October 27, 2013
We went down to eat dinner.
E——— “Tart, remember our room number”
A——— “yap”
Champs Elysee is a block away from Chateau Frontenac. Edmund doesn’t like this area. He said next time we should stay near Gallerie la Fayette where there’s more action. Here, it’s quiet, the stores are bigger which makes them far apart. One needs more walking to hop from one store to another. Champs Elysee is also too wide, which means longer walk is needed just to cris-cross this avenue.
For our dinner, I convinced him to have Moules Mariniere at Leon de Bruxelles restaurant. It’s conveniently located at the corner of Rue de Pierre Charron and Champs Elysee.
This restaurant had been here as far as I could remember. I liked their moules (mussels or tahong) mariniere. They serve Belgian cuisine and mostly moules. They now have a lot of variations in cooking the mussels. Whenever I’m here, I always order the moules mariniere which comes with french bread or fries (frites).
My first taste of this Belgian dish was in Bruxelles. Napakatagal na, panahon pa ni President Ramos. I was with the business delegation. We spent a night there. We walked and entered a dungeon-like restaurant. Ewan kung sino ang nag-order, tila si Oscar De Venecia at si nasirang Atty. Siguion-Reyna, Sr. I didn’t know what to expect, basta sama-lang naman ako ng sama. Tapos biglang dumating kalde-kalderong mussels, share-share kami ng kain. Yung lang ang kinain namin. Ang sarap. From then on, every time I came to Paris, basta kakain ako ng Moules mariniere.
I can’t say that Leon de Bruxelles is the best moules destination in Paris because I haven’t tried the others, but they certainly was one of the pioneers. The owner, Chez Leon, opened his first restaurant in Brussels, Belgium in 1893. They opened their first branch in Paris in 1989. The one at Champs Elysee is their flagship restaurant in Paris which opened in 1991.
Edmund ordered this fried dilis. When we were in St. Andrews, we had crispy gourmet tawilis. Ngayon naman, we’re in Paris eating dilis. I wans’t sure though if my husband knew that what he ordered was dilis. Baka nakalagay sa menu ay dilisoix sawsawis en mayonnaise.
Their moules are softer than our tahong. This one is cooked in garlic, white onions, and parsley.
After we’ve finished the marinier, Edmund ordered another one with tomato base.
I still prefer the original taste.
