Locomotoring

Located near Place Victoires, on rue Croix des Petits Champs, Les Fines Gueules is beautiful both inside and out. I will remember it for two things:

• One of the best Loire reds that I have had so far.
• Eating la ratte potatoes with le boeuf tartare, the later being a specialty of this restaurant.

Cassis biscuit and chocolate cake at Jean-Paul Hévin

What is this growing Parisian passion for fresh ingredients put on the plate simply? Just a month before this meal, we had dined on pan sautéed la ratte potatoes, that I grew in pots in my tiny apartment balcony, with a glass of Loire white for dinner on a busy weekday. I am the anti-“fresh ingredients put simply on the plate” kind of restaurant diner. Give me the best ingredients and chef’s blood, sweat and tears please. However, when you are on a wonderful holiday, a simple and delicious meal is nothing to scoff at.  We had a great time. Besides, this restaurant has started a new travel story. The opening line goes like this … “Did you know that French people love eating vegetables? As long as there are fewer than six Brussels sprout leaves on the plate …”

For dessert, we headed towards Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolatier on Rue Saint-Honoré where I had my fill of the complex art of cooking.