Amanda’s Red Guide : 09/16/2006

Disclaimer: Amanda's Red Guide is based on Amanda's taste only. Occasionally she takes input from her travel companions, but more often than not, her opinion dominates her reviews.Unfortunately, she didn't write down the exact names of her dishes due to various constraints.

Lunch :

Au Pied de Cochon
6, rue Coquilliere 75001 Paris
01 40 13 77 00

We always come back to this restaurant whenever we are at Paris, because David has to have his French Onion soup here. Normally it was too salty for me, but this time it felt just right although it could be a little more crispy on top. My skate terrine was pretty but had some fishy smell when it first showed up. My pork leg dish’s skin was too tough to cut, even though it looked tender and tempting. The meat was soft in the middle and a little rough on the outside. They had the cutest candy to go with espresso — a pink piggy!

This big restaurant gets tourists from all over the world, so some of the waiters can be kinda cold as you can expect.

Conclusion: Recommended.

Dinner :

Le Roi du Pot au Feu
34, rue Vignon 75009 Paris

Friendly staff, simple but unpretentious food, “simple” house wine according to David (“undrinkable” according to me). They surely knew how to stew meat; each piece was tender and the vegetable was tasty, but the portion was too generous for me. It really puzzled me that its house wine (red) was so big and unbalanced, because it totally didn’t go with the mildly flavored stew meat.

Also, this place was so comfy that we saw quite a few single diners that night.

Conclusion: Recommended.

Hotel :

Hotel Saint Pétersbourg
33-35 rue Caumartin 75009 PARIS
01 42 66 60 38

Because of the AC problem, we got moved to a different non-smoking room. David liked the courtyard-facing room more, because of its bigger bathroom and the more expensive look. I, however, didn’t like the layout, its tight bedroom, and its high ceiling. (I normally like high ceiling room, but when a room was this cramp, it felt very unsettling.) This time, the AC did work, but the bathroom had various problems: The faucet wouldn’t stop dripping, the hot water was never hot enough, and the tub was unusable for a bath.

My feeling about this hotel? Great software, but its hardware seriously needs an upgrade.

Conclusion: Depending on your needs.

[typed on 10/05/2006]

Les Halles

David wanted to see A Scanner Darkly, so we set off for Les Halles. As we were doing some window shopping on the way to Les Halles, this old Bordeaux man, first time in Paris, came up to David and asked for directions. A few minutes and much discussion later, they found the old man’s street in David’s map book. We accompanied him to his street, and the old man was relieved when he reached it.

Fontaine des Innocents is a “must visit” Paris spot for me. Not because I love it so much, but because it’s unavoidable (not that I tried to avoid it). It’s a popular photo shooting spot, and as a result, a popular bird pooping spot as David painfully found out.

After lunching at our usual Au Pied de Cochon, the restaurant with its famous French onion soup, we walked around and hung out around Les Halles, especially the area in front of l’Eglise St-Eustache.

L’Ecoute

This giant sculptured head,sitting in front of l’Eglise St-Eustache at Les Halles, is called l’Ecoute and done by Henri de Miller. And just like all the public sculpture at Paris, it gets tortured by men and birds, day in and day out.

(Hint: Click on the drawing to see the full sketching.)

Pétit-Dejeuner à l’Hôtel St-Pétersbourg, v1

We stayed at Hôtel St-Pétersbourg for 3 nights and so I drew my breakfast there for 3 mornings. I loved its mini pain au chocolate! :d The hotel staff was very friendly and the location was great, but the hotel was in serious need of an update.