I may have mentioned this before, but we love Paris.
We flew here this trip for a couple of reason - to celebrate the closing of the sale of TerraSpark to CGG, to tag along to a Board meeting I have in London next week, but mainly just to get back to Paris. We have not been here in over a year. In the 16 or so years we have been together, there have only been two years where we have not come to Paris. One was last year.
So we flew to Paris via Frankfurt, since that darned United stopped their non-stop from Houston to Paris (though I don't say anything bad about United these days other than that. They have been pretty good to me) and landed here about 1:30 or so.
We were planning on taking the train (the RER) from the airport to the city and walking to the hotel, but the interterminal transit was broken down at CDG so we took a cab. A little more expensive, but it took us exactly where we needed to be.
And that is the Hotel Relais Saint Germain. A charming place in the heart of the Left Bank. "Our" neighborhood. Though we usually stay in apartments here in Paris, we wanted to try something different this time.
So we checked in, and then took a short nap, and wandered over to the Seine to watch the Eiffel Tower hit its hourly sparkling at 8:00 PM. We walked across the Pont des Arts (where we got engaged) and headed back to the hotel, which is where we were having dinner, which is one of the reasons we picked this hotel.
Le Comptoir is one of the more popular restaurants in town, and we have only eaten lunch here. If you stay at the hotel, you can get a reservation. If not, well, then it is hit or miss.
We wanted to hit.
So arrived at dinner just at about 8:30. We were not the first people there, but not far from it. The night was nice enough that we wanted to sit outside. The Manager asked, "Did you reserve outside?" and we allowed that was not the case. "I'm sorry. All the outdoor tables are taken".
We were not to be denied, and pushed our argument with the woman manager (I have no idea why they have two). We told her we were staying at the hotel, and would like to sit outside. "Did you reserve outside?" No, we allowed again.
She talked to the male manager. He was a striking looking man with sharply barbered gray hair and a European cut suit. He finally said (in English): "Well, if you sit outside, that just means that someone who reserved outside will be disappointed!"
And so they were.
On weeknights, Le Comptoir offers only a set menu, with a couple of options:
but what options they are! We ordered the set menu, with two of the options that we would be sharing.
As an appetizer, we were given cheese gougeres and little crackers with some sort of dried sausage. It was a good start to the meal.
We ordered a white Samur (Insolite) wine to go with the meal, and it turned out to be a good one.
For the first course, we had both the asparagus wrapped with dried pork (like a prosciutto, only French), topped with herring roe and a sabayon citron sauce, and the fried egg with black truffles.
These dishes both brought tears to your eyes. The asparagus was so good that you didn't even need the wrapping and the sauce. But you loved it anyway. The egg was fried in a little copper pan and then covered with truffle shaving. Delicious.
For the second course we both had the same thing - Scallops St Jaques in a Parmesan foam risotto with bird's tongue mushrooms. The only thing that kept us from licking the plate was decorum, and the American sitting next to us who used to work for the Obama administration.
Then we had both the House Chicken with Parsley Butter Sauce and the Sweet Breads in Young Wine foam. The chicken was good, but the sweet breads were great. I guess I am just a sucker for foam.
After the main courses, they brought us a cheese plate that had about a dozen different cheeses that they let us pick from ourselves. Even though we were almost full, we enjoyed more than our share.
Finally, we had a chocolate pudding with passion fruit sauce and raw milk ice cream.
The perfect end to the meal - and we only had to walk next door to get to bed.
We flew here this trip for a couple of reason - to celebrate the closing of the sale of TerraSpark to CGG, to tag along to a Board meeting I have in London next week, but mainly just to get back to Paris. We have not been here in over a year. In the 16 or so years we have been together, there have only been two years where we have not come to Paris. One was last year.
So we flew to Paris via Frankfurt, since that darned United stopped their non-stop from Houston to Paris (though I don't say anything bad about United these days other than that. They have been pretty good to me) and landed here about 1:30 or so.
We were planning on taking the train (the RER) from the airport to the city and walking to the hotel, but the interterminal transit was broken down at CDG so we took a cab. A little more expensive, but it took us exactly where we needed to be.
And that is the Hotel Relais Saint Germain. A charming place in the heart of the Left Bank. "Our" neighborhood. Though we usually stay in apartments here in Paris, we wanted to try something different this time.
So we checked in, and then took a short nap, and wandered over to the Seine to watch the Eiffel Tower hit its hourly sparkling at 8:00 PM. We walked across the Pont des Arts (where we got engaged) and headed back to the hotel, which is where we were having dinner, which is one of the reasons we picked this hotel.
Le Comptoir is one of the more popular restaurants in town, and we have only eaten lunch here. If you stay at the hotel, you can get a reservation. If not, well, then it is hit or miss.
We wanted to hit.
So arrived at dinner just at about 8:30. We were not the first people there, but not far from it. The night was nice enough that we wanted to sit outside. The Manager asked, "Did you reserve outside?" and we allowed that was not the case. "I'm sorry. All the outdoor tables are taken".
We were not to be denied, and pushed our argument with the woman manager (I have no idea why they have two). We told her we were staying at the hotel, and would like to sit outside. "Did you reserve outside?" No, we allowed again.
She talked to the male manager. He was a striking looking man with sharply barbered gray hair and a European cut suit. He finally said (in English): "Well, if you sit outside, that just means that someone who reserved outside will be disappointed!"
And so they were.
On weeknights, Le Comptoir offers only a set menu, with a couple of options:
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| From 2014-03-10 |
As an appetizer, we were given cheese gougeres and little crackers with some sort of dried sausage. It was a good start to the meal.
We ordered a white Samur (Insolite) wine to go with the meal, and it turned out to be a good one.
For the first course, we had both the asparagus wrapped with dried pork (like a prosciutto, only French), topped with herring roe and a sabayon citron sauce, and the fried egg with black truffles.
These dishes both brought tears to your eyes. The asparagus was so good that you didn't even need the wrapping and the sauce. But you loved it anyway. The egg was fried in a little copper pan and then covered with truffle shaving. Delicious.
For the second course we both had the same thing - Scallops St Jaques in a Parmesan foam risotto with bird's tongue mushrooms. The only thing that kept us from licking the plate was decorum, and the American sitting next to us who used to work for the Obama administration.
Then we had both the House Chicken with Parsley Butter Sauce and the Sweet Breads in Young Wine foam. The chicken was good, but the sweet breads were great. I guess I am just a sucker for foam.
After the main courses, they brought us a cheese plate that had about a dozen different cheeses that they let us pick from ourselves. Even though we were almost full, we enjoyed more than our share.
Finally, we had a chocolate pudding with passion fruit sauce and raw milk ice cream.
The perfect end to the meal - and we only had to walk next door to get to bed.
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