TRAVELS: A PARISIAN PIG-OUT

A romantic trip to Paris: the low down on how to eat your way around this beautiful city.

I managed to get an amazing deal on a quirky little hotel, La Demeure, near the Latin quarter and booked the Eurostar months in advance for a great price too.

When I go away, I like to walk everywhere to see and experience as much as I can. That is my number one recommendation for Paris: walk everywhere. The city is utterly beautiful and you will miss so much of it by taking the metro everywhere. Don those trainers and get exploring!

With a backdrop of magnificent monuments and gorgeous architecture, it can be easy to miss the intimacy of Paris in its picturesque back street; the hidden gems, tucked away, where day-to-day Parisian life bustles.

Each morning, I stopped at a different patisserie for breakfast and a coffee before getting lost in this magnificent magical city.

Henry James once said, “The great merit of the place is that one can arrange one’s life here exactly as one pleases… there are facilities for every kind of habit and taste, and everything is accepted and understood.” I couldn’t agree more.

The more I write about my travels, the more you may find yourself noticing a common theme. Food. The prospect of food, how many places there are to eat and how many new foods there are to try has pretty much been the selling point for every destination I have found myself in since I stopped going on holiday with my family and started saving to travel myself. So moving on to the most important part of an Parisian adventure; the food.

L’Office, 9th Arrondissement, Paris

Have you ever witnessed a break-up? By witnessed I mean actually sat next to two people while they look into each others and one tells the other that they no longer want to be with them. Well, I can assure you it is not the most comfortable thing to witness, especially while sat in a beautiful Parisian restaurant, having a romantic meal and feeling a little giggly after a few too many glasses of hand-picked wine. The giggling makes the situation all the more awkward.

From what I could gather, while trying to pick out the very few French words I knew, was that the gentleman on the next table had either cheated or found someone else and therefore no longer wanted to be with his lady friend. It was tragic. Even more so in the devastating romantic language of French.

My visit to L’Office was an accident. I’d heard about its sister restaurant Le Richer and was planning to eat there. When I arrived, they were sadly closed for renovations for a few weeks. Gutted and hungry, I was just about the start wandering the streets of the 9th arrondissement to look for somewhere else to eat when I spotted L’Office just across the road on Rue Richer.

From the outside, the beautiful naked bulbs – you know the pretty ones where you can see all the little filaments inside – hanging from the ceiling sold the restaurant to me. It was busy and full of cheerful Parisians which looked promising.

I must have timed it just right as there were two stools left at the bar for which the waitress apologised and offered. Everyone else who came after us was turned away.

After my visit, I read some reviews online. Most were very positive but some commented on the lack of choice on the small, simple menu.

If you’re someone who likes a lot of choice, maybe L’Office isn’t for you but when the food if as delicious as it is here, I don’t think the menu needs to be extensive. They offer a small, changing range of incredibly tasty, expertly cooked and beautifully presented dishes – what more could you want?

My waitress was incredibly knowledge about both the food and wine menus and dedicated time to hand-pick red and white wine to perfectly compliment each of my meals. She talked me through the different flavours and how they would taste with my chosen dishes while we sat, nodding in agreement, trying not to give away our complete cluelessness.

I was the last to leave after demolishing four courses including all three deserts on the menu. I could have sat there all night. The simple but beautiful decor, fantastic value food, impeccable service and relaxed atmosphere (after the weeping break-up couple left) made me leave with a smile on my face and wanting to come back for more.