This was a restaurant experience from more than a year ago (22 May 2010) but the taste of my first escargot is still with me.
It was May in Paris, the first time I realized how much I could come to love this city, how I would long to learn its secrets. With the passage of time I have come to learn a few things, one of them being that as soon as you leave Paris, everything becomes so much less expensive, even in Versailles, one of the wealthy suburbs. Go there if you want to have a nice meal for the best deal (and go for lunch for even less!)
Well, after my first visit the Chateau, we decided after much deliberation that we would stay in Versailles for dinner. A nice meal is not something to be taken lightly, so we wandered the quiet back streets for the gems of the area, to find the places that only the locals know about. This restaurant is not exactly in the back streets, but rather in an open pedestrian square near many other places. But it is certainly the only place that advertises itself on having authentic French food, as one can see from the website: www.restaurant-traditionnel-versailles.com.
I absolutely will not forget the flavors of my first French traditional dining experience. Escargot in garlic and parsley butter served in the shells with the little spoon for digging them out-- there are no words. I can't remember what my main dish was, just that the dessert was something chocolate; nor can I remember what Simon ordered, nor do I recall which wine we drank (Simon if you remember any of this, please email me :-) But I can remember the place, and those lovely little snails. It was all unforgettable.
They seem to have changed the menu now, but I'm sure everything is just as tender, elegantly placed and well-served as it was last May. If you make the trip out to Versailles, why not complete the picture (not in a tourism way, but the whole French history picture)....why not experience the wonders of fine French dining in this historic place?
I can't help but complete this post with a note about where we went for drinks while waiting for our train back to Paris. With 3-4 Euro margaritas during happy hour, it doesn't get much cheaper (or more of a contrast to French Traditional) that that! It's a stylish Tex-Mex chain called El Rancho I'm happy to know that I've found my "Tex-Mex-away-from-home", if I ever need some comfort food while in Paris :) But with lovely French cuisine, it's hardly likely I'll need any of that, right?
xo
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