recent eats in london, paris, and florence
hello friends, i have so much to share about my civil ceremony in paris last week. it’s coming soon (i still need some photos)… in the meantime, i wanted to talk about some of the lovely things théo and i ate in paris and london before the ceremony, and in florence after. i want to be clear: this is not a recommendation list for each city. think of it as a casual conversation with you where i’m like ‘hey i went to x restaurant last week and y dish was delicious.” that sort of thing. in this case, i have tried to keep it simple by highlighting one or two dishes at each place that we enjoyed (however, at some places it was impossible to keep the list so short). if you want another list of dishes i ate at restaurants i loved in paris and rome you can find that here
london
i have been dreaming about eating at sessions arts club. for years i have been enchanted by their plating and restaurant design, and now i can say the taste is just as delightful. the plates are small so we ordered a lot – but the two savory dishes that especially stood out were their pea risotto, which was textbook perfect, and their quail with tomatoes and borlotti beans which was so rich with flavor and so perfectly cooked. the desserts were beautifully flavored. it is clear they have taken deep care to balance textures and flavors, like the fig leaf in a panna cotta with strawberries sliced on top, and the anise seed in the sugared cracker served with a rhubarb sorbet.
this spot was near where we were staying so we decided to drop in. the options were limited but their plain croissant and almond croissant were both very, very good. the plain croissant had really nice feuilletage (layers), and the perfect balance of flavor (you could taste the butter, but not too much, and it wasn’t overly sweet or savory). the almond croissant had a lot of punchy and creamy almond frangipane, while the croissant kept its crispness and flakiness (this is essential for me in an almond croissant).
@tuscan_baker is currently working at chestnut bakery. i’ve been following their work for years hoping to try their pastries and i finally got the chance. i ran over to chestnut bakery early one morning after a run along the canal (which was so nice). i picked up two croissants, the pain au chocolat and the raspberry pistachio. both were excellent. the pain au chocolat was light, airy, a bit buttery, and melted in my mouth without crumbling all over my shirt (while i enjoy a croissant that gets everywhere i know most people do not, so this might be the right one for you). the raspberry pistachio was just as described – flakey, crumbly, and buttery with intense pistachio and raspberry flavor (i love the addition of raspberry in a pistachio croissant, as it brings that extra brightness and punch).
this was my first time dining at the legendary st. john. not to be hyperbolic, but the bone marrow appetizer was a revelation. when i have eaten bone marrow in the past, it has been served straight up on crusty bread (sometimes grilled) with flakey salt. while delicious, it always felt a tad monotonous and very heavy. at st. john, they add a salad of parsley, capers, and shaved red onion which you place on top of the bone marrow toast. this completely transformed the dish into something far brighter, with more texture and flavor, and created an experience where each bite was a little different from the one before it.
pockets only does one thing, falafel pita (well two i guess, since you could get it in a bowl), and they do it excellently. to start, there were so many different flavors jam-packed into the pita that i could not even begin to list all of the components. there were also a few surprises that made every bite completely unique and left you wanting more. texturally: you have the soft, fluffy, and squishy pita that they bake in-house and then briefly steam before stuffing (to get that squishy warmth to it), and they have at least two kinds of crunch: finely diced cucumber and the outside of the falafel. the inside of the falafel was properly moist and crumbly at the same time, and there was a bit of the slipperiness provided by the silky melt-in-your-mouth eggplant, the super gorgeous dollops of drippy tahini, and a smear of ultra-smooth hummus (not to mention lots of added flavor with some zhoug and amba). next time i’m in london i will certainly be going back.
we really enjoyed everything we got, and we enjoyed them all equally, so i really must break the rules and recommend every dish we tried: pak bung fai daeng (stir-fried morning glories with chilies and fermented soybeans), khua kling gai (one of my favorite dishes to eat – i loved all the lemongrass and green peppercorns in theirs), pad phet pla (sea bream sitting in a beautifully rich sauce with delicious whole makrut lime leaves). my only regret is that there were only two of us, and that we had to leave for the train to paris because we definitely would have loved to order the massaman curry with beef shoulder.
paris
a few years ago a friend took me to brutos for their sunday chicken lunch and i absolutely loved it (fyi if you want to go, plan accordingly, they only make it on sundays). we went back again this year to see if it is still great, and it is. all we ordered was the chicken with frites and the side salad (yes we could have ordered a half bird and gotten other things that looked good, but we were there for the chicken so we got a whole one to split). the chicken had a super crispy skin while the meat remained ultra tender (i have found most poulet roti that i have gotten from the butchers in france to be on the dry side, but not here). the whole bird was covered in a mess of finely chopped chives and sitting over a luxuriously rich chicken jus with prominent notes of roasted garlic and onions (that roasted flavor just adds to the richness…what i would do for the recipe…). interspersed with bites of the chicken, jus, and chives, you get some bites of vinegar-ey, shallot-ey salad, and then you can dip the frites in the jus of the chicken and just… wow.
