Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Restaurant Georges at Centre Pompidou

It's warming up already. For the first time, I can step out wearing three quarts and just 2 layers. No more jeans and white jacket (if u have observed from several of my past photos). Whoo!

Met Bel & Sam for dinner again (since they're stuck & i'm sure you know why) at Restaurant Georges at Centre Pompidou. Food not worth mentioning since too pricey for its quality, but the view's definitely nice enough for me to want to head back there again! Drinks this time, at the alfresco area. Huge restaurant although only about 40% filled. Wonder why they always required reservations. But yeah, worth a visit I would say. Especially during the evening when the sun is setting...


Name: Georges Restaurant at Centre Pompidou
Location: Place Georges Pompidou, 4th arrondissement
Total expenditure: 45€ per head

Monday, April 19, 2010

Le Cordon Bleu

Attended a Le Cordon Bleu cooking demonstration last Sat and it was quite enjoyable. The 3-hour class is called 'Cooking for Friends' and the menu that day includes Langoustine (a type of prawns) tartare with virgin olive oil, Sauteed beef steak Bordelaise style with patato gratin and French green beans, and Licorice flavored souffle. Sounds complicated already? Wait till you get down to the real action! Only a list of ingredients were given to us, not the recipe. So we had to copy notes like lecture students throughout the demonstration. Was a little flustered and confused regarding the sequence of steps. Zzz. (Have to compile the 3 different versions of notes later.) Don't think we'll be able to cook this up on our own, especially the souffle! Ultra hard work. Maybe, just maybe, the potato gratin? Looks easy enough :)


Our chef, and his young translator. Quite humorous. Not grouchy like how he looks in this photo.. Heh.
This photo doesn't do the food justice at all!!
Tada, my fav - the langoustine tartare (like prawn sashimi)
And so you can see, we were rewarded with a degustation of what he cooked. Rather substantial actually. Loved it. The other 2 weren't really fans of the red wine reduced sauce for the beef, and also not too used to the licorice flavoured souffle. I, being the glutton, ate up everything :D

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

First home-cooked meal; Paris Marathon

Our first home-cooked meal.. pork chop. Love our standard everyday entree: cheese, ham/jamon, foie gras/pate, greens & crackers. Getting very frenchy ;)

Went to Foch Avenue last Sunday to support S' friends at the Paris Marathon. A pity we couldn't catch them at the finishing line as our eyes had to fish through 40,000 runners. It was great though to see marathoners of seriously ALL shapes and sizes and ages. We even saw a banner cheering for someone who's 80 years old!

Here are the 3 super achievers: Sam, Sharon and Bel. I have to take my hats off them. Running 40km in the blistering cold!! Well done.

That night, we went to Sam's place, which boasts an absolutely breath-taking view of Paris. Photo taken at the rooftop of the penthouse. I was in awe the moment I stepped into the apartment.
And this is what we saw while we were enjoying an excellent dinner (thanks to the 3 chefs) with excellent wine (thanks S for sharing your 86 Pichon)...

Apparently the Eiffel Tower glitters every night at 10pm and then hourly until I don't know what time. So prettyyyyy...

Friday, April 9, 2010

Fraser Suites Harmonie La Defense

Comfortably settled in a serviced apartment at La Defense, at the edge of Paris. Just a train stop / 15 mins walk away from a shopping mall with this huge supermarket called Auchan. How I love this place. Million and one types of foie gras, cheese, ham etc etc, even frozen escargots clams prawns and all! But no, I haven't started my cooking adventure yet. Sorry to disappoint. Haha. Planning to start this weekend with S. Patient k. ;)


In case you're wondering what I've been doing so far, I've been clocking many miles checking out the vicinities of potential apartments. Hard work! Looking for a place to stay can be such a headache. We have to balance factors such as: near station (be it tram or metro or RER), near shops, near Paris, near S' workplace, not too quiet, and not too old! Viewed one this morning and it looks promising. Am quite hopeful :D

Had some exciting food for dinner last night...

Oysters bought along the streets... 9€ for a dozen. And that's not the cheapest (!!) Prawn salad & terrine 7€, whole roasted chicken 10€, and wine 5€. Enough to make us happy :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Teochew Porridge

Craving for some light teochew porridge today, S searched online for some recommendations and brought us to this place tucked away in Joo Chiat. We were all pleasantly surprised by the variety. You know, most teochew porridge places like the one I used to frequent at Havelock Road offer ready-cooked dishes then you just pick & choose right. This one has quite a few 'tze char' dishes, so the spread's rather different.


You gotta try the steamed fish & clams!! Fish was fresh & the soup stock tasted very teochew -- closest to my mum's cooking already..so I loved it. Clams (everyone's fav) had a very unique & fragrant gravy. Tofu w prawn so-so only. 'Hei Chou' (traditional prawn roll) was good despite the weak dip sauce. Veg & fish cake, normal. Their other signature dishes include cold crab (so enticing!) & stew pig trotter. We were so happy to have found this treasure. Not the cheapest, but definitely the better ones around.

Name: Xu Jun Sheng (long ji) Chao Zhou Mei Shi
Location: 59 Joo Chiat Place
Total expenditure: $50