Bonjour Paris! (part 1)

Second destination! Paris here we come..

We fly from Barcelona to Paris via easyjet. It took only 1 hour. Actually there is a train but took around 12 hours if i'm not wrong, and cost almost the same. We don't have that much time, so we choose to fly.

We took Roissy Bus from the Airport and walk around 15mins to our Hotel. Roissy Bus will connect you from CDG Airport directly to Opera. To buy the ticket, you must use coins or credit cards. So please prepare your coins. We told by our friends before, so we already spare some coins to buy the ticket from the machine.

first meal in paris, of course it must be PAUL

Hotel : Timhotel Madeleine Opera
This hotel is strategically located very near to Saint Lazare Metro and Train Station. Just 2 mins walk.
The room is super tiny, like most of 3 stars hotel in Paris. Unless you want to spend 300euro/night for your hotel room then you can get a proper room.

But it's clean, the toilet also clean. There is Free Wifi, and it's quite fast and reliable. The lift is super tiny, and sometimes doesn't work. The receptionist can speak english and very helpful. It's also very near to Galeries Lafayette.

We didn't buy the breakfast from the Hotel because it cost 20Euro/person with not much selection. There is lots of eateries nearby, but sadly nothing is cheap. The cheapest will be baquette sandwich from Paul (around 6-8euro) and the bread is as hard as rubber T_T.

We spend the rest of the days by walking around Louvre Museum. Then heading to Champs Elysses via Tuileries Garden.And continue to Eiffel Tower.

Musee du Louvre
Our schedule to go inside the Louvre is on our last day. Today is only see it from outside.

louvre pyramid

failed jump shot

why there's a statue standing alone there. let's do something...

he say, ok..

my attempt. oh no i look fat and short beside it

gelatos!!!

first crepe in paris

eating hot chocolate crepe by the lake, cannot ask for more

 

grand palais??

saw a queue at champs elysses, and decided to join. it was a queue to enter abercrombie

our dinner at random fast food restaurant at champs elysses

Arc du Triomphe
It was raining and make the weather become super cold. Cannot take a proper photo of Arc du Triomphe.

white sky after the rain

Eiffel Tower
We reached there at 8.30pm and the sky is still as bright as it's only 4pm!!
We go through Champ de Mars. We have to walk across the park for 15 minutes until we can see the tower clearly without any trees blocking the view. Actually seeing the tower from here is not as good as from other place like from Trocadero. But you may expect lesser people, you can freely take photo of the tower, it's all yours. There were only 2 couples went there at the same time with us.

My first experience when first the I see Eiffel Tower is wonderful, but there is no magical feeling as compared to Sagrada Familia. Maybe because the images of the tower has been overly used everywhere, so it's already stuck in your head. But the Eiffel is really high. Higher than what I've expected before.

We didn't go up because the queue is long and I already can't feel my feet..

before sunset

Eiffel after dark. Pretty or not?!

mandatory pose

shiny golden tower against dark blue sky

thanks to our tripod, it's been heavy carrying you the whole day

eiffel from below

Wild Honey @ Mandarin Gallery

After we watched Masterchef US season 4, one of the pressure test challenge is to make Egg Benedict. Suddenly we I craved for Egg Benedict. The weird thing is, I never like runny egg yolk. But I was so curious about how holandaise sauce taste like. Runny egg yolk, I will give you a second chance, for the sake of holandaise.

So the hunt for egg benedict is on! Decided to go to Wild Honey at Mandarin Gallery for the easiest access place for all day breakfast.

homey exterior

full house, most of the diners are ang moh (meaning 'bule' in Indonesia)

Before you go in, you just have to register yourself on their ipad, and when the table is ready, you'll get a phone call. We expect that the hostess is the one who will call us, but it was a machine. Technology this day...

 After 30 mins waiting time, finally we got our table, we have to go to the cashier to make order and pay. They placed the menu on a huge board hanging on the wall. If you need to see some photos, there are some ipads with food photos. But for the price you have to refer back to the board.

They provide wide selection of breakfast, coffee and juices. They use "country" as the dish name, e.g: for "Spanish" they serve chorizo and poached eggs on top, which I ordered. Maybe it was inspired from what's the most popular breakfast item from each country. No wonder ang moh are very attracted to dine here, maybe because they miss their hometown.

order here

breakfast from around the world

Spanish
It's sauteed chorizo, beef and potato cubes, topped with two poached eggs and holandaise sauce. Accompanied with 2 sliced of bread. This is not the original egg benedict actually, but even better! I can have all my favourite food all in one plate. I've been missing chorizo ever since and I love everything about potatoes. When I saw this menu, I'm sold.

Finally I can taste how holandaise sauce taste like. It's smooth, a bit buttery with a hint of sour. The overall taste is not so strong, once you break the egg, the taste will be blend with egg yolk taste.

The down side of this menu is only the bread. They're just too plain. I think if they're being toasted, it will give a crunchiness and a stronger feeling for the entire dish.

egg benedict's long lost spanish cousin

Belgian

We decided to order something sweet for the other dish. Not so much options for the "sweet breakfast". They have some pies and cakes. But a slice of cake or pie won't enough for two of us.So we choose "Belgian". It is waffles with some cream, grilled mangoes, drizzled with roasted coconuts and accompanied with Maple Syrup (waffles' soul mate). Oh, and some blueberries (as seen on the photo).

For me, the waffle is not fluffy enough, maybe that's how the belgian eats their waffles. I don't know.. Not really my liking though. I prefer fluffy and moist waffle in the inside but crispy on the outside. What I like about this dish is the grilled mango, I never thought if we can put mangoes on those fire.The mango taste become sweeter and the texture become softer, two small slices definitely in not enough.. I want more...

Overall the food is decent. The place is cozy with dim lights. Perfect place to hang outs with friends. Didn't try the coffee. We're not coffee lover, sorry.... There is one thing that irritates me though. The waiter keep coming and asked if she can clean our plates, like three times! The first time she asked when obviously there's still some food on my plate. Hello!! we queued for 30 minutes, let us sit here longer can or not? I know there's still long queue out there, but please.... Maybe next time should go to the Scotts Square branch.

four slices of waffle

Wild Honey
Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road #03-02

Nearest MRT : Somerset
(long queue, no reservation)

Scotts Square
6 Scotts Square #03-01
Nearest MRT : Orchard
(bigger space, can do online reservation)

www.wildhoney.com.sg