Vin et Marée Murat -- Restaurant Review

Check website for locations, menu and to make reservations

Website: https://vin-et-maree.restaurant/murat/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor 

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

3.75 - Star........................................€€€................................... 2 - Bells

I'm back. After 2-days of jet lag recovery and my accidental fall, I decided it was time for me to go out and discover a new restaurant. I chose a seafood restaurant. This restaurant is actually a seafood chain restaurant with 4-restaurants in Paris. I'm usually hesitate of chain restaurants, but we're not in US anymore and they can vary and have their own personalities. 

I've been craving seafood, and a friend was in town and staying in the 16eme, so I decided on this chain restaurant. We chose the one in the 16eme. It's a large restaurant. A bar is located in the center and on either side are the dining rooms. 

The interior of the restaurant wasn't particularly Parisian, but keeping to its theme, they had a lot of seafood decor.

They did have a chalkboard with the special of the evening. 

ENTRÉE

I opted not to have an entrée, since I was going to get the "fruit de mer".  

Sarindes Rôties a la fleur de Guerande. 

My two companions ordered this appetizer. They were delicious. Even though they were grilled they were quite moist. The guerande salt added a nice finishing touch. I ate the whole fish, whereas my companions filet'd it before eating. I even went as far as eating the whole head, cause it was that good. But I'm a heathen. 

PLATS

 

CHOCROUTE DE LA MER.

JJ ordered this dish. The fish in this dish was salmon. The salmon sat atop sauerkraut, but did not taste vinegary. It was a nicely composed dished. It was good with the cream sauce, and very moist. And, the potatoes was a great starch accompaniment. 

Belle sole entière à la plancha beurre.

Our friend ordered this dish. Very simply pan fried sole with a buttery lemon sauce on the side served with whipped mashed potatoes. Basically, it's a Sole meunière. She liked the dish, but said it could have been cooked a tad more. I happened to like the accompanying butter sauce. 

FRUITS DE MER -- I ordered this cold seafood dish typical in France. It is served with nothing more than lemon and/or a vinaigrette dipping sauce. This is what was on the seafood platter, ½ Beau Homard d’Amérique du Nord, 4 Belles crevettes roses BIO, 2 Spéciales BIO de Quiberon, 2 Fines de Normandie par R. Verneuil, 2 Spéciales GILLARDEAU, Bulots - Crevettes grises. So very nice choices.

My fav was the half lobster, it was so sweet and tender. It's not an inexpensive platter at 59€; however, much more reasonable than many of the seafood places around the city such as, "Le Dome." 

DESSERT 

MANGO WITH SYRUP. 

Fruit with syrup can oftentimes taste like canned fruit. Fortunately, this did not. It was a very simple refreshing dish, nothing out of the ordinary. 

TASTING NOTES:  Chinon.  It's known for its lovely intensity of color. On the nose, the wine has aromas of coffee and sweet pepper with a hint of camphor mixed with vanilla. On the palate, aromas of undergrowth mixed with musk and blueberry. Solid structure with silky smooth tannins.

SUMMARY 

This is a good restaurant if you're craving for seafood. It's nothing out of the ordinary and you can get much of this at other seafood places. It is a chain, but I find chains in Paris can often be different from one location to another. Again, there are 4-locations in Paris. 

The "fruit de mer" selection was good. For me, the perfect amount. If you go to e.g., "Le Dome" you may get more, but you also pay a premium. Although the "fruit de mer" of 59€ is not cheap, comparatively speaking, it's quite reasonable. 

The others who ordered the warm dishes said they were good dishes, I particularly liked the grilled sardines. What distinguishes this restaurant from all the others was the service. It was beyond excellent.

For 2-spritz's, 1-pastis, 3-glasses of Saint Bris, 2-entrées, 2-plats, 1-"fruit de mer", 1-desert and 1-bottle of Chinon came to 230.30€ or 77€ a person.

NOTE: Although we spent an average of 77€/person, my dish skewed the average prices. So depending on your order, the meal can be very reasonable. 

Would we go back, ABSOLUTELY.

PARIS -- HOW TO BLEND IN

 

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW, WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO PARIS. THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF HOW TO BLEND IN. 

I spent today starting to pack for our return to Paris in April. Although I also have a wardrobe there, I do bring back a few things to add to my wardrobe.  Then I thought, maybe I should share some ideas for my readers on what to bring to Paris, so they can blend in and not look like a stereotypical tourist, which makes you a target for so many things. 

