Angelina

Another institution in Paris located at 226 Rue de Rivoli across the Tuileries. This is a tea house that was founded in 1903. They are known for their hot chocolate and Mont Blanc.
They have a a variety of mouth watering pastries though most of them are not as good as it looks.

We went there to have their thick hot chocolate which we all loved. It's very rich and it is served with whipped cream. Since we were not planning to have lunch because of our dinner reservations at L'Atelier, we decided to have just the hot chocolate. Things changed when we were handed the menu. Gary thought we should share a couple of desserts and so we did. He had to order his favorite, Opera and we all like Saint Honore so we had 2 orders of those. Both desserts were good though we thought the Saint Honore at Carette was better.

Funny how taste can change as time goes by. I always thought Angelina had the best thick hot chocolate. After having a cup today, I have come to the conclusion that I have had better thick hot chocolate and that is from L'Amande Bakery in Los Angeles.

If you happen to be at the vicinity of the Tuileries near the Louvre, it is worth visiting Angelina for the ambiance and the experience.

L' Entrecote

This restaurant is a an institution in Paris. They have a couple of locations and every time we go to Paris, we always make sure we have a meal there. They open at 7:00 p.m. and do not take reservations so there is almost always a line of people waiting outside.

Last night we got there too early, around 6:20 p.m. There was no line, though we saw a few people dining inside. We figured it was the staff. We walked around to kill time. We got back to the restaurant at 6:40 p.m. and were shocked to see a long line. We were mad at ourselves for not starting a line when we got there. As we stood nervously thinking we would not get in, Gary decided to start counting the people in line while we try to count the seats inside. I estimated around 50 and Gary said we were number 75. Ramon estimated more than that. Thank God I am bad in mathematics! We did get in. As they filled the restaurant to capacity, people were still in line in the cold weather waiting for the second seating as they watched people inside dine through the window.

L'Entrecote serves steak cut in pieces with French fries and a wonderful sauce. You get a green salad before with a mustard dressing, bread and the main entree. You get 2 servings of the steak and fries. Many years ago, it was "eat all you can", then they limited it to 2 servings. We happen to get a waitress that was not very friendly. The first one we've encountered with a bit of an attitude. Milena who speaks fluent French spoke to her and tried to be super friendly and we just could not get a smile from her. Gary got half a smile, she responded better to men. Service was speedy as they wanted you in and out which is unusual for a restaurant in Paris. As a rule, you can order anything little and stay all night if you pleased and they would not mind at all.

We remembered their Profiteroles as being very good so we ordered one of those plus a chocolate cake and an apple tart with ice cream.  Profiteroles were excellent!
As soon as we were done with our desserts, we paid and left the place while the people that were outside came in and am sure were grateful for our early departure.

If you can't make it to Paris, New York has one and Los Angeles will have one soon.

Carette

Another restaurant in Paris on our list was Carette. They are known for their onion soup. This cold day was perfect for Onion Soup. Five of us took the metro to have lunch at Carette.

We all decided to have the French Onion  Soup. It was the best onion soup I've ever had. We also had some crusty rolls which went well with the onion soup.

After our soup, we thought we would order 3 desserts to share. The first one was a St. Honore, the second a chocolate eclair and the third was a praline dessert which I ignored since I don't like any nutty flavor in my chocolate. Both St. Honore and the Chocolate Eclair were excellent.

Just before we were ready to leave, Gary got up and went to the restroom. On his way back he couldn't resist buying 2 macarons to share; a black currant one and the other was coffee. We all had small bites of the macarons. The black currant was tart and delicious.
Gary didn't like it as it was too sour for him. The coffee macaron was delicious.

When we got done with everything, we ended up walking and walking towards the direction of where we were to eat our dinner.

La Maison Astier

Gary, Sandi and I took the channel from London to Paris to meet Ramon and Milena who just arrived this morning.

We had reservations for this restaurant that Gary, Ramon and Milena have been to before and they raved about the food and the only bad thing was their waiter had body odor so every time he handed them a plate or reached for something, they had a whiff of the sweet smell of success.... but the food was so good that they were willing to go back and just hoped that he was off for the evening.

We got there shortly before it opened at 7:00 p.m. We were the first customers. They led us upstairs in which looked like a private room though it had 3 other tables that sat around 8 or so. There was boar's head on the wall; I don't really know if that was supposed to enhance our dining experience.

The menu has changed because Milena and Gary wanted to order what they had before even if they didn't remember exactly what they had. Gary had the pictures on his phone and when he showed our waiter the pictures, all he said was" " I don't know, I can show it to the chef". So we studied the menu. Milena and I ordered the Butternut Soup with bacon and green cabbage. She has had it before so I went with her recommendation. It was very good indeed. Gary, Ramon and Sandi just watched the two of us. We did offer them a taste.

