Parisian Delights: Steak Tartare + Frog Legs

French food is one of the most famous cuisines in the world. From their beautiful baguettes and croissants to the weird and wonderful - steak tartare (raw, mince beef) and frog legs. The last two are probably not what many will fancy (Andy sure didn't) but as for me, if it doesn't involve eating live animals or fetuses, I'm willing to give most things a shot. During our food journey in Paris, we also ate cheese fondue (which Andy loved and I was partial to), garlic escargots and french onion soup.

I must say, out of all the food listed above, the croissant that we found at this particular café stood out the most for me. The café is called Café La Colonnade on 154 Rue De Rivoli, across the road from the Louvre Museum. It was the best croissants I have ever had to date. Baked fresh that day it was ever so soft inside but only slightly crusty outside, not flaky like most croissants. But not only were the croissants beautiful, the egg omelet was awesomely wholesome. To top it off, the coffee was nicely done. Nom Nom. We probably could have sat there till lunchtime if we didn't have to visit the Louvre!

Best croissants ever!

After the Louvre, we were hungry for a proper French lunch. We were eager to try more of their cuisine but most restaurants around the Louvre were either too pricey or didn't have what we were after: steak tartare and French onion soup. Eventually we settled for one and placed our order. This is one of my first experiences eating raw beef and it wasn't too bad. The minced beef is tastefully seasoned with pickles, onions and raw egg. It definitely tasted much better than it looked as all the ingredients have masked any taste/smell of the beef, leaving only the mush-like texture. I had about 80% of my meal before I had to throw in the towel. I was just not used to the coldness of the meat. By the end of the meal, I was ready to chow down some hot and soupy instant noodles!

My steak tartare.

Andy had the French onion soup, and surprisingly, it wasn't as great as we hoped it would be! I mean, we were in France. They ought to get it right! The cheese on top was just too much and the soup didn't seem fresh or wholesome. I think we've had better in London.

Andy's French onion soup.

So far, aside from the croissants at Café La Colonnade, we haven't been too impressed yet. Another thing that we learnt very quickly was not to order water in restaurants. In London, when you order for water, it comes as tap water (for free), in Paris it's standard to offer you the most expensive, 500ml bottled mineral water for the price of €4 a bottle. Ouch. We found it much cheaper to buy bottled water from convenience shops.

On our last day in Paris, we ventured into the Latin Quarter for dinner. The area is made up of many intertwining small streets with bistros, eateries, patisseries, cafés and tourist shops.

The Latin Quarter.

We wandered around the streets, still keen to find some authentic French food. Finally, we decided to try the restaurant that advertised cheese fondue and frog legs - just what we were after!

Le Latin, a French restaurant.

Andy eagerly waiting for his food.

Our dishes arrived and it looked interesting!

Cheese fondue, with baguette, ham, salami and a pickle.

Andy trying out his cheesy fondue!

Garlic and parsley escargots (escargots de bourgogne)

Frog legs in tomato based / la provencale sauce.
(olive oil, garlic, olives and tomatoes, and sometimes mushrooms or anchovies sauce)

Me and my pair of frog legs.

My meals were interesting and tasty enough. But unfortunately, there just wasn't enough meat on either dishes to keep my tummy happy. It wasn't my first time eating frog legs or escargots, and in fact I enjoy both meats so what I really wanted to experience was their French style of preparation, which I found in those dishes.

Andy really enjoyed his cheese fondue. The fondue didn't actually taste as cheesy as I thought it was going to be (which was a bit of a downer for me) but I did find it interesting that in France you dip your meats (whether raw beef or just ham/salami) and breads into the cheese fondue. It's more like a savory meal as oppose to the sweet chocolate fondues that we're more familiar with.

All in all, we discovered that restaurant food in the city is expensive. Contrary to what we first thought, it is also surprisingly hard to find a good and decent eatery. I'm sure we haven't been looking at the right places and would love to someday make a revisit just so we can take the off-beaten track to discover restaurants where the locals hang out. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the food journey in Paris and will always savor the lovely memory of Café La Colonnade's croissants.