- Go with 3-basic colors: Black, Gray, Navy blue, Brown, Beige or white as your base color

- Accessories with colors, such as scarf, belt or bag (murse)

- Don’t wear loud, bright and/or overly printed shirts that screams “tourist” or Aloha! You’ll be marked as a tourist and easily become a pickpocket target or be upsold at e.g., a Café

- In recent years, shorts have become very acceptable day-to-day wear.

- Don’t wear bling-bling clothes (e.g., sequins) unless you plan on going to the Opera or Ballet. And, NEVER wear them in the day time.

- Loafers are always a good bet, you can dress them up or down and are comfortable to wear. Note: sneakers are now acceptable to wear.

- Jeans worn with a nice simple print or plain color shirt, with a nice belt goes a long way. 

- Bring a light jacket and/or sweater like a cardigan that can go with any outfit for those cool Spring and Autumn days/nights. Always a good idea to have a light stylish blazer.

- Accessorizing with jewelry is always a good idea, but nothing flashy/expensive or you will be a pickpocket target. 

- A bag to carry all your accessories is always a good idea. But I recommend one with a zipper to prevent being pick-pocketed

- In Paris, when going out to a nice dinner, it’s customary to dress to show respect to the Chef and the other patrons

- Do not wear gym clothes, sweats or leggings

- Don’t be a walking billboard of designer names (e.g. head to toe with gucci, hoochi and poochi), it’s considered “trashy”. Maybe one simple designer accessory, eg a Louis tuition sling bag

- And, light on the make-up boys and girls. You don’t wanna look like an overdone drag queen. In other words,  go light on the makeup. A more natural look is the style in Paris 

- Ultra small portable umbrella, yes it does rain a lot in Paris. Paris gets more rainfall than London

Most important, enjoy.

JOYEUSES FÊTES

Wishing all my readers, HAPPY HOLIDAY!

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, 圣诞快乐, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Frohe Weihnachten, Mele Kalikimaka, Tratry ny Krismasy, Feliz Navidad, Maligayang Pasko, Glædelig Jul, חג מולד שמח, Buon Natale, 메리 크리스마스, Selamat Hari Natal, Feliz Natal, Heri la Krismasi, สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส, کریسمس مبارک

 

Complaints -- "Plaintes"

 

Sadly, as tourists we can easily be scammed, especially at cafes in tourist areas and feel helpless. For example being "upsold" in a cafe where you ask for a glass of wine and expecting it to cost less than €10, but get charged €30. This happened to me when I first moved to Paris. I complained to the manager, and as a general rule, they always side with their servers. Now I always ask for the menu, unless I know the place I'm going to.

These days you can actually file a complaint to a government office, and they will investigate and take action, if necessary. Tourism is a major industry in France and the government has been taken scamming seriously for the past 10 years. And, with the upcoming Olympics, they will be cracking down. 

So if you want to file a complaint, this site is similar to the "Better Business Bureau", and it's also in English. 

WEBSITE IS: https://signal.conso.gouv.fr/en/cafe-restaurant/faire-un-signalement

Hopefully, you won't experience this, but if you do, now you have recourse to help correct this.  

Michelin starred restaurants -- What say you.

Having a Michelin star does not guarantee good food. Some of the most cringe worthy experiences I've had were at Michelin starred restaurants. And, the question I ask, How the f*ck did they get a michelin star(s)

Bottom-line, garnering a michelin star should be about food, bad sadly as in anything else, it boils down to "food" politics.

Click on this link to read the article "Michelin Starred Restaurants"

In France, "Restaurants will have to display a new logo to indicate which dishes were not entirely prepared by the chef under new plans announced by the minister of commerce."

Check out this recent article on the french attempt to keep its "french cuisine", french and not "warming up frozen food," which many cafes in tourists spots do.

"Fait Maison Symbol"

L'Aube -- Restaurant Review

 

For menu, directions and general information:  https://www.laube-paris.com/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor 

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4.8 - Star........................................€€€................................... 2 - Bells

NOTE: Lower cost by € since we skewed total expenses by ordering champagne

The restaurant is located very, very close to the Palais Royale, some of you may recognize the building and/or location. It's the old Zebulon restaurant of years past.  Zebulon rose fast in the ranks to become a very popular Parisian restaurant. As fast as it rose, it lost favor and many of us stopped going because the quality of the food and service really degraded, but that's another story all onto itself.

