Boo in Paris - The Rest

Other meals in Paris were a mixed bag, the okay - Le Coq, Bouillon Racine and the bad - Le Castiglione.

One thing you can always count on in Paris (apart from places you really want to visit being closed for Christmas/summer) is quality bread and butter. Everywhere offers lovely dinner rolls and the most amazing creamy butter to start your meal. Obviously there are plenty of superb red wines too!


Our visit to Le Coq came about following a last minute request to our hotel's concierge so we had no idea what to expect. The decor was a tad gauche but the food was mostly solid and the service was lovely.

Fois gras to start, lobster spaghetti for me and steak for Thomas, were all good. Dessert was a disaster, a sweet omelette hiding some warm flat champagne with a couple of raspberries thrown in for good measure. Absolutely foul and overpriced at €14.



A chance lunch at Le Castiglione was disappointing. Great frites and peppercorn sauce but one massively undercooked piece of steak for me, and a second smaller overcooked piece, though Thomas' was correctly cooked to medium rare. A stop off at the conveniently located Pierre Hermes on Avenue Paul Doumer, close to our hotel in the 16th, just about made up for our dining disappointments. Well, that and more red wine.



Dinner on our final night was at the quaint Bouillon Racine in the 6th. A lovely little brasserie with Art Nouveau decor. It feels very grand upon entering but it's actually very relaxed and casual. We fared well here with the food , until I wanted cheese for afters and they didn't have any. Grr. And the wine (beaujolais) was far too cold.


Decent onion soup, scallops and dauphinoise potatoes but sadly none of that amazing butter with the bread. We were sat by the door and it was freezing each time the door opened and slowly closed.

So, in all, we didn't have much luck eating out on this trip. As I mentioned, many of the recommended restaurants we'd hoped to visit were closed for Christmas and it was too cold to explore much on foot. Thankfully our hotel was excellent and we had a near constant supply of macarons and nutella crepes.

Le Coq
2 place du Trocadéro
75016 Paris 16er
6/10

Le Castiglione
235, rue Saint-Honoré
75001 Paris 1er
4/10

Bouillon Racine
3, rue Racine
75006 Paris 6er
5/10