Maison Landemaine (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

Time is running out before all the restaurants, cafes, pastry shops and rotisseries close their doors in preparation for the New Year break. Luckily, I'm at the perfect spot to do some last-minute shopping as I was strolling around Rue des Martyrs ("Market street").



Rue des Martyrs is one of my favorite places to visit in Paris because there, I could always find all kinds of different food stores from bakery, patisserie to rotisserie, butcher shop, fruit and vegetable market.

I was fortunate enough to find a few pastry shops still open at this hour. My first stop was Maison Landemaine, a French bakery shop by Rodolphe Landemaine who used to work at Pierre Hermé, Paul Bocuse à Lyon and gastronomic restaurant Lucas Carton before striking out on his own in 2007 with his wife. 



Mont Blanc - After checking out various versions of Mont Blanc cakes from Ladurée, Acide Macaron, Des Gâteaux et du Pain and Pierre Hermé on this trip, I thought it's time for a more classic version. This came in a shortcrust pastry topped by whipped cream and a layer of rich chestnut cream. Pretty fulfilling.



Mille feuille - Another all-time classic. I thought the pastry was a little chewy after I left it sitting at my hotel for a few hours but the custard was alright.







Food Rating: 5.2/10
Price: €€
Address: 26 rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Saint Georges
Tel: +33 (0)1 4016-0342
Website: www.maisonlandemaine.com

Pâtisserie Sébastien Gaudard - Rue des Martyrs (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

Once a humble market street in the 9th arrondissement, Rue des Martyrs has quietly become one of the coolest places to shop thanks to its gourmet boutiques, bakeries, cafés and produce stalls. On New Year's Eve, every Parisien was scrambling to finish his or her grocery shopping early and head home for celebration. I was doing exactly the same thing on Rue des Martyrs all by myself with Jelloman and little nugget settling down in a café nearby.

It was absolute joy walking around a market street like Rue des Martyrs, even for someone who barely knows how to cook (like yours truly). One of the familiar names I happened to run into was Pâtisserie Sébastien Gaudard, a popular pastry brand that we just visited a few nights ago.

These were all ready to be taken home for New Year celebration.

Knowing well that little nugget was due for his afternoon nap, I quickly wrapped up my shopping, met up with the gang and headed home on a cab. Next thing I knew, I was setting up our own party in the kitchen. Before I started laying out our food, I noticed the hotel staff had sneaked in with a few surprises. A bottle of champagne, box of chocolate, macaron and a "Happy New Year 2018" card. That's a nice touch.

Guess what I've prepared for tonight's dinner? Rotisserie chicken.

Some local strawberries.....

Something sweet to finish our New Year's Eve feast on a sweet note – Montmorency griotte-pistache from Pâtisserie Sébastien Gaudard. Silky smooth pistachio cream delivered some strong nutty flavors while matched with the sharp acidity from the montmorency cherries. Pretty interesting combination of flavors.

Looking back, this had to be one of the most memorable New Year's Eve for little nugget. Spending Christmas and New Year in Paris. It must be quite an adventure for him.

And he seems to be enjoying himself very much. I guess he's born to be a wanderlust!

Food Rating: 6.4/10

Price: €€€

Address: 22, rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris, France

Closest Metro Station: Saint-Georges / Notre-Dame-de-Lorette

Tel: +33 (0)1 7118-2470

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Mon - Fri), 10:00am - 8:00pm (Sat), 10:00am - 7:00pm (Sun)

SOFA Café (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

The weather hasn't been very good since we arrived in Paris about a week ago. Cold and dismal weather has kept us a bit off balance but we're going to enjoy the rest of our time here. There are only two days left on this trip. Let's make them count. 

We had a lazy morning to start the day. After a relaxing lunch, we spent some time at Place de la Concorde, followed by a visit to the upscale Place Vendôme and finishing things up with a stroll at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. Little one wasn't happy with all the bright lights inside Galeries Lafayette. He wanted a place to sit down and have something to eat so we took a short walk across the street and sat down at SOFA Café.

This guy is starting to look a little tired. His first-ever long trip away from home. He must be feeling a little weird away from his routine. Probably missing home too.

Some caffeine for everyone.....

