MNSC Rhone Trip Day 9: Faire le pont

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My last full day in France, and it happens to be the Monday that's right before a holiday - All Saints Day.  Finding things that are open these last few days have been particularly difficult, since many French people have the habit of "faire le pont"... literally to make a bridge, but in essence taking a long weekend.  We had that problem on our trip to Burgundy last year.

Got up this morning and was determined to go grab some breakfast at Blé Sucré.  It's within walking distance from my hotel, and I was dying for some kouign amann.  I had one on my trip last year and have been thinking of it ever since...

So I was utterly devastated when I arrived at Square Trousseau and found the place closed.  Ils vont faire le pont!!! Aaarrrggghhh!!!

I decided to get my croissant and coffee at one of those places inside a métro station.  Probably because I was wearing my UNICEF jacket with Chinese characters, one of the other customers - a taller, better-looking and blonder version of Eric Tsang (曾志偉) started chatting to me.  Apparently he's a hairstylist and had been in Paris for some time, and he's looking forward to retiring in a few years after making enough money.

After this brief encounter, I wandered around rue Saint-Honoré, and eventually made my way to my one stop before lunch: Pierre Hermé on rue Cambon.  As usual, I went a little crazy and bought up a storm - only 9 jars of confitures this time... and thanks to a miscommunication with the staff, only 9 boxes of macarons.  I had originally intended to buy 9 boxes of mixed flavors PLUS 3 boxes of the truffle blanche et noisette, but they thought I only wanted 9 boxes TOTAL...  Of course, I made the mistake of not counting...

Lunch was literally right next door at Chez Flottes.  I had originally wanted to go to Tante Louise, but that venue - along with a few others I was interested in - was closed as Parisiens "faire le pont"...  We needed a location that was close to the Specialst's hotel that was open today, and this was the best available option...  How convenient that it was right next to a Pierre Hermé boutique!

Bigorneaux, la portion - I was trying to figure out what to order first, when the familiar name of a shellfish caught my eye.  The first time I learnt of the name bigorneau (periwinkle) was during my lunch at Robuchon a Galera in Macau.  The chef had added a sprinkle of them into the bouillon that made the dish.  I was eager to try them out here... Big mistake.  I had forgotten that I wasn't at a 3-star restaurant, and that I would have to take these little suckers out of their shells...  There must have been close to 100 of them on my plate, and they didn't even give me a utensil!  I had to make do with the metal spear that the waitress stuck into our pile of bread...  I went through about 2/3 of it, which I thought was respectable...

Saucisse d'Auvergne au couteau, aligot - I ordered this not for the saucisse, but actually for the aligot...  The saucisse was alright... tasted decent and was rather chewier than I had expected.

It was nice to finally taste aligot in France, even if I wasn't in Auvergne...  Mashed potato with cheese... Mmmmm.....

I was more than happy to take a break, but the Specialist wanted to drink... and she wanted something that she normally wouldn't open.  So we opened a bottle of 2006 Faiveley Mercurey Clos des Myglands.  We chuckled to ourselves at drinking this monopole, because with this crowd on any given day, we'd probably be drinking some other monopoles that are a few notches higher in stature...  Anyway, the nose had some fruit with a little mineral.  Chewy tannins.

During lunch I chastised the Specialist and her friend for not buying any macarons truffes blanches noisettes from Pierre Hermé, so I took them back to the store after lunch.  The manager was clearly happy to see me again, especially since I brought 2 ladies with me who ended up walking away with boxes of them.    I think we successfully reinforced the stereotypical image of the big-spending Asian...

I bid the ladies farewell, and continued on my shopping errands.  I had to make my obligatory stop at the Virgin Megastore on Champs Elysées, for my Mylène Farmer fix.  I also picked up the French issue of Pina, the 3D movie by Wim Wenders about Pina Bausch and her dancers in Wuppertal.  Very excited about watching it in 3D in my new apartment!

I crossed the road and walked past the Ladurée shop on Champs Elysées.  I had heard that the place caught on fire last week, and sure enough, it was closed to the public... and two bouncers were at the entrance.  All the second and third floor windows were open, obviously to ventilate the space so it wouldn't smell of smoke.

I spent a little more time around Champs Elysées, then head to the Left Bank in search of some cheese.  Think that it wouldn't open tomorrow due to the holiday, I thought it would be clever to hit Androuet on rue Mouffetard today.  After walking around in circles, desperately trying to get to the store before what I thought would be the closing time, I walk up to the door and... it's closed!  They don't open on Mondays! Merde!  Now how did I NOT do my homework on this trip?!  Last year I had it all figured out... which days to hit which shop.  This year?  TOTAL FAIL.

I dropped some stuff off back at the hotel, and went to meet my friend Ralph for dinner.  I had finally caught up with Ralph last year after a 25-year break, and this time we met up for dinner... on Halloween night so I could make him ditch his daughter...

I was pretty happy to find Le Violon d'Ingres - the 1-macaron bistro by Christian Constant - open tonight.  I'd never tried any of his restaurants, so I was really looking forward to it.  A couple of weeks after Ralph made the reservation, I suddenly realized that fellow blogger Scubagolfer had written about his meal there earlier this year.   Memories of my discussion with him came back, and I decided that I would order some of the same dishes that he had.

Millefeuille de langue de bœuf et foie gras de canard façon Lucullus - I'd been thinking about the picture on Scubagolfer's blog... and was so excited when I saw this on the menu.  When it arrived, though, I was a little taken aback.  Because of the way SG takes his pictures - and I guess I'm kinda zooming in the same way - the real portions were actually a lot smaller than they looked on the blog.  In fact, they seemed downright measly!  Nevermind.  I start to dig in, and this was indeed heavenly.  What's not to like about layers of ox tongue and foie gras?!  It was, of course, incredibly rich, so after these three little slices, I was pretty happy to move on to something else.  Oh, the haricots verts on the side were pickled so the acidity helped cut the richness...

Andouillette de pieds de porcs panés, sauce à la lie de vin - well, I remember that SG didn't think much of this dish.  I didn't, either.  But probably for different reasons.  What I had wasn't hard and dry, but while the stuffing inside was moist, I thought it was just a tad too acidic for my taste.  I prefer the taste of my andouillette to be full-on, and I don't need no vinegar or anything else to distract me from it.  I couldn't have cared less that the sauce was made with wine lees...

Soufflé chaud à la vanille Bourbon, caramel à la fleur de sel de Guérande - normally I would have gone for the millefeuille, but how could I pass up salted caramel?!  I didn't think twice about drenching the soufflé in the sauce...

We started the evening with a flute of Vranken Cuvée Diamant, which I honestly thought was nothing special...

2010 Jean-Luc Colombo Condrieu Amour de Dieu - floral, fragrant and ripe.  Exactly what I wanted out of a Condrieu.  I wanted something light for a change, and this was perfect.

After dinner we decided to walk around a little... crossing Pont de l'Alma back to the Right Bank, and up Avenue Montaigne.  After passing groups of would-be models near Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Ralph and I came upon what I thought was a ridiculous-looking car.  Later on I would call it James Bond's Toyota.  It was an Aston Martin Cygnet - basically a Toyota dressed like an Aston.  I guess there are people out there who think this is a cool idea...

Finally I say goodbye to Ralph, and call it a night.  Hope to see him again soon!