The 5 best things I ate in Paris: April 2013

In this series, I round up the five best things I ate in a particular city or country. Each month around the 15th I feature a destination from my past travels; on the last day I recap the best of the month in Paris. 

No matter how long you live somewhere, there are always those dishes and restaurants that seem to elude you for whatever reasons of time and stomach space — places that make people gasp upon learning of your lack of experience, You haven’t been yet?! 

But that’s the beauty of being an expat: instead of trying to cram the highlights of Paris into one short trip, I’ve been able to pace myself across many, many months. The five best things I ate this April are all from places that have been on my ‘Paris bucket list’ for some time:

1. Burrata — Au Passage

I’ve been hearing about this place since I moved to Paris, and I’m now kicking myself for not having visited earlier — just one taste of this creamy burrata (I mean, look at how it oozes from just one slice) and Au Passage immediately shot to the top as one of my all-time Paris favorites.

The small restaurant is similar to another one of my favorites, Frenchie Bar à Vins, in that its plates are meant to be ordered plentifully and shared liberally — and the vibe is just as relaxed, if not more so. But, unlike Frenchie, Au Passage is surprisingly affordable given the amazing quality: for six people the total came to €11.50 each (without wine). A serious steal.

2. Pizza — Al Taglio

Heralded by many as “the best pizza in Paris”, at Al Taglio you pay for your lunch by the kilo. The pizzas are prepared in large rectangular blocks then snipped (literally, they use a large pair of scissors) into any size you fancy — so if you want to try a little bit of everything, you can order smaller squares; if you’re hankering for an extra large slice of pepperoni and artichoke, that’s deliciously doable too.

(It’s a fun concept…until you go to pay and realize you’ve just scarfed down a whole kilo of pizza. Some things are better left unknown.)

P.S. Try the potato and truffle cream, or pear and goat cheese. Best pizza in Paris indeed.

3. Beer, beer, beer — People’s Drugstore

People’s Drugstore is an appropriate name for this tiny one-room shop in Montmartre. There is just so much beer here — but beyond just the quantity, it’s the quality. They carry everything from French brews and cider, to big names like Tiger and Budweiser, to the best Belgian whites you’ve never heard of, including one that recently won ‘best blonde beer’ in the world apparently (I ‘accidentally’ ended up drinking two large bottles of it on a Monday afternoon so can attest to its superiority).

The owners are the kind of guys who remember your name after just one visit, and there’s a large wooden table where you can just sit and play chess all evening — or you can get the bottles to go and be the most-loved bringer of beer to your friend’s party/birthday/baby shower (people drink at those, right?).

Best of all is the price: a flat €3 for small bottles, €6 for large — so you can have your Corona for the same price as my Trappiste. Ah, so many Belgian beers, so little time…

4. Lemon cake — Eric Kayser

I’d actually tried a loaf of bread from the famous Eric Kayser before and wasn’t impressed. This lemon cake, however, was a completely different story. I don’t like lemon in pastries generally, but this was the perfect balance of not-too-tart lemon and not-too-sweet meringue; and it was all creamy and balanced to boot, like a lemon went to sleep on a cloud on my tongue.

This cake was such a hit that when it was unveiled at a friend’s housewarming, I turned my back on it for no more than five minutes — and when I returned to take a photo, eighty percent of the cake had already been inhaled by the rest of the guests. The above is all that was left me, both for a photo and for my stomach. Lesson learned: my friends cannot be trusted around cakes.

5. Pavlova (homemade)

Australian Lauren whipped up these two pavlovas for our recent picnic in Parc Monceau and it was such a magical concoction of sugar and cream and fruit, I’m amazed the US hasn’t jumped on this bandwagon.

While I realize it’s unfair to post something homemade on the list, I’m using this as a call to Paris’ dessert elite: forget your cupcakes and cheesecakes, pavlova is the perfect spring picnic food and someone needs to start selling these bad boys in Paris.

I’m down to my last months in Paris and I need to make them count! If there’s a place you love that you haven’t seen me cover yet, please leave it in the comments.