As I continue to try to get all our travel posts done…….
Having arrived in Paris, we just wanted to relax. We'd been to the city so many times that it almost feels like our….or at least my second home. We decided to stay at the Citadines Les Halles in the 2nd Arrondissement as it was right on the RER Blue Line from CDG and of course my favorite street, Rue Montorgueil is close by.
Looking out from our room in the morning, it seemed like it was going to be a nice day.
We did our usual morning "thing" and had our morning "caffe allonge" at Café du Centre, which I'd already mentioned in my previous Paris post. We then had a nice stroll before trying to determine what we wanted to do this morning. On one of our previous trips, I noticed that La Samaritaine had reopened after being closed for 16 years!
We decided to take a look. Man, talk about a fancy place!
Established in 1869, it had become an iconic building right off the Seine. The department store closed its doors in 2005 due to safety concerns. The luxury goods company LVMH purchased the property and after 16 years the property reopened under the auspices of DFS Group. Even after all of the renovations and such, not everyone was happy about that.
We decided to take a peek…..
We walked up the stairs to the top floor……the art work is quite over-the-top.
There a restaurant which was closed. Not that we'd eat there.
There's also a area with a hologram show going.
This all seemed a bit over-the-top, though somewhat entertaining. We also noticed only a couple of customers shopping…..and really wondered if Parisians would really take to a place like this. La Samaritaine has been touted as revolutionizing the department store concept.
La Samaritaine
9 Rue de la Monnaie
75001 Paris, France
As we headed down Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie to do some necessary shopping, we stopped in at this patisserie.
They seemed to specialize in flan as there were at least eight different versions available, but the Missus wasn't interested. Of course, I just wanted a croissant aux beurre.
It was fairly light though the interior was on the moist side. Nicely laminated and crisp, but sorely lacking in butteriness. Just a mediocre version overall….I should just give in and gotten a flan….
Nèulo
46 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris, France
We managed to get some shopping done…..I've posted on these places before.
And then of course we did the lèche-vitrine – window shopping (literally translated as "window licking" in French) thing. And of course the people (and pooch) watching.
Along with a dose of history along the way…..
And doing that Flâneur thing ("to wander with no purpose") we came across this…..
It's one of the last 8 remaining towers of the Philippe Auguste Wall, which was completed in 1215 to encircle and protect the city. We would take a tour with the one and only Oliver Gee, who is obsessed with the wall and learn a lot more about it. It's amazing what you run into just walking down the street in Paris!
For dinner, we just headed on over to Rue Montorgueil and Rue Bachaumont to a place that we'd dined at twice before, Aux Crus de Bourgogne. We'd had a surprisingly good meal there, back in winter of 2022…we had passed the place so many times and thought it to be tourist restaurant. We did a follow-up visit and did not enjoy our dinner as much. This would be the "tie-breaker" of sorts. And we picked visiting during lunch.
The service was prompt and professional as always.
The Missus loves tearing into the baguette here. She also loves the rillette that accompanies the baguette!
We had really enjoyed the Vol-au-Vent with mushrooms on our first visit and were happy to see it on the menu on this day.
The puff pastry was on the doughy side and not crisp and light as we enjoy. Good amount of mushroom, but the sauce was a lot thinner than what we'd had here before and lacking in the rich-earthiness.
The Missus had always enjoyed the Escargot here, so we ordered that as well.
This had a lot less olive oil and garlic than before and the snails were on the tough side! Bummer.
This ended up being like our second, not so great visit. Well, I guess we're done with Aux Crus de Bourgogne for now.
Aux Crus de Bourgogne
3 Rue Bachaumont
75002 Paris, France
Oh well…..can't win 'em all! And we are so blessed to be able to return to Paris so often that we're able to try a place on three separate trips, right?
Was not a fan of the runny, mushy beans; but that consomme…so full of rich, "lamb-y" goodness, nicely spiced, smoky, hints of spices like oregano…perfectly salted; probably my favorite consomme to date!
As you can see; the bowls are not large, but it is absolutely packed with noodles.
Didn't care much for the small "rolls" of tough beef, but the shiitake and king oyster mushrooms really add a nice depth of flavor to the soup.
Well, where to start? Check out the rice will you? It was very mushy.
The mac salad was best item on the plate. Unlike what I've had a few times at L&L's here, this one was the classic; simple, well coated macaroni, some carrots….I think there's a touch of onion, nicely salted, quite refreshing.
As you can see, the rice was much better this time. The mac salad had more mayo and less carrots, but was ok.
Not a bad version, but definitely not "return visit" material.
Surprisingly mild in flavor, the rabbit was super moist and tender. The celeriac added some nice sweet tones as well. This was served with some blue corn tortillas, which, unlike the sopes were mildly sweet and "maizey".
This was really not to my liking. The crust of the pizza was rubbery and soggy, the edges quite chewy. I don't think it had been baked long enough. It did look nice and I thought the amount of cheese was good, but in spite of the curry, I thought this a bit bland overall. The curry itself was quite thick and had some spice; but for some reason the flavor just seemed to vanish in the entire package.
Well, I wasn't too inspired by the whitish color. Was not a fan of the way too soft coating which lacked crispness, something that I like in my karaage.
As for the Sisig slice……well, this was fairly bland, even with the slices of serrano chilies; it really lacked the tangy-sour-porky flavors that make 
The katsu was really crisp, perfectly fried….I think I'm going to ask Rob the next time I see him, what kind of panko he uses. The chicken was moist, nicely seasoned without being overly salty, though I think it could be a bit more tender. 