We weren't exactly hungry but little guy was probably starving since he hasn't had much to eat all day. We ordered this crepe with banana for him and he started eating a bit. At this point, it began to rain heavily. With little one feeling fatigued, we thought it was probably a good idea to just call it the day. So, I rushed out to the nearby market street (Rue de Martyrs) to get ourselves something for dinner while Jelloman and our little boy stayed here for his snack.

Price: €€€

Address: 4-6 Rue La Fayette, 75009 Paris, France, France

Closest Metro Station: Chaussée d'Antin — La Fayette

Tel: +33 (0)1 4770-5746

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 11:00pm (Mon - Sat), 8:00am - 9:00pm (Sun)

Le Grand Corona (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

A visit to Paris without eating at a French bistro is kind of like visiting Egypt without seeing the pyramid. After spending the entire week in Paris without having a French onion soup or escargot, we knew a meal with some hearty French-style comfort food is long overdue.



It's so nice to finally see some sunshine following a week of rain and snow. Too bad we're leaving tomorrow morning (Weep!).



Since it's our last day in town, we are not going to be picky about where to eat as long as it has onion soup and escargot on the menu.



French onion Soup (€12.00) - Yes, finally I got my hands on this French classic. Well, actually Jelloman did.



This came with the usual gratinéed cheese, croutons and loads of onion. Not bad.



Chestnut cappuccino (€10.50) - I decided to check out some in-season chestnut myself and this foamy chestnut cappuccino was perfect. Very light but richly flavored with chestnut. A brilliant way to start off the meal.



Escargot (€17.50) - At last, some Burgundy snails with parsley garlic butter. Now where's the bread?



Le Grand Corona is more like a gastropub than a real French bistro but if you're just looking for a quick and simple meal like us, it's a nice option. 





Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: €€€
Address: 3 Place de l'Alma, 75008 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Alma-Marceau
Tel: +33 (0)1 4720-7027
Website: www.facebook.com/Le-Grand-Corona-1622142884768719/

Restaurant Coquette at W Paris (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

It's been a very long day for all of us. A quick visit to Les Halles, lunch at Paris' only dessert bar Dessance, a walking tour on Île Saint-Louis and then we were finally back at the Opera House.



Desperately looking for a place where we could find something for our little nugget to eat, we finally settled down at Restaurant Coquette, a casual diner located on the ground floor of W Paris Hotel.



I'm not sure if "trendy" is the right word to describe the decor of this restaurant. Perhaps "quirky" would be a better word.



For a hotel restaurant, it was relatively quiet for dinner service.



Caesar salad with smoked chicken, bacon and soft-boiled egg - The lettuce could be a little more crispy but all in all, pretty decent.



Clubhouse Sandwich - Not bad and my little one loves the homemade fries.



I'm kind of excited about tomorrow coz it would mark the first time we spend our new year celebration in Europe. But for now, it's time to crash (So tired!).




Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: €€€
Address: 4 Rue Meyerbeer, 75009 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Chaussee d'Antin
Tel: +33 (0)1 7748-9444
Website: www.restaurant-coquette.fr

Pain de Sucre (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

We have a lot planned for this afternoon including a visit to Forum Des Halles, one of the biggest shopping mall in Paris, as well as a couple of dessert spots in the 3rd and 4th arrondissement. And of course, there's our long anticipated lunch at Paris' only dessert bar, Dessance.



Considered one of the "wildest" patisseries in the city, Pain de Sucre would be the first of many dessert shops I visited before lunch. They have all sorts of colorful pastries with some of the most amazing combination of flavors. 



But before I treat myself to their desserts, I decided to check out their sister store a couple of stores next to their pastry shop. This is an extension from their patisserie that focuses solely on bread and savory creations. 



While their to-go sandwiches, quiches and smoked salmon looked really tasty, I decided to save some stomach room for my upcoming lunch at Dessance. So, just a pair of foie gras and cognac macarons. 



This is like chewing on a piece of foie gras terrine (but with the texture of a macaron). Very rich foie gras flavors. Even more so than Pierre Herme's Foie gras and chocolate.







Price: €€€
Address: 14 Rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Rambuteau
Tel: +33 (0)1 4574-6892
Website: www.patisseriepaindesucre.com

Pierre Hermé Bonaparte (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★★☆

With most of the pastry shops in Saint Germain closed at around 7PM, I thought there was zero chance that my favorite patisserie (Pierre Hermé) would still be open at 7:30PM. But I couldn't be happier to find out that I was wrong.



