TRAVELOG: Bad Food in Paris?

Eh? Bad food in Paris, you ask? C’est possible! We went for dinner about a block away from out hotel on Champs Elysees. It was to L’Alsace. Better known as a tourist trap. We knew it COULD be a tourist trap because well, it was on Champs Elysees. But again, there have been good restaurants on Champs Elysees. We went in for a quick bite at Leon de Bruxelles where we had the house specialty, moules (mussels) and it was fantastic and cheap (sorry no photos coz camera was left in the hotel room). Laduree, also on Champs Elysees, is legendary and has the finest pastries in Paris. Lenotre wasn’t bad either (although that night we were so jetlagged to really enjoy the food.. We enjoyed the company much more– and that’s for sure! :D).

But L’Alsace is simply terrible. If I were a food critic, I would’ve seriously sent the food they served back to the kitchen. It was THAT bad. At least my dish was. So you know now I don’t really embellish comments when it comes to food. I will tell you it’s terrible if and when it is.

Allow me to introduce the food we ordered. (Sorry about the less-than-desirable looking photos… I was also experimenting with my camera)

Soupe L’oignon gratinee (French Onion Soup) and behind it, baked mussels. The soup was flat. The beef consomme tasted like less-than-salty water. The saving grace was the bread with the fromage (cheese). The baked mussels, in fairness, weren’t too bad.

DSIL ordered the salmon which looked ok. She said it was nothing great. (I prefer to eat my salmon raw, so I didn’t bother asking her for a piece of le poisson or fish *hehehe allow me to practice my broken French ok? We all learn something here… somehow :D*)

DH ordered fish on a bed of spinach, matched with a soft-boiled egg and he too, said the fish was average.

DM and I ordered the magret du Canard, thinking, what the heck, it’s the safest to order since the French cook canard (duck) real well. This was what was plated to us.
The sauce looked like ketchup mixed with barbeque sauce (how unsophisticated was my description haha). And what are those strings? They tasted like spaghetti, although I’m sure they’re not. But just as well, I think it was meant to be eaten mixed with that umm “special” sauce because to eat those “worms” alone, would make me hurl. It was just revolting. *hehehe sorry this post is particularly graphic in nature*

Service was tres désagréable 🙁 There was no waiter in sight to take our payment, but surprisingly the restaurant was FULL– of tourists. I seriously hope the restaurant doesn’t have bad food, rather we just made bad choices. But then again, we are in France, and the French are known to take their food very seriously. Tsk. This particular dining experience really is disappointing. 🙁

I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. At all. Nor would I ever go back to try other dishes. One rather painful gastronomic experience is enough to drive me far, far away. 😀 Our bill for the night? EUR 210. Not cheap for crap eh? 🙁

Mood: Biatchy (I’m-PMSing-kinda-biatchy :). *teehee*

x
Mrs.T