吃在巴黎 (Eating in Paris)

7月3日 星期二 Tuesday, July 3

离开了巴黎，现在已经达到了比利时根特的民宿住处，简单的总结一下在巴黎的吃。

We’ve left Paris and have now reached the B&B residence in Ghent, Belgium. I had planned to simply sum up the food in Paris. Turns out, it is easier said than done 🙂

我想问～～是谁～～给了“法国大餐”那么高的名声的？ 我已经尽力给法国菜一个公正的接受品尝的机会了，可是为什么我俩的感觉是没～有～味～道～？？  PJG和我尝试了两次正宗的而且总是坐满了人的法国饭店的晚餐，两次的经验都是 “为什么菜没有什么味道？” 甚至似乎连盐都缺失？ 总之，或许是因为我们没找到好的餐厅，或许是我俩已经被重庆火锅和味道超级丰富的泰国菜给毁掉了，我对“法国大餐”失去了兴趣 😂  PJG似乎也没有很享受他的法国餐，但是他还是不会放弃法国大餐的。

I want to ask this~ ~ Who is the one ~ ~ that gave the “French” such a high reputation for cooking? Granted, we never ate at a high end French restaurant nor even real “French Food” but I have tried my best to give French food a chance to accept the taste, but why do we feel that there is … no taste there!? We tried two supposedly authentic dinners at French restaurants that were always full of people. The experience twice was, “Why doesn’t the food have any taste?” It even seems to be missing salt! In short, perhaps because we didn’t find a good restaurant and maybe we have been forever ruined by awesome Chongqing hot pot and super-rich Thai food but I’ve lost all interest in the “French feast”. PJG didn’t seem to enjoy it either (nb but he tried his best to pretend), but he still won’t give up on the French myth.

下面简单记录了一些我俩在巴黎的餐食。

Here is a brief synopsis of some of our other meals in Paris.

肉和芝士拼盘 – The Meat and Cheese platter

我俩的民宿住处在拉丁区，离住处很近的地方有一个圆形小广场，广场中心有一个小喷泉，周围有很多饭店，酒吧，卖衣服视频等的小商店等。这里每天从下午开始就热闹非凡，直到午夜还是热闹非凡，几乎每个饭店门前一排一排的座位都坐满了人。我总是怀疑这些疯狂的人都是游客，问过一个当地人，他说他们本地人也来这里，他感觉是一半一半。 下面的饭店是在广场边的其中一个，也是我俩到了巴黎后第一个去的饭店。我俩那里喝了两杯啤酒，点了一盘肉和芝士拼盘，顿时消解了从伦敦赶过来的旅途劳累，也开始感受到了巴黎这种排排坐门前餐饮的文化。

I’ll start with something that is impossible to screw up. Our bed and breakfast was located in the Latin Quarter and there is a small circular “square” nearby. There is a small fountain in the center of the square. There are many restaurants, bars, small shops selling clothes and videos. Every day, beginning in the late afternoon, it is full of excitement and until at least midnight it is still very lively. Almost every row of seats in front of each cafe is full of people. I always suspect that these crazy people must be tourists, and when I asked a local, he said that there are both here. He feels half and half. The hotel below is on one of the corners, and was the first cafe we went to after we arrived in Paris. We had two glasses of beer, ordered the meat and cheese platter, and immediately dispelled the tiredness of the journey from London, and began to feel the culture of dining at the front door of Paris.

鸡肉饭 – Chicken with Rice

这个应该不算什么法国菜，是一个我俩去过几次的酒吧／餐馆里的一道菜，也是到巴黎的第一晚分享着吃的第一道菜。 味道非常好，是那种亚洲菜的味道（所以我才觉得好吃的吧？ 哈哈）

This of course is not a French dish. It is a dish in a bar/restaurant that we ended up going to several times. It is also the first dish we shared as our first meal in Paris. It tastes very good, it is the taste of Asian food (so I feel it’s delicious) …  Haha

