A couple of restaurants stand out from Paris and so for completions sake (and so I can get on with writing about something else) I’m just going describe them. Both were recommendations from the guide book we took with us.

Auberge du Sud

This one was up in Monmartre and we wandered up there one night to find it. It was a fair walk and uphill nearly all the way so we were quite tired and ready for a seat by the time we arrived. This was about 6pm and upon arriving we found the restaurant wasn’t going to open until 7:30pm. Not good, but no problem we’ll just go and have a beer and wait. So off we trotted down the hill and found a little cafe and ordered a couple of beers. While we were sat there this guy turned up. He was obviously half cut and was wearing what looked like a silver cowboy suit. He was trying to start conversations with people around the cafe and for us who weren’t to confident with our french this was a little off putting to say the least. Just then an old man came and sat at the table next to us and was kind of leering at Kirsty. So we decided to leave.

We walked down the road a little and found another cafe on a little square near a metro station entrance. We found a seat and ordered a couple of beers only to be told that they didn’t serve alcohol. Hmmmmmm, well we were just trying to kill some time not get drunk, so we ordered a couple of cokes. Strangely she made us pay straight away (the only time it happened all week) and it cost €7 which is like a fiver for two cokes!! Then just as we were drinking them the bloody silver cowboy arrived at this cafe and started chatting to a group of young lads next to us. Not only this but he seemed to have brought a friend, and equally drunk old woman who was equally as chatty. We tried not to attract their attention and were talking about what a strange night it was turning into and how we’d better be careful not to buy any more cokes at these prices, and then the waitress came over and told us that the cafe was closing for the day so we’d have to leave. We still had half a glass of this extremely valuable coke left but it got left, coz we left.

We hadn’t really killed much time but we couldn’t afford more liquid entertainment so we strolled back up to near the restaurant and found a bench with a view of the front door and sat there till the damn thing opened. We could have found another restaurant I suppose but by that time I was determined that something should, at least partly, go to plan.

Eventually, the restaurant opened and we went in. It was beautifully decorated in a sort of Moroccan style with dark brown metal furniture with the shapes of suns stamped out of them. The walls were all yellow and orange and there were brightly coloured paintings hung everywhere (the one near us was of a group of aubergines!?!). The menu however was completely impenetrable and we were having great difficulty trying to even find something we could translate properly let alone make a decision. So it was a great relief when the waiter came over and asked "Are we going to do this in English or in French?". He was a very nice guy and explained that the speciality of the restaurant was a kind of quiche, popular in southern France. They came in lots of different types and flavours, but he said we wouldn’t taste their like anywhere else in Paris. We made our choice from the long list he reeled off and when they arrived we were not disappointed. They were incredibly good. The whole meal was fantastic and I can only say I was very glad we waited.

After the meal we walked home and Kirsty got so much pain from the little shoes she was wearing she had to take them off and walk most of the way bare foot.

Right well that turned out to be far longer than expected so you’ll have to wait till next time to find out about the other restaurant that stood out.