Opera District with Escargots

The last morning of the last full day in Paris, we went to Sainte Chappelle, a gorgeous chapel with the most beautiful stained glass windows.This was on the same island as Notre Dame so we walked north to Hotel de Ville, where you find the city buildings. Somewhere around is Mariage Freres, a tea salon with lots of loose leaf teas. And since I had tasted the lovely white sakura tea at lunch the day before, I wanted to purchase this for myself. 

Well, the map they give you is vague and so we ended up looking for someone to ask. We found a friendly Parisian who along with his friend gave us the directions!

On the way there, we spotted a Savon de Marseille shop and I absolutely had to go in. And it was as dangerous as I thought it would be. I ended up with a good 8 bars of their soap - 2 of the lait (milk), 1 citronelle, 1 lavender, and more that I can't even remember at the moment. The shop smelled great - they had a lot of items and also the lavender sachets were half off so of course, I bought a pack. I also spotted a soap umm in the specific shape of a specific part of the male anatomy in flesh tone... That stayed in the store. ;)

After I got my soaps, we walked on to look for the street where my tea awaited.

Mariage Freres has several storefronts on the same street. One contains an tea museum that you can actually enjoy the history of tea in. All of their folks are knowledgeable in the type of teas they sell and are helpful and polite, regardless of what and how much you buy. I bought the Sakura blend - white and green. Since I was in Paris, I figured I'd just buy my tea here - as there's no real guarantee I'd find it in NY.

So after we walked around, with me having amassed oh, about four bags...of Marseilles soaps, Mariage Freres' Sakura teas, and shoes, looking for food. While I found a place using tripadvisor city guide, Barb went around because there were so many bistros around where we were already - having started in Marais, we ended up going into Opera. :)

At any rate we passed by several bistros and found Grille Montorgueil, with some seating outside and more inside along with a bar. We opted to sit indoors. There were several tables already full inside - they also had a downstairs.

Grille Montogueil -

We perused the menu and of course Barb had questions but our waiter, very nice bald dude, spoke everything *but* English which was evidenced by his broken English phrases. The younger, cute waiter spoke English and was very helpful.

I got the escargot - which traditionally is from Burgundy and sauteed in garlic and butter. Barb refused to try even one and so I ate the lot of six. I found the garlic not too overwhelming and actually quite good. At about $10 USD, not bad. I did not use the gripper because it needed a lot of force and I was able to just hold it with 1 hand and pull out the tasty bits.

Escargot with garlic butter sauce - green sauce you see.

Then we picked some dishes off the menu. I couldn't find the items on the menu they posted at their website...

Beef with potatoes

Barb chose their beef with potatoes dish. She finished quite alot of it but I was not sure she enjoyed it that much.

Some sort of fowl with rice and sauce

I picked the fowl with rice - but see, I forgot to log what they named the dishes but when I looked at the regular menu posted at the website, I did not see this dish.

In any event, the sauce lent the breast a good taste and I did drench each bite I took of both rice and fowl in the sauce. I was able to polish off my entree with a glass of reisling, another drink I forgot, and cuba libre.

Like all restaurants in Paris, service is relaxed and you have ample time to enjoy your food and company. The wait staff was very friendly and we were able to rest our weary feet for a while until we got to a metro to return to our hotel to drop off my packages.

Oh, I must mention Jeff de Bruges - a chocolate shop we found on Rue Mouffetard, where there are lots of places to go get wine, cheeses, and chocolate! Well, this gem of a shop makes all sorts of pralines and chocolate bars with a nice variety of different cocoas in different amounts. I did quite enjoy the Papua chocolate milk blend and the Tanzania milk blend was also great. They also had Peruvian, Tanzania dark, and a few others. I think they are a pretty decent chocolate shop! They had some great chocolate treats for kids and a gelato stand outside. Too bad for the young man working the shop - he was the only one and it was empty as he worked with us but soon got busy! :) But we got to try a free treat for being patient, I guess. Maybe I'll see the shop in Amman when I am in Jordan. ;)

Mariage Freres
30 rue de Bourg - Tibourg
Paris 4me
tel. : +33(0)1 42 72 28 11
Metro Stop: Hotel de Ville
Hours: Check website for all locations and hours

Savon de Marseille Boutique
17 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France
tel. 01 42 71 40 21
Metro Stop: Hotel de Ville

Grille Montorgueil
50 Rue Montorgueil, 75002 Paris, France
tel. 01 42 33 21 21

Jeff de Bruges
112-114 rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris, France
tel. 01 43 36 77 82
Hours:

Monday	Closed
Tuesday	09H30-19H30
Wednesday	09H30-19H30
Thursday	09H30-19H30
Friday	09H30-19H30
Saturday	09H30-19H30
Sunday	09H30-13H30