Biba eats : Le comptoir de thiou

The restaurant is named after the Chef Thiou who offers a clever mix between French and Thai flavors for a true culinary journey. The food is excellent, the place has a very neat design and unpretentious setting. I had for starters the fresh tuna tartare , spicy mayo with a rocket salad, there was a mix between the tuna and a tangy spicy sweet sauce that was just delish and then i had " le tigre qui pleure", this dish is one of Thiou's specialities, it is a very tendre moist meat with a spicy tangy sweet sauce and sticky rice, one word : FOODGASMIC! i loved everything and the service was impeccable. The price range varies between 50 and 60 euros, it's expensive but worth it.

 

 

Biba makes : Croissant au beurre

 My last practical at le cordon bleu was to make pain au chocolat and croissant au beurre. It was the first time i make croissants and what makes it difficult is that we have to do everything manually, like we can't use any kind of machines. The hardest part is making the dough which is basically like making puff pastry. and making sure that the butter is always envelopped in it when you try to roll it out. When that's done everything becomes easy, you can add anything you want, cheese, chocolate, or leave it plain and just roll it out to the form of a croissant. The next morning for breakfast i decided to add some chocolate nutella and it was foodgasmic !!

 

Biba eats : Roger la grenouille

 

Roger la grenouille (located in 26-28 Rue des Grands Augustins - 75006Paris) was created in the 30s with a cuisine based on frog legs, the restaurant had at the time a small air canteen.Today, Chef Pascal Delacourt still offers bistro cuisine, but its fine cuisine . The products are fresh, including the famous frog legs with which he introduces no less than ten different recipes. For the rest, the place retains its old pub. The restaurant toned brick is always warm, brass pans and old photographs hung on the walls set the scene. We had for starters the goat cheese salad, it was crispy, sweet, salty and just delicious and the snails. Now i am not a fan of snails but i am always up for trying so these by far were the best i have ever had. As for main course i had the magret de canard cuit which is a cooked duck, with caramelised apricots and the meat was cooked perfectly, it was tender and not as heavy as the usual duck confit and the sauce was a great combination, it adds this tangy sweetness to the duck. My friend had the frog legs a la provencale, and i have tasted frog legs in paris 4 times maybe and i never really liked it so i decided to give it the last chance and it was suprisingly really good! We were so full that we didn't have place for desserts but apparently they have really good chocolate and pistachio mille feuille for their desserts ! The service was impeccable, the price range varies between 50 and 60 euros per person but again very worth it!

 

 

 

 

 

Biba eats: La fontaine de mars

 La fontaine de mars is actually my new favorite place in paris. It is one of the best restaurants i have ever been and i'm not only talking about the food but the whole experience. Apparently president Obama had been there, Ben Affleck and many other famous people; so i was not super excited to go there because i thought it was going to be one of the shmansy fancy restaurants. To my surprise it was the complete opposite. The service was amazing, the waiters and receptionist were super friendly. We got there without reservations and waited just 5 minutes to get a table and it was full. We had for starters one of the plat du jour and it was a "pain perdu d'espadon" which was basically like swordfish with artichokes, olives.. i can't really describe it, all i can say is that it was delicious! then for main course i had the filet with fries and bearnaise sauce, again amazing, the meat was cooked perfectly and the sauce was one of the best bearnaise i've had in paris! my friend had the "cassoulet" which was  also in the plat du jour, and again really good. As for desserts we had to share the apple tart with prunes and armagnac ice cream, it was new for me and i loved it. The price range varies between 55 and 60 euros but totally worth every penny.

Biba eats: La parizienne

La parizienne is located in the heart of the Place du Marché Saint-Honoré ( 42 place du Marche Saint-Honore, 75001 paris).It is a unique restaurant offering contemporary design ,cozy decor and luxurious interior. Apparently Robert De Niro had been there so that always makes a fuss. i had the ceasar salad for starters it was not the best ceasar i've had, very average and then for main course i had the burger and it was foodgasmic !! One of the best burgers i've had in paris! and it comes with the cutest fancy boxes so it's a nice concept. My friend had the club sandwich, i didn't taste it but apparently it was really bad, like no flavors whatsoever, no cheese no sauce just cucumbers ( weird ) . The service was good, the price range varies between 40 and 60 euros per person.

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Biba eats : Pizza del papa

It was 11h30 and i still haven't had dinner so we ended up in the restaurant Pizza del papa( in saint germain des pres), it was still open and it looked charming from the inside. We had the pizza ai funghy to share and it was delicious, then i had the linguini bolognese, it was good, nothing out of the ordinary, just like a home cooked meal.The only bad thing about it was that they were out of most of their 1/2 wine bottles and we ended up having the only one left which was disgusting! the red wine that tasted like vinegar! The service was good and fast, the price range varies between 30 and 40 euros per person

Biba eats : Villa toscane

My friends and i decided to visit Chartres, it's at the heart of Beauce, more of an agricultural region, Chartres is famous for its cathedral, as well as for its old town and its half-timbered houses. We decided to have lunch at this supposedly really good restaurant but when we got there we saw that it was closed for a reason,and it was raining like hell, we were all wet and hungry, so we decided to go into any restaurant in front of us. We ended up going to Villa toscane, it's a great Italian caterer! If you want to eat real Italian food this is the place to go! If you do not already know you will discover that Italy is not just pizza and pasta more or less good! You can eat in or take away everything good antipasti, charcuterie, cheese, polpotte, bruschetta, delicious lasagna ... back shop there is also a small deli with attractive products. We had for starter the bruschetta with cheese, tomatoes olives and oh god it was by far the best bruschetta i have ever had ! the bread was so crunchy and tender at the same time, the tomatoes were so fresh.. Yumm ! and then i had the " pasta of the day" which was ravioli with foie gras, cepes and bresaola and it was an amazing mix of flavors! The service was really good and everyone was so friendly!The price range varies between 20 and 30 euros per person.
If you ever find yourself in Chartres you should really have a meal there Tuscany Villa 15 rue de la Pie - Chartres 02.37.36.14.97

