Menu Palais La Vallée Village (Serris, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

After spending four days in Paris, it was time for us to head south and get some sunshine. But there was still one more stopover to make before our drive down south, La Vallée Village in Serris.

While Jelloman immediately headed for her shopping spree, yours truly decided to bring little one out for a quick bite.

There wasn't a whole lot of choices around the designer outlet when it comes to food so instead of getting picky, we ended up settling down at Menu Palais, a casual diner in the heart of La Vallée Village serving a simple all-day menu. 

We got to chill out a bit while waiting for Jelloman to finish her shopping. 

Some cold drinks to start us off first during our wait.

Cod fish and chips with tartare sauce – Well, I ordered this for myself but my son swiftly scooped it up without my blessing! 😡😡

Baked rigatoni with Comté cheese – Now, I understood why he had to abandon his pasta. This was way too cheesy, even for daddy.

The plan was to spend about an hour and a half at the outlet but we wound up spending twice the time per our original plan. I guess I really need to step on the gas petal to cut down on our travel time now, or else it would be dark before we arrive in Dijon.

Food Rating: 4.7/10

Price: €€€

Address: 3 Cours de la Garonne, 77700 Serris, France

Tel: +33 (0)1 6043-2673

Website: www.lavalleevillage.com/fr/cafes-and-restaurants/menu-palais/

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 8:00pm daily

Hakata Choten Opera (Paris, FRANCE) ★★☆☆☆

Less than a week into our trip to France, little nugget has already voiced his displeasure on having French food everyday on a number of occasions. So, I decided to change things up tonight by treating him to a Japanese ramen dinner at Hakata Choten Opera.



When visiting a ramen shop named "Hakata" (based on the district of Fukuoka, Japan), you can expect a strong focus on tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen, a specialty that Hakata is renowned for.

Tonkotsu Special + Chasu (€20.5) – One of the signature tonkotsu ramen here, combining the secret ingredients from their Tonkotsu Red (broth infused with a secret spicy sauce) and Tonkotsu Black (broth infused with scorched black garlic sauce) recipe. This came with 3 slices of barbecued pork, a soft-boiled egg, fresh chives and bean sprouts (no bamboo shoots!). 

As usual, I sampled the tonkotsu broth with a quick sip but it fell way short of expectations. There was no depth of flavors coming from the broth and instead, just a lot of saltiness (kind of like the broth of instant noodles made with seasoning powder). The red sauce apparently  added some mild spicy kick to the broth but nothing too overpowering there.

The soft-boiled egg.......well, became a hard-boiled egg. 😔😔

Right after the meal, we took a relaxing walk around rue Sainte-Anne and Avenue de l’Opéra. This is where you find all these little Asian restaurants (mostly Japanese and Korean). We also stumbled upon Gyoza Hohei, a Japanese restaurant that used to be called "Izakaya Taisho Ken 3" in 2017. It was there that my little boy was having his breakdown screaming and yelling after our meal (Who could blame a 2 year old kid having a meltdown on his first trip in Europe). This brought back a lot of memories for us.

Once again, this ramen dinner highlighted how fortunate we are as Hongkongers. The diverse range of foods we have the privilege of savoring in Hong Kong, be it Japanese, French or Italian, comes with authentic flavors that transport us to the very essence of these same dishes as enjoyed in their respective native countries.

Food Rating: 3.8/10

Price: €€€

Address: 53 Rue des Petits Champs, 75001 Paris, France

Closest Metro Station: Opéra

Tel: +33 (0)1 4020-9888

Website: www.hakata-choten.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm (Mon - Fri), 12:00pm - 4:30pm (Sat - Sun), 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Sun)

Le Violon d'Ingres (Paris, FRANCE) ★★★★☆

Today’s main event for us is a visit to the Eiffel Tower. I don’t know about the others but personally, I am pumped every time I come across this symbolic landmark of Paris. For our own convenience, I thought it was important that we found a lunch venue near the tower so we could soak up the vibe in the 7th arrondissement neighborhood which is best known for its historical sites, charming neighborhoods, and vibrant cultural scene.

