Paris France: Best French Food and Our Favorite Grocery Store Snacks
I could sum up this whole blog post by simply saying, "French food is amazing!". That wouldn't make for very good reading though. It's true, just not descriptive enough. We had a great time eating around Paris. The quality of ingredients was what really struck us. It didn’t matter if it was a quick bite in a market or a sit down restaurant, everything was fresh and well thought out. Some of the best things we ate were grab and go items from the market or bakeries. Below are some of our favorite food related moments from our trip.
The markets in and around Paris were filled with fresh produce.
And flowers!
A few 1000 Euros worth of black truffles.
For a bakery to be legally called a "boulangerie," they have to make bread, by hand, on a daily basis.
Straight croissants are made with butter. Curved croissants are made with margarine. You want the straight ones.
Eclairs with golden pecans.
Charise loved the eclairs. I think you can tell.
Our favorite coffee place was Cafe Aouba. They roast beans fresh every day. There was also a great market on the street out front.
Traditional Turkish coffee.
Had to buy something so I could use the bathroom. Besides the substitution of mayonnaise for ketchup, McDonalds fries taste exactly the same in France.
Of course we had crepes.
Falafel Wars
Finding Charise vegetarian fare in Paris wasn't always easy. It's not exactly the most vegetarian friendly place in the world. She could usually find something, of course, but it was always a menu afterthought. That is until we ventured away from "French" restaurants. One of the best things we ate on the whole trip, vegetarian or not, was Falafel.
Falafel is a deep fried patty of ground chickpeas and herbs. Then it’s stuffed into a pita with eggplant, vegetables and other spicy sauces. The Marais is home to some fierce Falafel competition. Rue des Rosiers has several places all fighting for customers. We tried two, L'as Du Fallafel and Mi-Va-Mi.
L'as Du Fallafel. This place always has a line...except in this picture, for some reason.
L'as Du Fallafel
Mi-Va-Mi, right across the street.
Mi-Va-Mi
So which one was better? Both were very good. We'd be happy to eat either again but L'as Du Fallafel was clearly better. The ingredients in the pita were more consistently sized, so every bite was the same. They also had more side sauces that added some variety. It's more famous for a reason. It's worth the wait but if you're in a hurry you won’t be too disappointed if you just go across the street.
There's really no elegant way to eat falafel.
Best Grocery Store Snacks
It's always interesting to visit groceries stores in different cities. It’s great to see where and how locals buy their groceries. We went to Monoprix and Franprix almost everyday. We would pick up our daily bottle of wine, fresh squeezed orange juice and other French snacks. We also tried some unique chips and cookies. Here are some of the best that we had.
Salty
Charise's Favorite
I liked these a lot too. They sound weird, but they're the best barbecue chip you'll ever have.
My favorite
Charise was prejudice against these from the beginning. Don't let her fool you. These were amazing!
The Wierdest
They smelled more like shrimp than they tasted but they were just strange. Really, really strange.
The Most Normal
I feel like we have these at home. Either way, good chips...or crisps, I should say.
Sweet
The Clear Winner
We both agreed these were our favorite cookies. They're like a flattened waffle cone from heaven. We bought several boxes.
Still Good
There wasn't as much raspberry filling as in the picture, but this crunchy cookie was excellent. After the waffle cookies though we almost forgot about these.
Conclusion
Wherever you find yourself in Paris, it's safe to say you won't go hungry. From street markets, boulangeries and full service restaurants, there's good food everywhere. While the food was great, dining in Paris is definitely unique. Check out our post from last week to see what surprised us about eating out in France.
In between meals at the Anne Frank Garden.