第一餐正宗法式晚餐 – First meal at an “authentic” French cafe

这个餐厅也离我俩的住处很近，是这边众多超火的饭店的其中一间。当时餐厅旁边还有两个表演萨克斯风和鼓点的街头艺人。我俩去吃饭的时间还有些早，门前还有些座位。我俩真的是兴奋的去吃，老泪纵横的吃完，因为特别没有味道，特别失望。我点的开胃菜法式蜗牛，我很吃不惯那种味道，奶油还是芝士的那种味道，PJG觉得好吃，我还是喜欢大排档的那种麻辣蜗牛的味道，哈哈 😅。我的主菜是牛蛙腿，我充满了期待的，结果真的一点儿味道都没有，不但没有任何调料的味道，连盐的味道都没有，我怀疑厨师在做饭的时候睡着了吧？ 算了，不吐槽了。

This restaurant is also close to our place and is one of the many “Prix-fixe” places here. There were two street musicians next to the restaurant performing on saxophone and drums. At the time we went to eat it was still fairly early, and there were some seats by the front. We were really excited to be there, but by the time we finished, as we say in Chinese, “we were full of tears” – The mean was tasteless. The fixed price meal comes with an appetizer (Entree), a main course (Plat) and a dessert. For my appetizer I ordered French snails. I am not familiar with this taste; the creamyness or the taste of cheese; PJG thinks it’s delicious. I still like prefer the ma la spicy snails in the food stalls in China, haha. My main dish was the frog legs. I am full of expectation which were quickly met with disappointment. There simply was no taste, literally.  Not only was there no taste of spices, but even the taste of salt is missing. I suspect that the chef fell asleep while cooking. Forget it, move on, don’t want to relive it.

法国菜午餐 – French cuisine lunch

我俩在法国郊外开车的时候，在Laon小镇吃的午餐。在我第一晚吃过了很失望的法国晚餐后，我还是再次尝试了一下，我点了大名鼎鼎的法式煎饼，里面卷火腿和蘑菇，诚实的说味道还是不错的，不过对我来说芝士太多了，吃了一会儿就腻住了 😂 PJG的韃靼牛肉(也就是生牛肉)味道也不错。

When we were driving in the suburbs of France, we had lunch in the small town of Laon. After I had the very disappointing French dinner the previous night, I wanted to give it another chance. I ordered a famous French pancake (Crepe) filled with ham and mushrooms. I honestly thought that the taste was good, but for me, the cheese was too much… and I tired of eating it after awhile. PJG’s yak meat (also known as raw beef or tartare) tastes really good.

第二餐法国菜晚餐 – Second French “cuisine” dinner

不多说了，这也是一餐失望的法国菜尝试。

Not much to say, this was also a disappointing attempt to savior a French dish. Note the name of the restaurant includes the famous “Chez Robert” – nb. I guess that should have been red-flag number two.

特别的午餐 – A Special lunch

PJG曾经买过一幅画，描绘了一家巴黎的餐厅的门面。我俩就在那个餐厅吃了一次午餐，感觉像是走进了画里，又像是把画面变成了活动的显示，是一种很奇妙的感觉。这家餐厅开在1900年，已经经历了一个家庭的第三代人。虽然有历史，但是味道还只是一般吧我觉得，PJG觉得很好。

PJG once bought a painting depicting the facade of a Parisian restaurant. Today, we had lunch at the restaurant and it felt like walking into the painting or like turning the painting into a reality. It was a wonderful feeling. This restaurant opened in 1900 and has experienced the third generation of family ownership. Although there is much history with the restaurant, the taste is not special – but I think PJG liked it – was it the food, or the memory?

日本午餐 – Japanese lunch

这是在巴黎的最后一天发现的一片儿有很多日本饭店的地方，门脸看上去很小，里面里外三间能装下很多客人。我本来是奔着猪肉饭进去的，结果不知道为什么鬼迷心窍的点了一份冷面。说起来在这里点菜也不容易呢，没有图片，全是标着法文的日本菜的名字。这里味道很好，不辜负我俩对亚洲菜的向往。

Here’s the place I mentioned where there are many asian restaurants that we found on our last day in Paris. The door looks small but inside there are three big rooms. I originally went in craving the pork rice, but I don’t know why I ended up with a cold noodle dish! It was not so easy to order food here. There are no pictures and all the names of the Japanese dish names translated to French. The tastes was good and did not disappoint our longing for Asian cuisine.

总之呢， 我还是觉得亚洲菜最好吃 😂😅😃☺😊

In short, I still think Asian food is the best.😂😅😃☺😊 (nb. surprise, surprise)