That brought us to Le Violon d'Ingres, an upscale neo-brasserie helmed by highly regarded chef Alain Solivérès, formerly of the prestigious fine-dining institution Le Taillevent, and Jimmy Tsaramanana.

I knew a big part of Le Violon d'Ingres' kitchen (including pastry chef Ryota Ozawa) is Asian but didn't realize that its client base is predominantly Asian as well.

Lunch got rolling in a hurry with some cheese gougères and seasoned almonds (I thought with matcha).

Heirloom tomatoes, pine nuts, burrata, olive oil – Some of us kicked off the meal with an assortment of heirloom tomatoes which have been seasoned with sherry vinegar. This came with very refreshing, clean flavors working well with the roasted pine nuts, pistou and burrata cheese.

Fine cream of green peas, sheep’s curd – I ordered this for little nugget simply for the fact that it's the perfect dish for the summer. The chilled green peas soup was nicely garnished with crispy croutons and a cloud of sheep's curd in the middle. Just couldn't ask for a more refreshing start to the meal (except for the heirloom tomatoes perhaps).

Escalope of duck foie gras, seasonal fruits – As much as I loved to start things off with a refreshing dish, I just couldn't pass on the chance of having a superbly seared duck foie gras. Look at the size of these two thick-cut foie gras and their caramelized crust. The execution was simply faultless and the collection of seasonal fruits including the roasted fig, peach, apricot and pear were the perfect match made in heaven. Yeah, my self-imposed ban on the consumption of duck foie gras was temporarily lifted for a few hours. 😆😆

Free range pigeon in a puff pastry Wellington style, salmis sauce – Our first main dish was pigeon breast from Landis stuffed inside a puff pastry Wellington style.

The pigeon breast cooked to amazingly rosé was elegantly enveloped inside the puff pastry and finished off with a creamy salmis sauce. For a brief moment or two, I did regret not ordering this myself.

Duck breast, polenta, olives, rosemary – I had the roasted duck breast from Chalosse. Duck from the Chalosse region is touted for its exceptional flavor and tenderness, and it was in full display this afternoon. The duck breast was nicely accompanied by a slice of polenta cake topped with olives and rosemary. Yet another plus dish from the talented kitchen.

Snow eggs, crème anglaise with Bourbon vanilla, pink pralines – This consisted of layers of fluffy and airy egg white which was beautifully crowned with pink pralines, nuts and edible flowers. A nice pour of custard cream made with Bourbon vanilla, eggs and milk put the finishing touch on the delicious dessert.

Traditional Mille Feuille, light vanilla whipped cream – One of the best millefeuille I have ever had in my life (I have a few of these on this trip). The pastry was so so light, almost feather-like but it's got enough butter for the nice, buttery texture to match up against the vanilla whipped cream and chocolate sauce (did I taste caramel there?). I love a simple dessert that was done right. 

We were so full but I won't miss the mignardises for the world, especially the mini lemon tarts which came with a sharp burst of acidity.

That was a really relaxing lunch without the pressure of a fine-dining setting. Service was certainly up to par for a Michelin starred restaurant and I liked the classy modern interior which wasn't meant to be flashy or pretentious. If I ever live in Paris, this is a place I would love to come back time and time again.

We didn't forget why we were here in the heart of the 7th arrondissement. Unfortunately, sections of the park were off-limits due to Summer Olympics construction, which meant we couldn't capture any picturesque shots of the iconic tower.

This photo taken in 2013 remains the best shot we have of the tower (with us). I doubt we'll ever surpass it.

Food Rating: 7.7/10

Price: €€€

Address: 135 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris, France

Closest Metro Station: École Militaire / Pont de l'Alma

Tel: +33 (0)1 4555-1505

Website: https://leviolondingres.paris/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:00pm, 6:30pm - 10:00pm daily