Paris - Bon Appètit [Part II]

So, yesterday I shared with you day one in food. Our second day was not as much eating wonderuful food as day one. But we made up for that buying some great stuff to take home. Which looked like this.

I had to be a little picky on what to buy because I only had one small backpack (26L, Dakine) with me. Which was good for my budget, really.

We started our second day off with a big laugh. You need to know we took quite some foodies with us for the long bus ride. Most of which we ate. But the cake we took to our hotel room and turned out to be breakfast at day two. My friend told me she'd bring a cake with her, I just didn't expect a whole cake including the baking tin. It did help to transport the baby in a whole, though. And it tasted great (thanks goes to the friend of my travel friend who made the cake).

After that we went serious, heading for Rue de Bretagne to visit Marché des Enfants Rouges. At 10:30 I think we were a little too early for the real buzz. Most restaurant stalls were busy setting up tables and polishing table ware. But the food stalls were open and hell, did they look good. It was a pity not to be able to bring home the fresh sea food and vegetables available for nice prices at this small covered market. We were day dreaming about having an apartment just around the corner of this market and make amazing dishes with these fresh ingredients.

Thankfully, they also offered great food to bring along too. I settled on a small 100g jar of Moutarde de Dijon à la Provincale. I've paired it with with some different snacks by now. Chicken, crisps and a Dutch bitterbal. It tastes great. But being such a small jar results in getting at the bottom already...

But it's not just the market that rocks this streets. It's all of the small shops and cafes along this street too. Like Fromagerie Jouannault, right next to the market entrance. I didn't buy cheese here though and went with a small tastefull sliced nut bread (at 2,95 euro) for the bus ride home. But in case you do buy cheese, they pack vacuum, to make sure your cheese can blow your taste buds away at home.

We also bought a few bottles of wine and rosé at Le Repaire de Bacchus. They had a great selection of wines and also champagnes. The rosé I bought turned out to be Italian, actually. Which is proof of me, not being such a good drinker. But it did make a great gift for my parents at home.

Le Marché des Enfants Rouges, 39 Rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris

Metro: Arts et Métiers (line 3 and 11), Temple (line 3), Fillets du Calvaire (line8)

Open: Tue-Thur: 08:30-13:00 and 16:00-19:30, Fr-Sat: 8:30-13:00 and 16:00-20:00 Sunday: 08:00-14:00

Fromagerie Jouannault, 39 Rue de Bretagne 75003 Paris

Le Repaire de Bacchus, 40 Rue de Bretagne 75003 Paris

After a dissapointed look through the vintage (on the high-end price) shop Kiliwatch, we had lunch at Bistro Burger. The food wasn't anything special, but it's a family friendly place, judging on the number of families with (young) children having lunch there at that moment.

Not to mention there is a great natural food shop opposite. 

Bistro Burger 26 Rue Montorgueil, 75001 Paris
Metro: Les Halles or Étienne Marcel (line 4), Sentier (line 3)
Open every day from 12:00-22:00

On our way home from La defense, we made a stop at Ladurée at the Le Printemps warehouse to buy our batch of macarons. But before I tell you all about it. I have to make a confession. I didn't know about Ladurée until I searched on Pinterest for 'Paris'. Laugh at me, but I'm a relative newbie to food-love. Which means that a few years ago, I wouldn't mind food so much. It has grown on me only in recent years. I guess the train trip from Amsterdam to Rome I mentioned yesterday opened my eyes on how great, truely great food can be. That was only two years ago. So, bear with me as I go crazy on icons that are established centuries ago. 

On day one we had a look at the small (and much more stylish) shop at Rue Bonaparte, but we wanted to bring these expensive babies home as fresh as possible. Which meant that we had to wait one more day with our buy. After an Asian tourist before us, commanded the staff to fill his 80-something box with more and more coffee taste macarons. As Dutchies with an asian look, felt like we had to make up on the rude impression the man before us, left the helpfull staff with. Ordering a humble six-piece box and try to make a choice out of their wonderfull tastes. 

To be honest, I couldn't believe I spent 15,80 euro on just six of these sweet treats. But I have to admit after tasting them, I'd happily go and buy again. In order of heavenlyness (is that even a word?): Lemon, Pistachio, Salted caramel, Chocolat, Rose and vanilla. I now have a very good reason to come back to Paris some at some time. And then, I will buy, in a more fitting style at the small Rue Bonaparte location. 

We hit a big tourist trap miss at our diner restaurant, but it was raining (again) and we were hungry. We concluded that we had to miss at some point during this food filled trip, anyway.
We closed the day, relaxing at our hotel room. Watching the only English chanel we had, BBC News, snacking supermaket snacks (cheese and chips).

At Sunday morning there were no café's open near our hotel, so we took one more metro trip to République. Just before heading home we catched our first and last real sun rays at the terrace of bistrot POP. It was a wonderfull goodbye to Paris.

Bistrot POP, 3 Avenue de la Republique, 75011 Paris, France
Metro: République (line 3, 5, 8, 9, 11)
Open every day 08:00-02:00

Take care and have a wonderfull start of your weekend!