Café Constant...by a Michelin Starred Chef at down to earth prices

Hello everyone! For those who are planning to visit the City of Lights and want to try French food with medium budget, be sure to add "Café Constant" to your list!

Café Constant is one of the several French restaurants owned by Chef Christian Constant, whose first brasserie, Le Violon d'Ingres is crowned with 1 Michelin star. Each of his restaurants has its own unique identity but all come at down to earth prices. I haven't got to try the others yet. However, Café Constant is a 15-min. walk from the Eiffel, so it's an ideal place for an evening before visiting the sparkling tower at night.

Here they serve traditional brasserie food. But do you know what a "brasserie" is? A Brasserie is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. Going to a brasserie, you can expect professional service and printed menus, unlike a bistro which may have none of these. Typically, a brasserie is open every day of the week and serves the same menu all day.

At Café Constant, you can find two sets of menus (entrées/plats/desserts), the Classic menu and the Chef's suggestion which is more expensive. What I love about this place is their 16-euro main dish selection. I have to say, it's not easy to find a dish with such quality below 20 euros in Paris, but as I already tried 4 dishes from the classic menu, I guarantee that they're well-prepared, fresh, and exquisite! 

Here's what you can get for 16 euros...

- Beef stew with boiled potatoes and carrots

- Veal cutlet from the Basque country with white Tarbais beans

- Duck and potato pie* (my no.1 favorite)

- Escalope of veal Cordon-Bleu 

- Grilled fillet of Seabream Royale with pesto, button mushroom pesto

- Patte Bleu chicken roasted with herby butter, potatoes with bacon and baby onions

- Poached cod served with seasonal vegetables, garlic mayonnaise

- Blonde Aquitaine steak with shallots and homemade mashed potatoes

Let's take a look at what I already tried..

Tartare of oysters, salmon, and seabass

Duck and potato pie (Parmentier de Cuisse de Canard)

Veal cutlet with white beans

Grilled fillet of seabream royale with pesto, risotto   

Poached Cod served with seasonal vegetables

Profiteroles with chocolate sauce

In the dining area, you can find some homemade products as well as the chef's cookbooks available for sale.

For dinner, I suggest you go no later than 7pm, otherwise you will have to wait in a long line and they take no reservations!!

Address: 139 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris 

Open EVERYDAY from 12 to 11pm

Once you're satisfied with your dinner, there's no better way to digest your meal than walking to the Eiffel to complete your splendid night with an enchanting view of Paris...

French cuisine: Delicious home made foie gras at a friendly price

One thing you should never miss when you travel is to try local cuisine!

When I travel, I never forget to include at least one meal at a nice traditional restaurant in my itinerary for each city I visit. I believe that learning about their local cuisine, as part of their culture, is a valuable experience too. 

Talking about French cuisine,
I'm sure you've heard of a luxury food product mainly produced in the south west region of France.. >>> FOIE GRAS.

The French law even states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected culture and gastronomical heritage of France."

Do you know how it's made?

Foie gras is made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened by force-feeding corn with a feeding tube, and we call this process "gavage".

Foie-gras can be prepared in many different ways. For cold preparations, you can make it a moose, paté, or terrine while for hot preparations you can have it roased, sauteed, pan-seared, or grilled.

If you're looking for a place to try a delicious foie gras at a friendly price (17 - 20 euros per dish), Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie should fit your needs. I discovered this restaurant a year ago and still keep going back every time I feel like having some foie gras in a cozy atmosphere.

But wait!!! Even if you're not a fan of foie gras, this place is still highly recommended! Although this old restaurant are widely-known for foie gras, people do come for many other classic French dishes, such as Onion soup, Escargots de Bourgogne (Burgundy snails), Parmentier de confit de canard (Duck confit), Homemade French smoked salmon, Pork cheeks stew, Chicken breast stuffed with herbs and fresh girolles, etc.

 

Let me tempt you with the pictures of some dishes I had there.. starting with a rich French onion soup which was actually quite heavy for an entrée. Next, unless you're a foie gras-hater, I strongly suggest you try this delicate home made duck foie gras terrine with chutney and toast.. try and you will understand why people love it!

Enjoying my super cheesy Onion Soup

Home-made duck foie gras with chutney and toast

Now let's move on to the main course. Again, if you like foie gras, pan-seared duck foie gras won't disappoint you. Although I have to warn you that it's very rich and you might not want to finish the whole thing alone. 

Escalope de foie gras poêlée (Pan-seared duck foie gras)

Magret de canard or a seared duck breast, a famous dish from south western France, is also my favorite. This dish you will taste a very thick but soft and juicy duck breast dressed with a sweet sauce that gives a honey and orange flavor.

 Magret de canard (Seared duck breast)

  

Filet de boeuf façon Rossini (Rossini beef fillet)

But I have to say I never get to try any dessert there yet, because I'm always too full after entrée, main course, and some little bites from other people's dishes. LOL

By the way, for those who love to enhance a dish with a nice drink, the restaurant offers a wide selection of champagne, wine and spirits that you can pair your dish with.

Me and my pan-seared duck foie gras

Le Comptoir de la Gastronomy is a small cozy restaurant, so if you plan to go there, a reservation might be a good idea. To reserve a table, call 01 42 33 31 32.

The restaurant is located in the first (oldest) arrondissement of Paris, opened from 12.00 - 23.00 on Monday - Thursday, and from 12.00 - 24.00 on Friday and Saturday. (closed on Sunday)

Address: 34 Rue Montmartre, 75001 Paris

Une Glace à Paris (An Icecream in Paris)

Yes, I think I've found the Best Icecream in the world!!!

Ok, first of all let me explain a little bit about the award they have in France called "Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" (MOF), which means "One of the Best Craftmen of France". The MOF is a unique and prestigious award in France according to category of trades in a contest among professionals. This title is equally recognized by professionals and the greater public in France, particularly among artisan-merchants.

So, does it have anything to do with ice cream?

Absolutely YES!  Among the 15 different categories, ice cream was listed under Hospitality skills. In 2000, Emmanuel Ryon won the award for the best ice creams and sorbets. Joining with his friend Olivier Ménard, an emeritus pastry chef, they created the ice cream and pastry shop called Une Glace à Paris. 

The Signature Medovik & SmokedChocolate flavor

France has been widely recognized for their excellence in gastronomy and pastry, but when you think about good ice cream, you might think of Italian Gelato. What you might not know about is Une Glace à Paris, a French ice cream shop that will definitely change your mind forever...

Une Glace à Paris is situated in Le Marais district, the hippiest part of the city where you can feel medieval Paris packed with pre-revolutionary buildings and streets with modish hotels, vintage boutiques, restaurants and bars.

At the shop, you will find a wide variety of unique flavors, with each redefining the word ice cream. 

The flavors are not typical like plain vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, etc., instead, every flavor has been uniquely designed by the chef, such as the beech-smoked vanilla, the rum baba ice cream, the vanilla lemon, or the medovik, one of its signature. Inspired by a Russian honey cake, the flavor is carefully crafted. When you take a bite, you don't only taste one standard flavor but many different rich complimenting flavors that make it more a very refined dessert than an ice cream!

For those who love sorbet, they also have quite a great selection of amazing flavors, such as passion fruit, white cheese, pamplemoose, or some that you might never imagine could be tasty, such as orange/carrot/ginger sorbet.. But believe me, they're all incredibly GOOD!

For all ice cream lovers, seriously this is a place
you CANNOT miss!!!

Me and my friend, Kamm in August 2015

Addresse: 15, rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie 75004 Paris
Contact : 01 49 96 98 33 

Ps. the shop hours may vary depending on season.