A fondue restaurant in the 18th that serves it's wine from baby bottles... We never made it here to eat with Zoe and Maynard (it was a choice between seeing the new Bond film and fondue. Bond won after Maynard learnt it wouldn't be out in Oz for another month). We will surely take our next unsuspecting guests here.
We started this evening in Montmartre while the sun was just starting to set, looking for crepes and/or ice-cream. We ended up bar-hopping and having the best fries we have had in Paris on this trip so far (this sadly isn't saying much). Let's look at the photos from the long night...
The streets of Montmartre.
Searching for crepes and we get excited when we see this place but...
...we are told the place is closing. We accept the sad news and move on. It wasn't until much later in the night when we walked past for the second time that the place was actually still open. We are not sure if our earlier request was lost in translation or if they just didn't want to serve english speaking folk. Who knows? The place looked really nice though and the smell coming from the kitchen made us even more blood thirsty for a place to settle for a crepe. (Note: We were looking for somewhere new. Otherwise old faithful would of been perfect, but who goes to Paris to eat at the same place for every meal. Am I right?)
A saddened and mildly disappointed Sophie turns and walks away empty handed and more importantly crepe-less.
We find a set of stairs tucked away around a corner and end up amidst the Sunday markets in the heart of Montmartre near Abbesses metro station.
This market looked to be carrying on into the night, despite being a Sunday.
A stall selling used chemistry equipment. This place sure had an array of stalls.
Some more neat vintage that we seem to be finding quite a bit of in this big city.
I think we could of spent $500 that night on some of the coolest furnishings, crockery and used lab equipment around and started a bar right then and there. We would of been turning a profit in ten minutes in that evening bustle.
This was a cool little vegetarian restaurant we walked past. We will definitely go into eat here one day.
It is owned and operated by a one woman team. She is the host, waitress, chef. I can't wait to try it.
Le Moulin de la Galette by night. Spectacular, no?
The rooftop of the Sacre Coeur lit up at dusk. This city is truly breath taking at the time of night.
We stumbled across Au Reve. It is around a 4 minute walk from our place. It was happy hour time!
And boy George were we happy.
I mean how can you not be happy with that?! It even tasted better than it looked and lifted the spirits of the otherwise crushed Maynard who had been disappointed after not satisfying his hankering for a crepe. Though I do think Creperie Broceliande had created an unhealthy desire for crepes in all of us. Who wouldn't want to be eating that 9.80€ feast all day?
With our thirsts quenched we had a hunger to satisfy and we did so with the light tapas on offer at Au Reve and we were nothing short of chuffed. The camembert fondue was so creamy and delicious (though ask for more bread, there's no such thing as too much bread in this city) and the bruscetta was addictive like the Kernal's chicken. It even possessed a similarly complex mystery herb and spice recipe. Oh, did I mention the tapas was a mere 5€ per plate?
This place was very strange as when you ordered food the bar man would go out the back and not return for 5 minutes when lo and behold, he'd return from the kitchen with your food. Brilliant.
To this day we're still not sure if it was really a one man show or not, but we'd like to think so. It makes it that little bit more amazing. I have been here since and their have been a few people working, but for much larger crowds. Get in early as it does get packed once happy hour hits.
Also, complimentary pop corn. Yay!
We out stayed quite a few people. The place was packed with winos and families and a whole array of different folk when we came in. Sophie went back the other night with some friends and it was near impossible to get in at 9 o'clock. It's great for a drink and a snack, but do get in early if you want a seat.
Despite the face, this place was great. We will definitely be back for more. That food and Irish Coffee will remain in our food memories for sometime.
A bar near our house.
La Jolie Boheme. This place is only 30 seconds from our place. We have been meaning to try the place for the last month we have been here, partly because when we first arrived in Paris they were nice enough to let us use their phone and partly because it looks genuinely great and is often packed. Tonight we decided to give it a go.
These drinks were cheap (happy hour!) very alcoholic and amazing. Well worth it. We wanted seconds but by that time happy hour had ended and we were starting to feel the previous drinks.
Zoe got one ridiculously alcoholic Negroni, Lloyd's strawberry mojito was delicious, Sophie's bloody mary satisfied her thirst for tomato juice, tabasco and booze and Maynard's beer was... Beer.
It didn't matter how hot it got, I wanted hotter.
This is the outside area of the bar with heated tables.
Inside.
Walking to the next bar.
Still walking.
Et voila! Marlusse et Lapin! This is our favourite bar in Paris by a long shot... Thus far anyway. This was the third time in a week that we had visited this place.
We couldn't get our regular seat and instead sit along the wall next to...
...Louis. He was a friendly (very drunk) Parisian studying in Marseilles. He and his friends couldn't comprehend how it was possible that kangaroos weren't the bus drivers in Australia. We couldn't comprehend how that was a real question. Oh alcohol, you've done it again.
Contemplating the next round.
The wall is adorned with pop culture references and old postcards and posters.
Behind us are Samuel and Dennis. Samuel is going to study in Australia for a year. We talked him out of Canberra, so now I think he is going to study in Melbourne or Sydney. Haha.
An old bed inside the bar! This bed was our regular seat.
Our most drunken French night ended here (bar wise) at 2am. We then stumbled up to the Sacre Coeur where Sophie joined a gang momentarily. It ended in blood. Sophie's blood. She now has a scarred hand to show for it.
We have met quite a few awesome people here. Good people drink in good bars. Fact!
The stairs to the bathroom.
Marlusse et Lapin was the staple of our week. The cheapest alcohol we have found so far, even outside of happy hour. It's gooooood. They do "submarines" for 6.50 Euros which is a pint of beer with a shot glass filled with your spirit of choice upside down inside the pint glass. The service is very friendly and they are not afraid to speak english either. One of the best parts is if you happen to get the seats near the bed then you plug your iphone/ipod into the speakers and play music of your choice to the whole bar. Highly recommended. Though don't tell too many, or we will never get our bed seat again.
We had no idea that in the next five minutes we would be inside a kebab shop... That's why we're still smiling.
MEZZE! 2 in the morning and we were hungry. One disappointing aspect of Paris so far has been the lack of food places open after midnight. Paris to me always appeared to be a city that comes alive at night (and does) but just don't expect an amazing feast to match the meals you get during daylight. You will end up eating kebabs at 2 am. This place was near the Moulin Rouge on Boulevard de Clichy, just down the road from Marlusse et Lapin. It delivered what we were looking for. Actually i am not sure we were really looking for anything, things just escalated quickly.
Not sure what we're doing.
We're ordering chips. That's how it always starts.
Lloyd is convinced they're the best chips he's had in Paris. Which is sad considering they were your run of the mill frozen bag guys thrown into oil. Though he is right...all chips or French fries we have had so far have been really oily, greasy, soggy and just not that good. These chips were damn tasty and just what we needed. Also the chilli sauce they gave us free with the chips was amazing and home made.
We kind of look like seagulls who haven't eaten in days. Any sane man would of attacked these chips the way we did.
HULK! I don't think that was his real name, but he told me to call him that... So I did.
Unfortunately we decided we wanted more food and got a kebab and felafel. Not unfortunate because they were bad, because they weren't. We just didn't bargain on eating kebabs at what is fast approaching 3am on a Sunday for the second time(daylight savings had just reverted, which confused us greatly when we checked the time at 3am after being in Mezza for over an hour and arriving there at 3am)
A beautiful end to a boozy and magnificent evening.
Au Reve can be found here:
La Jolie Boheme can be found here:
Marlusse et Lapin can be found here:
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment