I went to France and I ate frogs’ legs. THE END!
Basically.
But in reality (and in so many more words that you know I am so well known for), Mr John and I went to Paris on our honeymoon. It was the second city we visited after Amsterdam, and I was keen to try a whole lot of French food – the real deal. I had been to Paris before as a teenager, but now I was there on my own time read money and I was keen to try some delicacies.
Now I know some of you may frown on me as you think eating frogs is mean. I’m sorry. I respect your views, but the world is a big place and I want to experience as much of it as possible. You may say the same goes for going to China and eating dogs, and you would be right. But, at least, (and it is at least) frogs are bred for food, not just cruising around the streets only to suddenly find themselves inside a chop suey!
So Mr John and I found ourselves wondering around Montmartre, the suburb next to Pigalle where we were staying. My brother had stayed in the area a number of times and we knew it wouldn’t be overboard touristy (I suppose, which part of Paris isn’t?!). I was keen to try some frogs legs and Le Vrai Paris was the only spot they had where it was a starter. I REALLY wasn’t keen to blow 25 Euros on a frog legs’ main! Not with the Rand being R20 = 1 Euro as it was back in March.
So we popped inside and found ourselves in a quiet corner of the cafe section. I was only keen to pay money for food in decent restaurants where I could hear French being spoken, and Le Vrais Paris obliged. We ordered our Euro Football Coke and I had a glass of wine, while examining our map that we had picked up from our hotel.
I eagerly awaited my frogs legs while tucking into ‘pain’, the HILARIOUS French word for BREAD! GAWD they got that right! So tasty but so fattening 🙁 When the frogs legs arrived it was definitely a little creepy! I couldn’t think about what I was eating TOO much, especially because of how they presented it. Basically, it’s like they stripped the top of the frog off and just served the legs on the spine! In fact, I think that’s exactly what they did! The flavour is incredibly delicate, sort of similar to scallops in the way that you can’t blast with them chilli or huge amounts of garlic – it would make their flavour redundant.
For my main I had veal and risotto – dunno what kind of rubbish risotto comes in a square! Doubt it was an Italian cooking that! The flavour was good, but yeah, not the right consistency. Mr John had a lovely steak and chips though, which was a treat because we’re not usually ordering steaks on the Euro either!
We had a really nice waiter who was from Spain and, overall, enjoyed our experience at Le Vrai Paris. We were ripped off price wise, a little bit, but that’s to be expected when you don’t have internet and can’t do your research! It was a great experience though and it was wonderful to stroll under the glowing nights on a spring evening in Paris.
