J’adore Paris Part II

After we saw a few sights the first day, we dedicated our second day in Paris to chowing down.

Wanting to explore the Montparnasse neighborhood and have breakfast at an actual Parisian café, Tony and I started our day at Café L’Atelier. Though it was catering to tourists passing by (signs for “happy hour” and “cocktails” gave that away), we still found it to be a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee, or in my case orange juice, first thing in the morning. The café was pretty sizable from what I’ve seen around the city, with 3 rows of tables as sidewalk seating. That morning was a bit chilly so we stayed in the half-indoors sidewalk area, and enjoyed a croissant and a pain au chocolat while people-watching.

On our way from the métro station, we passed by rue du Montparnasse, where there seemed to be a dense congregation of crêperies on the little street! David Leibovitz even wrote a blog post about the crêperies in the area. Next time I’m there, I’ll be sure to check out Josselin per his recommendation.

We took another walk around the area and passed by a line outside the bakery Le Petit Lux. Some of us in the Bay Area may be used to seeing lines outside eateries but that’s a rare sight in Paris! We decided to check it out…

Mmm… so many choices…

We decided on sharing a pear tart (since we just had breakfast), and my gosh it was delicious!!!! The crust was just hearty enough you can hold up a slice and it wouldn’t fall apart, and that’s a tough job because the tart was stuffed with pears! I need a slice right now.

We took our little box of yumminess and ate it inside Jardin du Luxembourg, the second largest public park in Paris.

Tony wanted to try a restaurant, Robert et Louise, in the Marais district that he found through a blog, so we took the métro and went wandering some more. We got a little lost trying to find the restaurant… note: Rue Vielle du Temple where Robert et Louise is located is very much different from Rue du Temple.

The Marais district is full of historic buildings, art galleries, and hip restaurants. With our hunger setting in, we almost went for just any other restaurant in our path to satisfy our bellies, but thank goodness we persevered!

Plat du jour was Penne Bolognese. And we had the confit de canard, sooo juicy and crispy!

We chatted with a couple sitting next to us, who owned a boutique nearby and were regulars at the restaurant. They’d come to share the Côte de bœuf (beef rib for 2), which looked absolutely amazing, grilled on a fireplace at the back of the little restaurant. Next time we’re definitely getting that!

We had a train to catch and couldn’t stay longer… really hope we’ll return to Paris for more next time!

The full photo gallery of our 24-hour adventure is here. And if you missed it, go and read Part I of my adventure through Paris.