Now onto what sits there now, which by-the-way has only been open for 6-months. 

There is vast improvement in the interior. They spent months and I assume lots of money to renovate it. It's much classier and a more "fine dining" establishment when compared to what was there before. 

The Chef de cuisine is managed by Thibault Nizard, a native of Marseilles. At the young age of 30, he cooks beyond his years. His style of cooking is innovative, stylish and more importantly, delicious. 

For lunch there are 2 prix-fixe menus, a 3 course (49€) and 5 course (95€), but we all ordered the 3 course prix-fixe lunch and for 20€ more on the 3 course, a wine pairing . For us in Paris, this is a great deal, especially with this caliber of restaurant. 

AMUSE BOUCHE.

Cheese boule. We had some tiny boules,  almost like an individual  Croquembouche or Chouquette filled with creamy cheese. It was beyond delicious. We were told the chef selected the cheeses to make it into a cream. 

Tomato "cake" with espelette. It was a tomato savory cake with espelette. Equally delicious.  

If this was the amuse bouche, then we're off to a very good start. It definitely tickled my taste buds, I wanted for more.

ENTREE.

Tomatoes with cream.  We misunderstood the wait staff when they said they were serving us a
tomato liqueur along with our tomato entrée. We drank it with our amuse bouche. I guess you can't take us out anymore. It would've been a great pairing. The tomato liqueur was actually quite good. It tasted like a smooth, not too sweet sauterne, but with a hint of tomato. 

Regardless, the tomato entrée was quite delicious without the liqueur. There was one large red tomato topped with a smaller green tomato that was soaked in its natural juices. Sitting atop it was a cool cream. The cream tasted like it was folded with a light cheese, probably a concoction of the chef. And, there were hints of basil and mint. We all loved it. Very refreshing. 

PLATS:

Cabillaud. Three of us got this dish. The picture does not do it justice since brown is a hard color to photograph. There was a cabillaud that was wrapped around a local sausage. The sausage was akin to a mortadela. The sauce was very rich made with chicken stock and wine that was reduced to a wonderful demi-glace. There were pieces of pork, potatoes and mushrooms. And, we got an additional bowl of more of the sides surrounding the dish. Very strong, rich flavors on this dish. The wine flavors came out. It was an excellent dish.  

Beef Cheeks. One person ordered this plat, which was one of the other choices for the prix-fixe menu. As I mentioned brown food is hard to photograph. It was delicious, but was very rich and the very strong reduced wine flavors, made it a tad bitter. I liked it, but I much preferred the cabillaud.

As for the side, it was a mushroom stuffed ravioli with a cream sauce. I thought it was very good on its own. In other words, it could've been a whole meal. 

If I'm being honest, it was a very strange combination. You have a very, very rich meat dish accompanied with a creamy pasta dish. Rich-on-rich. Granted, separately, they were EXCELLENT. 

DESSERTS

Dessert drink of gin, pear and St. Germain Liqueur. 

I normally do not like gin. But I have to say this drink along with the dessert was so good. So refreshing and not cloyingly sweet. This was a concoction made by the chef.

Cheese fondant. I went off menu and got this dessert. It was absolutely delicious. The cheese was a combination of the Chef's likes and whipped into almost like a mousse. It was savory with a savory ring of savory bread sticks formed into a circle. 

As you dug in, there was a surprise confiture of fruit that added a little sweetness that brought the cheese dish to the next level. It was an EXCELLENT dessert. I would have this again in a nano-second. 

Candied plumb with lavender and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a bed of crispy crumbles.

I'm not a sweets person but I have to say I really liked the plumb. And, with the ice cream and crumble it gave an extra layer of dimension and texture. It all came together as a cohesive excellent dessert. 

Coupe-de-Champagne. To close off our lunch, we got champagne later followed by "mignardise."

We ordered 3 glasses, JJ doesn't drink champagne. What can I say about it, but you can't go wrong with champagne in France. We had the brut. 

Mignardise. They looked so inviting, I broke my rule of no sugar and had some. The large boules were filled with a pastry cream. And, the smaller boues were filled with a "semi-solid" ganache. And, both were sitting on a bed of chipped chocolate crumbs. How can you go wrong with this as a parting gift. 

