Café Constant | Paris

Café Constant | Paris

• July 01, 2014

 

June has turned out to be a busy month with an unexpected trip to Paris, and various birthday do's including my own.

Paris! The most romantic city in the world? This is my 4th trip, my first 2 trips were with school and I didn't understand the world's fascination with it. It was dirty, people were rude and drivers in Paris were crazy, and I was sure I would never go again. But my good friend Burger Law persuaded me to go again in 2012, and returning to Paris as an adult this time round, it was a completely different story. Not only did I find Paris pretty and romantic, but the food was worth coming back for alone!

This time round, it was my turn to persuade my friend to go Paris. She had been once before with school and didn't really like it. I have come to the conclusion that Paris is not a great place to go as a kid, but as an adult? The wine, the food and the Parisian lifestyle goes hand in hand, not to mention the pretty Eiffel Tower at night. I'm sure I'll never get bored of looking at the Eiffel Tower in its sparkling glory against the night sky.

We did some sightseeing and mainly tried to hunt out good eats. And good food we did find! Our most delicious and memorable meal happened at Café Constant - a recommendation by Burger Law who went earlier in June.

Even though Café Constant was filled to the brim with tourists, it still feels very authentically French and the waiting staff were all lovely and genuinely welcoming. We had to wait nearly 45 minutes for a table, but with a glass of wine in hand whilst in the queue, it passed by quite quickly.

Lobster ravoli. My friend JW loved this dish, she said the lobster bisque was exquisite. I thought it was pretty good too, but I've had an even more exquisite one before at Marcus Wareing at The Berkley, and I have never forgotten it. The bisque was gently flavoured with lobster and cream, and the ravioli was full of plump lobster bites.

Sauteed squid. This was my favourite dish. The baby squid was perfectly cooked with a great bouncy texture. Together with the basil oil, crunchy herb croutons and cheese scatterings, it was a wonderful flavour explosion. Loved this.

Quail stuffed with foie gras. This was hands down the best dish we had in Paris, whoa! The quail was roasted/seared til just cooked and the meat was succulent with a crispy skin. The foie gras that was stuffed inside was so fragrant and rich at the same time but without the greasiness. I have never loved foie gras because the oils make me gag a little, even though I very much like the taste of foie gras. Wonderful execution here. Didn't think the sides complimented the quail very much though, but who cares when the quail stuffed with foie gras is the star of the show.

Blond Aquitaine steak with shallots and mash. The beef was quite tough, so we didn't enjoy this dish as much as we should have. Very amusingly, the shallots sauce reminded me of the spring onion & ginger oil that comes with Chinese steamed chicken/Hainanese chicken, and both our taste buds were a little confused! The side of mash was heavenly, oh! So creamy, smooth and buttery.   

This meal with wine came to approx €100 and was absolutely well spent.