Barbra Austin

The day after dinner at Q-Tea, my dining partner sent me a heavily-researched dossier of Chinese addresses in Paris (this friend happens to be an academic), mostly culled from this blog, but also from the lengthy list of I’ve-always-wanted-to-try-that places he keeps in his head, one of which, L’Orient d’Or, was praised by the mystery blogger and also, recently, by Alexander Lobrano. Done.

Q-Tea, an itty-bitty Chinese table in the ninth, has been on my list since the stellar reviews started rolling in early this year, but I only got around to trying it last weekend.

It’s a closet of a space, decorated in polka dots (q cute!) and colors my eleven year-old self would have very much liked to have had in her bedroom. The prices are low (10-13€ for mains), and the husband and wife team who preside over this little lavender domain are utterly kind. In other words, the place has its charms. Unfortunately, the food is not one of them.

I’m on the road now (more on that soon) but here are a few stand-out meals I’ve had recently in Paris.

Now that summer is upon us, I thought I’d round up my favorite addresses for ice cream and sorbet in Paris.

Where do you have dinner with an American living in Paris who is facing a two week visit to the States? “Something good and French,” were the requirements.

So helpful!

There were many things to love about this meal, three of them being the ventrèche, jambon de Bayonne, and filet mignon that made up the plate of Basque charcuterie we started with.

I love strolling aimlessly around Paris, particularly on a day as beautiful as yesterday. But sometimes even I need a little direction in life, a goal, an endpoint, something to aspire to. Yesterday I set my sights on 47 rue des Martyrs, the address of a glacier called Caramella.