Michelin stars on the cheap
27 Novembre 2016
There's nothing like a good steak to perk you up when you're jet lagged. After a full on day of strolling and eating and loading up on carbs, the best pick me up is protein in the form of Black Angus. No, not an evil Scottish Highlander. Meat. Cow. Steak.
Atelier Vivanda Marais
The kids were well and truly lagged and had reached their limit so we couldn't traipse around too far. Conveniently for us, only a couple of blocks from our flat, was the Michelin starred Atelier Vivanda Marais. Michelin starred but casual, relaxed and low key. What you'd hope from a steak restaurant really.
A tiny place with a row of tables down one side and the magical meat preparation area (the kitchen) down the other.
Paris is starting to be boring with the attentive friendly service. For god's sake Paris where are your snooty waiters? I suppose should give it time. We'd only been in Paris for a tad over 24 hours. And 24 hours is nowhere near long enough to get over jet lag. The poor kids couldn't eat - too tired.
But eat I could. Steak and chips it was. Or, in the much more sexier in Francais, Coeur d'entrecôte with Pommes dauphines and Persillé Black Angus with Purée de pommes de terre. Yeah, so steak and chips and steak and mashed spuds. We didn't jump straight into the steaks first though. We're reasonably civilised and the deal, la formule as they call it, did include l'entrée au choix so we started with a duck terrine and a soup with lots of mushrooms in it.
La formule also included dessert so when in Paris you have to have the crème brûlée. It is some sort of law of nature or something. Dessert was enough stir Brandy from his doze. Smashing the candied sugar on top of the brulee is the highlight of anyone's day. We also metaphorically smashed a Flan pâtissier with Glace Vanille - a custard tart with vanilla ice cream.
So what would you expect to pay at a Michelin starred steak house? La formule included an entree, a steak main and accompaniment, and dessert. All this for a tres magnifique €39. Less than €80 for both of us. I don't know about you but to me that sounds reasonable. You could got to Le Maccas and get a Big Mac meal for €8 but when was the last time you had Michelin starred Maccas? Why am I trying to justify myself to you dear anonymous reader. If we weren't so tired we could have happy danced all the way home. In this round of the Nixons eat there way through Paris the meal was fantastique.
