Polidor

We had agreed that we would each carry small backpacks as we were only in Paris for one night and I underestimated how much shopping I could do in one afternoon. When the train pulled into Gare du Nord we were ready to run like Amazing racers, stopping only to grab the very hand Paris map with indexed street names from the same newsagency we had bought it last time before jumping on the metro to head to our first destination.

Restaurant Polidor - our attempt to find the authentic local bistro (trying to ignore its presence in our Lonely Planet city guide) in the admittedly touristy Latin Quarter. It was, thankfully, a little off the tourist strip so we did feel that we were surrounded by Parisien(ne)s.

Despite his obssession with french foods, Le Gourmand has not yet mastered the language, but he was in luck - most menu items were translated into English. Usually this makes me suspicious, but also amused, as the translations are often terse - our Crème de lentilles blondes au foie gras was translated as Lentil Soup. It was fantastically smooth and creamy, with a depth presumably assisted by the foie gras. We agreed that the French really knew how to cook.

Knowing that we would be presented with more adventurous options our next two destinations, I selected the old standby Boeuf Bourguignon for main, which was rustic and tasty. Le Gourmand was braver and ordered a tomato based Boeuf Mironton, but was a little disappointed by the Mediterranean overtones of the dish. I found them quite refreshing, so we shared our meals. Le Gourmand was also a little disappointed by his Tarte aux Pommes but he was quite naive if he expected me to share more than a taste of my Tarte au Citron, which was predictably excellent. Bruce indicated no criticism of the meal.

Stomachs filled we headed to our hotel to check in and embark on an afternoon of sight-seeing/shopping.

http://www.polidor.com/