Villa Pereire - Paris

I sit, angry and frustrated, writing this blog post in Paris airport on my way home after three days of attending a damn awful tradeshow for work. The reason behind my emotional vibrancy is simple. I've been here three bloody days and only managed one meal out in a city, rightly proud of it's culinary achievements. Instead of stuffing my face with French fabulousness, I have been stuck either inside an exhibition centre or inside a hotel room.

But do not, dear reader, feel sorry for me. This is a fate I chose for myself. You see, for all three days of this trip I have been suffering from various cold related viri and so I chose to sometimes sit, but mostly lie, in the dark feeling sorry for myself and groaning occasionally rather than suffer through meals with colleagues, bosses and bosses bosses with whom, in order to meet the minimum of pleasantries, I would have had to have expended too much effort than I had available in my personality tank.

Instead, I saved myself for one big blow out and managed to get away on my own to meet some customers at a little Cafe Resteraunt around the corner from my hotel so I could duck back to the safety of my bed without too much trouble if things got rough. And so, let me introduce Villa Pereire.

Poised next to the restaurant situated on a prime corner in the centre of Paris (Who doesn't love an underdog) , Villa Pereire looks from the outside like many other Cafe's in France. Long, thin windows and a dark facade which, I'm sure is all very Avant Garde but I think makes it look a little too austere. Inside was a different story however, with opulently curtained walls and lovely pockets of light which allowed tables privacy and atmosphere, that does however present a problem to the photography of the occasion, hence the appalling photo quality. The service was great as well, the Maitre D was always attentive and very tolerant of my all too consistent attempts to beat his language into submission however much wine it took me.

I started the meal with sea scallop carpaccio , seasoned with lemon juice and dill. The scallop simply dissolved into a beautiful ozone ooze once in the mouth and while I admit not to be a fan of herbs in general, dill is ticking my boxes of late and this was just lovely. I was very pleased to see a good portion size too, not just one corner of a massive plate which so often happens.

For the main there was only really one choice. I very rarely order steak in the UK, unless Mrs. P. and I are out somewhere posh and I can't see anything else I would rather have. The results are just so hit and miss that I don't take the chance. In France, by contrast, I haven't had a bad one yet and this one refused to buck the trend. A massive slab of Rib-eye sorted the men from the boys. Cooked 'blue*', it was a master class in good quality ingredients and a great deft hand on the grill. An absolute beauty. The fries were salty, thin and crisp. Again, when travelling in the UK I do all that is possible to avoid chips. This is because almost everything on the menu comes with them and I'm fat enough already thanks very much. These were great though, the real deal and I lamented (secretly of course), why it was that we are so heavily chained by the frozen chip.

Stuffed with cow though I was, I still felt compelled to order pudding and having consumed a couple of bottles of wine by this point I considered my French to be good enough to order without asking for a translation. In reality, once the waiter had gone, I had to admit that past chocolate and pistachio, I had absolutely no idea what was about to arrive.

Lucky for me, I was saved by the arrival of a baked chocolate soufflé with a chocolate and pistachio sauce filling. It seems I wasn't too far off. While some may say it was a trifle heavy considering the preceding course but I suffice to say I had no trouble getting it in my gob and I loved every mouthful of the rich, untious, nutty sauce that oozed out of the cake, down my chin and onto the table cloth. Perhaps a little pricy but much of that was the wine, of which there was plenty of choice. We went with the recommendation of the Maitre D, and while 44 euro per bottle, worth every cent. Delicious**. I rolled out of there € 277 the poorer for three, including wine. But would I recommend it? Absolutely, my dining guests and I were wined, dined and then sent directly to bed before my snot broke through the floodgates and embarrassed everyone present.

*try asking for that down at your local Harvester and see the look they give you.

** you will notice I deliberately did not mention which wine we enjoyed. Rest assured, if I had any idea what it was, I would tell you.