when théo and i are in paris we stay at his grandparent’s place and for dinner, we will either eat a baguette with a little cheese and a big salad or we will go and grab lots of mezzes and a grilled meat from al fadi or de damas à beyrouth (both great). this time we decided to pick up food from manal, and i am already excited to go back on our next trip. their salads were just what i was craving after chicken and frites for lunch. the two dishes in particular that i could not stop eating were their salade du moine, which was so light and bright (i am nominally allergic to eggplant, and i have to eat a lot of it to get a reaction – i ate so much of this i had a reaction). their fattoush was addictive, the salad was crispy and crunchy (from the fresh greens and pita chips) and it had a bright lemony dressing that made my mouth water and tingle in the best ways.
théo and i used to do a lot of fine dining in paris, but we came to the realization that generally speaking, it was too rich for us–too much meat, too many sauces–so we largely stopped going. but this year théo wanted to return to one of our favorite fine dining experiences from a few years ago, granite, and i’m happy we did. the restaurant was just as good as it had been in the past, but it has become even more creative and exploratory – with each dish succeeding at equal levels (which i rarely, if ever, find to be the case). the menu changes all the time but they do one thing that i found to be quite smart: they had the first and the last of the savory dishes mirror each other. the meal had started with a dish of white asparagus with a sage foam, gels of mint and lemon, and lemon verbena leaves (which was such a beautiful combination of flavors). we then had that combination again at the transition amuse-bouche between dinner and dessert, a small ball of verbena or lemon sorbet coated in an airy yogurt and sage sauce with some minty celery on the bottom for some texture (it was delicious and truly was neither savory nor sweet - excellently executed).
ps. if you do want to do a tasting menu in paris lots of restaurants offer lunch tastings that are either the same menu but less expensive, or offer smaller, more manageable meals (eg. 3 courses). granite is one of those spots (and we indeed had lunch here).
this one is a little sneak peek at our wedding lunch, which we hosted here. maybe i am a bit biased, but this was without a doubt the best wedding food i have ever eaten. they always have a variety of crudos on the menu, get one (i especially love the crudos paired with pistachios here). we have also tried a few of their fish main courses and they have all been pretty damn perfect. for our wedding lunch, i ordered the red mullet which came perfectly cooked with this great crispy skin, some braised artichokes, and a super rich jus on the bottom. this was my third red mullet dish of the month (it seems to be on the menu everywhere) and it was by far my favorite preparation. not to mention that the staff is lovely, and the dining room is beautiful.
ps. you can read about my other parisian favorites like my current fav places for croissants, dürüm, and prix-fixe seafood lunch (all places i also ate at this trip) you can find those on the amigo app, and you can use my code PARISGO to skip the waitlist.
florence
about a month ago, the t magazine posted a list of their 25 essential pastas in italy, and cibrèo caffé represented florence with their cacio e burro. so we went, and it was delicious. the best pasta we had in florence. we also got the fassona beef tartare. if tartare is your thing and you have not yet had fassona beef before, i recommend trying it (the cattle are bred to be leaner, yielding delicious meat with a rich texture and less intense flavor).
trattoria mario is only open for lunch, and you come here for the steak. they have a a few different cuts to choose from. we decided to go for the most flavorful and less tender, but choose what you like. they hack off your cut of meat in front of you and throw it on the grill. we started with a pasta with their meat sauce which was delicious, followed by our steak with a side salad, and then we got a half side of their potatoes. also, the vibes are so cool here, the staff is friendly, and most tables look out onto the kitchen.
if there is one place i would recommend going for dinner, it would be here. everything we got was equally delicious, and so once again i must tell you about everything. we got a half portion of the tripe (which was tender and tomato-ey and cheesy), the butter chicken (which has the most heavenly scent), the artichoke pie (which is basically folded eggs with a pad of butter on top and some artichokes), and the vegetable sides of porcinis and chicories. the tomato salad and sautéed string beans also looked fantastic, next time. if you are a party of two you will be seated at a table with another party of two. the people across from us got the steak and said it was one of the best they’d had in their life, even better than they had remembered, and they come to florence a lot. some food for thought.
gelatO’clock
my father brought something between a tradition and a rule into my family: gelatO’clock. there is no specific time for gelatO’clock, but it takes place every afternoon in italy, at around 3-6 pm, when you’re really hot, tired, and maybe a little grumpy (sometimes it can strike again after dinner).
we tried some gelatos in florence when it was time, and they were pretty good. but to be fair, a lot of these gelatO’clocks were actually sorbettO’clocks because when i’m really overheated i actually prefer a refreshing sorbet. twice we went to la sorbettiera (which has multiple locations across the city) where i got to have a lemon and sage sorbet (my new favorite combo). their melon and passion fruit flavors were also very good. their sorbet is held at this very nice texture where it’s a little icy and a little liquidy (less icy and less liquidy than a granita though). then there was sbrino, where the gelato flavors were incredibly intense, and the texture was nice, creamy, and dense. the densest and creamiest of all, however, was gelateria della passera. for the first time ever i mixed gelato and sorbet together in a cone: pistachio gelato and strawberry sorbet. both flavors and textures were perfect (the pistachio was rich and creamy and very bright, while the strawberry was intensely fruity and fresh), and the combination was so dreamy.