Versailles is not
a descriptive place, it’s a visual place and David Gates said it so well in If: “If a picture paints a thousand
words…”
I’ll leave you
with the pictures...
Scenes from Versailles with Marie Antoinette’s bedchamber at
the top left and right.
Parisian
People-watching
Upon our return from Versailles, exiting the metro at St.
Michel into glorious, but not too hot sunshine we grabbed ourselves a sidewalk
table at the popular Saint Severin brasserie across from the St. Michel
fountain and on the corner of rue Saint Severin, and partook in the
quintessential Parisian pastime, people-watching. You don’t need a book or a
magazine or a newspaper to entertain yourself during your déjeuner or
coffee break – the throngs of people on the sidewalk is the cast for this soap
opera. M ordered a large cappuccino
while I went for a refreshing few glasses of a Petit Chablis from Maison
Simonet-Febvre. We sat there for more than an hour. Totally relaxed and we just
let the street opera play out in front of us. We chatted up a Pennsylvanian
couple at the next table, who tucked Paris like a Euro note into their travel
wallet en route from Rome to London. We watched determined Parisians neatly
dressed and scarfed go briskly from point A to point B. I am yet to meet a
Parisian without a scarf. We smiled at tired tourist wandering, thinking about
ourselves, slowly and aimlessly on sore feet. At about 5 pm we dragged
ourselves up onto our own tired feet and slowly cruised down rue St. Martin in
the general direction of our rented apartment on rue Chapon. I popped into the
Paroisse Saint-Merry church to look for photographic jewels, found none, while
M checked out a bookstore here and chocolatier there. At the George Pompidou
Centre I watch a one man sidewalk show while a lonely guitar player was belting
out French songs from under a tree a little further down the street. It was
actually a very pleasant walk and it felt like a continuation of the people-watching
at Saint Severin. 
Versailles in the early morning. Virtually no tourists outside.
During the vacation’s planning stage I promised ourselves at
least one dinner in one of Paris’s many top class restaurants, stylish French
cuisine in a romantic setting. After Versailles and a short rest in our
apartment we walked around the block to L’auberge Nicolas Flamel at 51 rue de
Montmorency. Again we were traveling by the skin of our pants. According to my
Internet research booking is essential at the restaurant, but because I had no
prior idea which night we would have the time or be in the mood to go to the
restaurant I made no prior reservation. So when I opened the door of the oldest
house in Paris I was there in positive spirit and hope. You see, although I
always have an itinerary for when we travel, we more often than not just get
ourselves lost in a city. The French has a beautiful word for it: “flânerie”. There is no real English
equivalent for flânerie, as there are
many other French examples without true English equivalents to express the mood,
like bon voyage, but that’s for another post. Flânerie falls somewhere between loitering and drifting or wandering,
being nomadic. Cornelia Otis
Skinner describes it so well in her book Elegant Wits and
Grand Horizontals.
There is no English equivalent for the term (flânerie), just as there is no Anglo-Saxon counterpart of that essentially Gallic individual, the deliberately aimless pedestrian, unencumbered by any obligation or sense of urgency, who, being French and therefore frugal, wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city.
The L’auberge Nicolas Flamel Restaurant is located on the
ground floor of the oldest still existing house in Paris. It was built in 1407
in the 3rd arrondissement
of Le Marias and although the building has been renovated the façade has been
preserve for its historical background. The house was built for famous French
alchemist Nicolas Flamel whose name appeared in several books, among other Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
and The Da Vinci Code.
Upon entering I could understand why reservation is
essential. There are only about 12 or 15 tables inside. The place is tiny. Decoration
is typical Paris, mostly white with splashes of old wood beams, exposed stone
and beige pictures of cutlery against the wall. Subdued and classy with candles
on the tables and glasses and silverware arranged like chess pieces on white
linen tablecloths. We were probably a bit underdress in our best traveling
clothes while most of the people in the restaurant were dressed in their Sunday
best. Although no reservation they graciously welcomed us and I guess we had
Lady Luck on our side that evening because the place was eventually a full
house. I found the place on Google map near the apartment and read mixed but
mostly good reviews on Trip Advisor. M
decided to take a three course meal a la
carte, but I was more adventurous and selected a five course dégustation menu,
each course paired by different wines and all to be determined by the chef. My
attitude was: Amaze me. Give me your best shot…err, food.
Versailles’s famous Hall of Mirrors.
M settled for pressed duck foie gras with apricot chutney
and toasted bread as an entrée (in France
entrée is the first course), followed by encrusted Cod with mixed
vegetables as her le plat principal
and for dessert the Nicolas Flamel Chocolate Gold Bar with chocolate ganache, Breton
sablé, and gingerbread ice cream. Gourmet art pieces. I tasted some of her food
and it was all very good, especially the Cod. Really excellent! I did not get
to taste the dessert, it was too good to share I guess.
I started off with what I thought was beef marrow, removed
from the bone and formed into a square and then fried and topped with shredded
orange, which was served with a white wine from Alsace. I say “thought” because
I am not sure what I ate. It tasted like bone marrow. Unfortunately I didn’t
catch the wine’s name either. The waitress had a very heavy French accent and
she showed me the bottle and then quickly disappeared again. Don’t expect much
English to be spoken in non-touristy restaurants. However, melt in the mouth
food and the food/wine pairing was spot on. My second course was sautéed
mushrooms with a hint of garlic and cream on a thin layer of scalloped potatoes
and served with a white wine from the Languedoc region in the south of France.
It was well prepared, beautifully presented but perhaps a bit too subtle. I am
sure I would have ruffled the chef’s feathers just a wee bit if I had asked for
a little bit of black pepper.
The third course was grilled sea scallops topped with red
caviar on a small bed of sweet potato mash and served with a glass of Chablis
(Chardonnay). O la la! The sweet of
the sweet potatoes and the salty flavors of the caviar played off well against
each other and were well balanced by the wine. Absolutely divined!
Unfortunately it was a bit downhill from here on. My le plat principal was wild boar in a red wine reduction on mash
potatoes and it was served with a full bodied red Beaujolais Villages. The wine
was good but I didn’t care that much for the meat. It still had a too strong
venison taste as if it was marinated too short a time. I didn’t finish it. The
dessert I didn’t like at all and the pairing was not to my liking. The frosted
peaches with purple carrots topped with gingerbread crumble are just not a
combination that my taste buds favor and the champagne was too dry.
Overall it was a great experience. The food was well
presented and well prepared. The taste was good, but not exceptional. The chef
got the pairing right most of the time, except for the dessert, and the service
was very good. My review of the restaurants is very similar to the mixed
reviews on Trip Advisor; Good quality, but not all French regional food might
be to one’s liking.
Neither was it the best food we have had in France. That
would come three days later in the Le
Chavel Rouge restaurant in Chisseaux near our rented gite in the Loire valley. But that’s for another post. The only
criticism I can maybe mention against L’Auberge Nicolas Flamel is the lack of background
music to enhance the romantic atmosphere of the place. Subsequently we would
discover, at least that’s the way it seems to us, in France they don’t play
background music in top class restaurants. Everything is very subdued and
whispers. If you want music with your dinner eat in a café, bar or brasserie.
Versailles's Chapel, Upper level
No comments:
Post a Comment