French Food

There are so many great aspects of Paris, it is hard to know where to start in sharing some of our favorites. One of my favorite parts of the city were the markets and the food shops. Paris is known for having great food and we weren't disappointed.

It seems you can't walk far in Paris without running into a Boulangerie and Patisserie (a bakery and pastry shop).

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Although I have heard that no one can be truly expert as both a baker and a pastry chef, we weren't disappointed by a single thing we tried. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of any of our food, but you'll have to take my word for it that it looked, smelled, and tasted amazing. Some of our favorite sweets were the macaroons and strawberry/chantilly cream eclairs. A-mazing.

Macaroons from the famous Laduree

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We also just loved being able to stop in a a bakery every day (morning and evening, most days) to pick up a fresh, warm baguette for our meal. The boulangerie just down the street from our flat had a line out the door every evening with people doing the same. And, can I please just tell you what a delectable dish a croissant truly is? Forget those nasty things from Costco or on your hotel continental breakfast. A real croissant is unbeatable.

In addition to several boulangeries/patisseries, it seems every neighborhood is blessed with a fromagerie (cheese shop) and boucherie (a butcher) and at least a couple fresh fruit and veg stands (not to mention a flower shop or two). This is not to say there aren't grocery stores in Paris--there are--but there certainly seems to be a preference, or at least availability--of merchant with expertise in one type of food. This is something we've noticed more generally in Europe and something we really love.

A Creperie

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Another option for fruit and veg seems to be markets that spring up throughout the city in various locations and on various days of the week. We only checked out one--the one in our neighborhood--but LOVED it. Such a colorful, lively place. Produce stacked high, aisles crowded with people, and vendors shouting out the deals on their wares. The great deals (1.5 Euro for 30 eggs, 1Euro for 1 kg of cherries) sealed the deal for us and we were loyal customers for our 15 days. The ooh-la-las and free samples from the vendors (plus the one vendor who asked me if I speak English, and when told yes, said, "I have to tell you--I love you") didn't really hurt either!

My favorite market

We didn't eat out a lot (it is very expensive), but we still managed to enjoy some seriously good eats. Besides the croissants, eclairs and macaroons, we enjoyed some crazy good crepes (crazy good), found the joy known as a Croque Monsieur, had this amazing cheesy baguette stuffed with cheese and ham (yum), had great quiche, wine, cheese, falafel (not French, I know, but still really good), salad nicoise, some other incredible salad, and many other wonderful dishes.

Now that we are all sufficiently hungry, tell me....what's your favorite French food or a French dish you'd love to try?