For our entrees, Ramon ordered the Salmon roasted in Label rouge with macaroni, fennel and squid sauce. I had a bite of it was good. Gary had the Roasted Veal Filet with melted endive, beet chutney and walnuts. It was apparently the best entree though I never got a taste of it as he devoured it. Milena and Sandi had the Lamb Leg Roasted with fresh herb crust, beans and chantrelle mushrooms.  I ordered the Braised Pork Shank with stewed cabbage with paprika and double cream. Sandi and I were to split both our orders. The lamb was a big disappointment. It was well done and tough even when we ordered it medium.  When Milena complained to our waiter in French, he apologized and later explained it was because of the cut of lamb per the chef. I have never heard of such an excuse. It the cut is not good, then they should not have it on the menu. My pork shank was 85% fat and had very little and I mean very little meat so Sandi and I were not too happy with that.

Dessert was their famous Baba Rum which was served with whipped cream. That was very good. The other dessert was a Chocolate Mousse, hazelnut salty streusel. Everyone liked. I didn't get excited because it had a strong hazelnut flavor.

By the time we left, the restaurant was packed! The question was would any of us return to this restaurant again......the answer was no.

Applebee's Fish

After our high tea at the Savoy, we didn't think we would be eating again but as we got off the river boat we headed towards Borough Market which is one of the largest and oldest food markets in the United Kingdom. We walked and crossed the London Bridge. It was cold but a lot of people were outside drinking and smoking.

After our long walk we finally ended up at the market. There were lots of restaurants. Gary had to look at his list of restaurants that were worth investigating. We looked at 3 of them and decided on the last one which was Applebee's Fish Restaurant.

As we walked in the nice warm room they asked if we had reservations as they were fully booked.  We of course didn't have any but I guess he took mercy on us and asked if we didn't mind sitting on the high chairs. At this point we would have sat on the floor just to be warm and  get some warm food.

The special of the evening was a combination of different fish; salmon, cod, hake, swordfish and shrimp. Marie and I had the special, Gary had the cod fish and Sandi had her fish and chips. We all loved our fish; fresh as can be and very tender. The only thing that could have been improved was the batter of the fish on the fish and chips. It was not crispy as the breading was way too thick. Well, at least she enjoyed the fish with malt vinegar and the chips.

We had the chocolate fondant and a saffron raspberry creme brulee for dessert. We shared everything which was good because we really could  not have had individual desserts.

High Tea at the Savoy

High Tea at the Savoy Hotel in London is a must for anyone visiting London. Even if you are not into tea like I am, it is still enjoyable for the ambiance alone but add the delightful treats and the excellent service, it is an unforgettable experience. As soon as we walked in all we could say was, "WOW".

We were lucky to have Sophie as our server. She was charming and treated us like guests to her home. We started with a choice of tea from a lengthy list. Two of us chose the house blend tea, Marie had the oolong and Sandi had the rosebud herbal tea which smelled like roses (not my type) then she and I switched to silver needle tea which had nothing to do with silver or needle; all we know is that it was a white tea.

Sophie brought us a collection of tea sandwiches, scones with Cornish clotted cream and homemade lemon curd and strawberry preserves. Sandi and I thought that the Cornish clotted cream had less flavor than Devonshire cream. Sophie informed us that people often debate on which clotted cream taste better. We loved all the sandwiches. The scones were good, not the best I have had but I guess it was traditional. I took a picture of the menu for my notes but decided to include it in my blog.

Desserts were wonderful, except for the one with the coconut. Funny that 3 of us dislike coconut so only Sandi enjoyed it. We all voted for the vanilla passion fruit with mango cream as #1 dessert. FYI, we could have asked for more of anything if we wanted which we intended to do but there was so much food that there was no need to order more.

During the course of our tea, there was a lady that played the piano which was a nice touch. Sophie informed us in the beginning that it is not unusual for people to stay 3 hours.  We tried our best to eat slow as we are all speedy eaters. We managed to stay for 2 hours but that is probably due to the wait inbetween the courses.  We left quite full and thought we would just have a light dinner........

Rules Restaurant

Our first evening in London was an enjoyable and successful dinner.  A friend of ours, Marie who lives in Manchester came over to join us for dinner. In fact she came to spend the next 3 days with us. Another friend of my brother,  Myra ended up joining us when she found out we were thinking of going to Rules Restaurant.  The restaurant  was first established in 1798 They have a long standing reputation of very good food.

Marie had a craving for salmon so she did order the Darne of Salmon with mussels & garam Marsala and cream sauce. She asked Daniel if she could order rice, something that was not on the menu. He willingly suggested he would have the chef make some for her. Now, that's service.  Myrna had the Pig's cheeks which she loved. Sandi ordered her Halibut with mushroom duxelle, salsify, port and red wine sauce. Gary and I ordered the Daube of Beef with creamed potato, lardons and carrots. The meat was so tender that we didn't have use for our knives. The sauce was fantastic. Everyone kept making sounds of approval (leave that to your imagination).

We decided to share 2 desserts: one was the Tarte a Tatin and the other was a Chocolate souffle. All 5 of us partook in devouring of these 2 desserts.

Rules Restaurant is on 35 Maiden Lane in London.  One has to make a stop here when visiting London. You will be glad you did as we all were.