flags). But then, observant Jews or Muslims would not be able to eat at this place, anyway.
"Le bloc de foie gras de canard mi-cuit aux raisins et beaumes de Venise"
("Block of foie gras mi-cuit [half-cooked] with grapes and Beaumes de Venise [a type of wine]")
Unshown: kir pêche, quinquinoix (vin de noix)
"Le pâté de canard au Monbazillac"
("Duck pâté with Monbazillac [a type of wine]")
I prefer terrines - there's more texture.
The crackle of a French baguette is complex. I am used to Delifrance, whose baguettes have a very one-dimensional crackle (they are somewhat more brittle). This is not necessarily a bad thing.
House-brand toaster. I forgot to snap the reverse of the toaster - there were more words there.
"La Salade de gésiers confits"
("Salad with candied [?!] gizzards")
"Les aiguilletes de canard aux lentilles du Puy"
("Strips of duck with French green lentils")
I had ordered Le cou et aiguilletes de canard aux lentilles du Puy (the same thing, with Duck neck), but they didn't have this dish anymore - it was their old menu. So the guy asked me if it was okay if there was no neck. I said "ça marche" ("that works") and the waiter said "très français" ("very French"). You know what else would have been très français ? Putain !
Actually Au Petit Salut in Dempsey has better quality food, but then they don't have a 9,90€ set lunch!
"Nous avons eu le plaisir de vous faire déguster... Toute l'équipe du domaine vous remercie de votre confiance"
("We have had the pleasure of letting you taste [our food]... The whole team thanks you for your faith")
I love French bills as they include the tax breakdown. This went one up, dividing the bill into food and beverages. I also like paying with credit cards in Europe as they bring the handheld machine to you so you know they're not doing anything funny.
Asian Invasion
Eiffel Tower - Eye of Sauron, casting its baleful gaze on Paris
Somehow, gazpacho in a carton surprises me. But it really shouldn't.
"Planta Fin"
This is not the same as Malaysian Planta. It's under Unilever so it's the same company, but the stuff is of a different kualiti. From the website:
"En associant les bienfaits de 3 huiles végétales (colza, tournesol et soja), Planta Fin vous fait profiter de qualités nutritionnelles diversifiées et complémentaires, pour le bon équilibre de toute la famille"
("By combining the benefits of 3 vegetable oils (rapeseed, sunflower and soyabean), Planta Fin will benefit you with its many and complementary nutritional qualities, for a good balance for the whole family")
"Ouvert de 8h30 à minuit, parce qu'après minuit c'est demain"
("Open from 8:30am until midnight, because after midnight it's tomorrow")
Paris is a lot more English-friendly than in 2006.