Biba eats: Leon de bruxelles

It was dinner time and i was craving mussels ! i decided to make it my mission to have the best mussels in paris. Unfortunately i got hungry and decided to give up after 1 hour of research ( which was a lot because i thought in paris you would find at least 20 restaurants with that speciality ). So we ended up going to Leon de bruxelles ( i tried it a really long time ago ). It was suprisingly ok,i mean i heard recently a lot of bad comments about it. we had the "wrapped prawns" for starters which was very average, then we shared the "provencale style mussels", the sauce had no taste, very dull but the " mussels with madras curry" was actually very tasty. And after all that saltiness you just need someting sweet so we had the plate that combines a mini : creme brule, rich colate cake, waffles and ice cream. The creme brule was good, but the rest was really bad. I mean the waffles were saggy, not a hint of crunchiness! The price range varies between 20 and 30 euros per person and the service was good. I can't really wrap my finger around it, i mean it's not as bas as people said but not amazing too. What's good about it is that it is always open and ready to serve ! So if you crave mussles at midnight you can just go there casually and enjoy your mussles plate!

Biba makes : orange and chocolate tartlets :)

This is my orange tartlet ! the base is made of sweet pastry dough, filled with orange filling and topped with white and brown sugar that you just burn at the end just like a creme brule. It just adds this sweet crunchiness that makes it perfect !

And this is also my chocolate tartlet, made of sweet pastry dough, then you just put a thin layer of soft chocholate and at the end top it off with the chocolate glaze ganache. As for the decoration, well it's all about you and your imagination ! i decided to add some raspberries, i just love when they're mixed with dark chocolate.
 

Biba eats : All kind of little tartlets !

Today the chef made all kinds of little tartlets which is a mini tart and they were all delicious!

 

 

This the Bourdaloue pear tartlets which of course the base is a sweet pastry dough, the filling is almond cream and topped off with a pear. 

 

 As for this yummy thing it's a lemon tart, made of sweet pastry dough filled with lemon cream and topped with italian meringue that you just burn at the end just like creme brule!

 

 

 

And finally this is the Amandine tartlets, which is similar to the Bourdaloue pear tartlets it just differs at the end. Here after filling it with almond cream you just add almonds not pears.

 

Biba eats: Macarons

Today the chef made for the first time macarons, with chocolate, raspberry, lemon and pistachio flavor. We get to do them in the intermediate level so im so excited! I was always scared of  macarons because everyone says it's so hard to make. But i was so surprised to see how easy it actually was !

Biba eats: shrimp ceasar salad

I love a good ceasar salad and not everyone knows how to perfect it. As i was walking in the avenue of champs-elysees i decided to have lunch at this cute Mariott cafe ,which is placed outside the Hotel 4 star Marriott, this cosy restaurant was famed for exotic tips refined and amazing cuisine.You really should try their shrimp ceasar salad! it was by far the best i have ever had. The price range varies between 25 and 35 euros.

Biba eats: Chalet gregoire

 It was a sunday and i was walking around in St germain and i found this amazing street "rue de Buci". If your a food lover you have to go there, there are all kinds of cute restaurants and fromagerie, epicerie, everything you desire you can find it there. I decided to try Chalet Gregoire, it was really cute and packed. You can order a la carte or from their fixed menues starting 12.5 euros, 15.5 18.5 or 22.5 euros where you can get an appetizer a main course and desert.

 Me and my friend decided to share everything so we ordered for starters the "creme brule aux fois gras" which was really bad for me i couldn't have more than a bite and the frog legs were very average .

As for main course we had cheese fondue with beer which was good and risotto scallops which was very blah for me, i mean the scallops were nicely cooked and tender but the risotto was way less than average

As for deserts , we had the creme bulee and choclate pear tart and again nothing amazing, it was very basic.
The overall experience was good. I mean all in all the food was very average but at the end you get what you are paying for. 20 euros per person for all of this is a pretty good deal. The ambiance was nice and the service was good.

Biba makes : Tarte meringue aux poires caramelises

 

 

My tarte meringue aux poires caramelises

Biba eats : Train Bleu

Last week the Cordon bleu school took us to a "fine dining restaurant". For me it was not really a fine dining restaurant. I mean the place is amazing it is actually located in the Gare de lyon which was a bit weird since we had to dress up for the dinner. Le Train Bleu evokes the Belle Epoque fairly discreetly. However, it is inside that the best-preserved and most stunning examples of 1900 style are to be found..
It is the paintings that capture one’s attention right from the start. There are 41 paintings depicting, naturally, rail network sites and also events in 1900. But for me the food was not that great, maybe the school didn't choose the best menu because obviously we are many.

For starters we had the fish,tomato,avocado tartare with beetroot sauce that was the only delicious plate

As for main course we had the rumsteak with vegetables. The meat for me was inedible ! it was too chewy and hard and they didn't even ask for the cuisson.

And finally for deserts we had the chocolate tart. Again i was so disappointed with the desert especially that i am doing the pastry program. Tha base of the tart was so hard i couldn't even cut it, it was obviously frozen not fresh and there was nothing special about the chocolate ganache.

The price range varies between 75 and 100 euros. I can only recommend this restaurant if you are curious to see it. But it's not worth the money you pay.