It's been almost a year since I last visited a Pierre Hermé boutique so like a little kid went into his favorite candy shop, I walked in here with my eyes glowing in anticipation.



Odyssée (7.2 Euro) - There were some interesting new creations in there but I had my eyes on the chestnut themed Odyssée all the way. At first glance, I thought this would be a refined version of a Mont Blanc cake.

They had two crackers made with nuts, chestnut and a hint of caramel on the side and sandwiched in between were layers of chestnut cream, creamy mousse made with walnut water and lastly, nougatine with walnuts and Okinawa brown sugar. That's a lot of things stuffed inside a small package.

What I like about this dessert was the variety of pleasant textures all which were unsurprisingly chestnut or walnut flavored. It's perfect for those who love nutty desserts.



Caviar Petrossian (3.5 Euro) - A collaboration (silver colored ones) between world’s best chef patissier, Pierre Hermé and the caviar king, Armen Petrossian.



Here're three of my favorite macarons from the Picasso of Pastry, Caviar Petrossian (Silver), White truffle with hazelnut (Beige) and Foie gras and chocolate (Brown). While the white truffle and foie gras flavors have been around for a few years, the Caviar Petrossian made its debut this year. I thought the new kid on the block (Caviar) was seriously good. Just love the tiny seeds of the caviar delivering subtle bit of saltiness (like a real caviar) which were beautifully highlighted by the aroma of dried fruits and essence of green walnut.






Food Rating: 7/10
Price: €€€€
Address: 72 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Saint-Sulpice
Tel: +33 (0)1 4354-4777
Website: www.pierreherme.com

Izakaya Taisho Ken 3 (Paris, FRANCE) ★★☆☆☆

My life as a foodie is officially over tonight when I allegedly picked Japanese food over French cuisine in the world's culinary capital - Paris.



But I had no choice. My 2-year old had run out of his baby food so instead of foie gras, onion soup and escargots, I had to settle for some Japanese noodles (after failing to find a Chinese restaurant). Luckily, we were just around the corner from the opera house so it would be a very short walk to Little Tokyo (Rue Saint-Anne, if you're looking for the street name).



Fried gyoza - Izakaya Taisho Ken 3 looks like a family-run Japanese izakaya offering a little bit of everything (rice, noodle, meat, skewers etc.). Like any casual Japanese eatery, they have a decent fried gyoza. Or perhaps we were just too hungry.



Udon in chicken broth with prawn tempura, vegetables and seaweed - This one belongs to my little one although I did manage to steal a couple of prawn tempura from him. Not bad.



Yakiudon - A little soaky and bland.



Obviously, my kid loves Little Tokyo so much that he refuses to leave the place. 






Price: €€
Address: 11 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75001 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Pyramides
Tel: +33 (0)1 4296-2760

Le Pain Quotidien (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

Jelloman is off to her shopping spree again and as a result for the next few hours, I will have my little nugget all to myself. It's already tough enough to keep the naughty boy occupied for a couple of hours and to add insult to injury, I got the freezing cold (and rainy) weather to deal with. Exciting, isn't it?



Instead of battling the cold weather outside, I decided to go in Le Pain Quotidien for a lengthy coffee break.



I'm quite familiar with this bakery-restaurant group from Brussels having tried their pastries and hot chocolate in Hong Kong first hand.



This is a very spacious bakery cafe they've got here in the heart of Saint Germain.



I have had enough sweet treats today, including a couple of two tartlets I just picked up from Des Gâteaux et du Pain next door. I think I only got stomach space for a small bowl soup and perhaps a croissant.



Their menu was in French so I had to call my server over to ask what the daily soup was. But he had no idea how to say it in English. That was so funny. At the end, the best description he could come up with was this - "something that tasted like pumpkin". That turned out to be butternut squash. Well, that's exactly what I needed. A bowl of warm butternut squash soup!



I was drooling all over this flaky croissant when I saw it from their counter so I decided to get one to go with my butternut squash soup.



Some steamed milk with almond. I was expecting a little richer almond flavors.



After sitting there for hours, there was still no sign of the shopaholic Jelloman. We were running out of things to entertain ourselves.



Perhaps some selfies.....?



Many thanks to this branch of Le Pain Quotidien for providing me a shelter to get through these tough couple of hours. I think I would never forget my dining experience here.




Price: €€€
Address: 25 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Rue du Bac
Tel: +33 (0)1 4544-0210
Website: www.lepainquotidien.fr