SUMMARY

What can I say, all-in-all this was an excellent restaurant. The service was beyond reproach. We had 3-servers to us. But perfect service, not overbearing as in the U.S. The tables were spread out nicely that you actually don't feel crowded. You were provided with little stools for your purses/bags.  I can imagine it being quite a romantic restaurant in the evenings. They do have a private dining room enough for 12 downstairs. The ambiance and service is what you would typically find in a Michelin starred restaurant. The chef is not only creative in the kitchen, he has a fine eye for design, which is reflected in the aesthetics of the restaurant, which he helped design. 

It was near perfect. The only minor complaint/observation, the beef cheeks and ravioli combo confused me. Two very heavy rich dishes side-by-side. Each by themselves would've been delicious. I would've served some greens to lighten the richness. Speaking of greens, they really should incorporate some as an accompaniment. 

For 4-prix-fixe meals and added wine tasting pairing consisting of 4-glasses of wine, 8-glasses of liqueur, 3-bottles of water, 3-glasses of champagne, 1-tea and, 1-off pre-fixe of a cheese fondant, our bill came to €368 or a total of €92 per person.

I would highly recommend you go before it becomes known, I foresee this restaurant becoming very popular. 

Would we go back? in a heartbeat. Sadly, it'll have to wait our return from our winter hajj to US. 

Note: If you are "purely" pescatarian and/or don't eat alcohol in your food, let them know. 

LA CRÉOLE -- Restaurant Review

 

For menu, directions and general information:  https://la-creole.fr/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor 

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4 - Star........................................€€................................... 2 - Bells

Normally I don't do reviews of ethnic restaurants since most of my readers want to read about french restaurants. But, I made an exception for this restaurant, since they were old french colonies and the french influence incorporated into their native dishes made them not only interesting, but delicious. You can definitely see the french influence.

Friends recommended this restaurant. First we had apéros at Le Select, bar/cafe which was the old stomping grounds of Ernest Hemingway and other famous writers. To this day, you'll see wannabe writers in the back trying to get inspiration from their "spirits."

Then onto the restaurant.

The interior is what I expected, lively and had a very tropical vibe. The food is from 2-different sides of the world. The Indian ocean, which comprises of food from e.g., La Reunion, Mauritius etc. And, the Caribbean where we have e.g., St. Martin and Guadeloupe.

Mixed appetizer

There were 5 of us and we decided to share the mixed appetizers. The combination was fantastic. They had boudin noir sausages (blood sausages) very french, and many tropical dishes that had nice spicy flavorings. They had samosas, crab, crab fritters. Overall, it was a nice mix of different flavors, and some were actually spicy, yippee!

Goat Stew

This stew originated from Mauritius. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. I was expecting it to be more curried stew akin to what you find in Jamaica. It was not as spicy as I would've liked, but they did have some "Scotch Bonnet" salsa as a side that I added to it, to give it a zing. It had a side dish of rice and sweet plantains. Overall, it was good, but not one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Dorade

This dish originated from Guadeloupe. This was my favorite dish of the night. The fish simply grilled. It was fresh, extremely moist and the accompaniments were perfect. Just squeeze a little lime and add one of the spicy sauces, and it became magic in your mouth. As everything else, it was accompanied by rice and sweet plantains. 

Sausage Créole.

Lastly, JJ ordered the créole sausage. This was one of the spicier dishes. It sort of reminded me of "Louisiana hot links" but had added spices, like basil and ginger. It was served in a tomato sauce. Absolutely delicious. 

NOTE: We decided to pass on dessert, since we were all pretty full. Portions are substantial. 

SUMMARY 

What a fun evening. It was a lively restaurant with live entertainment. I have one word to describe the atmosphere, 'FUN'. The music was definitely afro-caribbean. I spoke to one of the singers, and he was from Guadeloupe. So his singing style was very stylistically Caribbean, but in french. The patronage were very mixed. Mostly people from the "old" colonies, so that's a good sign. The wait-staff were also very mixed. Some were from the Indian ocean with a strong Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani influence, as you can see in the food. Whereas the Caribbean side had more the seafood. 

The cocktails were very, very inventive. I had a taste of one of the cocktails, it was a sweet rum cocktail with spicy chilies, but not overwhelming, just gave it a nice interesting bite. Delicious!

1 Guinness, 2-cocktails, and 2 bottles of white wine, 1-shared large entrée, 5- plats, our bill came to €212 or €42.40 per person. Would we go back, ABSOLUTELY!