Enjoying exotic cuisine in Paris

On the last day of our tour in Paris, we had a farewell dinner in one of the restaurants called L’Escarmouche. It was a five course dinner. The restaurant looked nice like a historical building from the Middle Ages with large tables under a beautiful stone arched roof.

We were seated in one corner and handed a menu. There were wines already on the table for us to start with.

While we were deciding on what to eat, we were served French bread to start our dinner.

The menu was

Entrée

French Onion soup

Snails in garlic butter

Prawn cocktail

Frog’s legs a la Provençale

Duck liver mousse

Main

Filet of Salmon

Beef n Burgundy wine sauce

Filet of Chicken in mushroom sauce

Flambéed prawns

Fine roast duck

Cheese platter

Deserts

Chocolate Mousse

Caramel Crème

Apple Tart

Profiteroles

Peach Melba

Of course me and AS being us, we had to try something we hadn’t tried before so we went for Frog’s legs a la Provençale and Snails in garlic butter. Of course it was our first time eating frog but it was the second time for me eating snail. I had deep fried snails in Malaysia before.

Anyway, when the dishes were served, they looked better than I thought they would.

The frog looked like a small chicken. Frog legs are one of the better-known delicacies of French cuisine. Frog’s legs have a texture just like chicken, and a taste that is similar but with a little fishy taste and it is somewhat tougher. Believe me if it was serve as chicken, no one could tell the difference.

Snail was a different story.

The snail I had in Malaysia was a small one whose shells were crisp and deep fried and you could eat it as well. As they were spicy as well it didn’t taste any different than other spicy deep fried stuff but the snail we were served in Paris was a bit bigger. It tasted like a salty, buttery and oversized gummy bear. That is probably the best way to describe it.

I’d say an experience you only do once, but worth doing. They are an acquired taste so not everyone will like it.

I also tried French Onion soup and Duck liver mousse and they tasted good too. Overall I was very happy with the starters.

It was followed by the main. I had Filet of Chicken in mushroom sauce while AS had Flambéed prawns. Both of the dishes were yummy. I looked around the table and everyone’s main dish looked nice and everyone was happy with what they got.

When we were done with the main, we were served a chees platter. There were cheese like Aged Cheddar, Goat Gouda, Swiss, Brie, Camembert, Constant Bliss, Gruyere, Jarlesberg, Monterey Jack, Provolone, Blue Cheese to choose from. By this stage I had no room for anything else in my tummy.

While we were dinning, there were musicians who were singing Australian songs like Waltzing Matilda and Still Call Australia Home for us as there were lots of Aussies in our group.

During the singing session, the guys asked a few girls including me to come on the floor and dance with them. It was fun to try and do some can can with them J

In that mean time desert was served and they were mouth-watering dishes. I and AS shared our dessert with each other which were Apple Tart and Chocolate Mousse. It was a fantastic way to conclude our dinner.

It was a great night out and a nice way to farewell our tour friends who were great to travel with around Europe.