My post earlier this week detailed my family’s first European vacation. Today’s post piggybacks on my earlier post but from a different perspective, a European Food Tour.
While in Rome and Paris we took advantage of so many different types of foods. We pretty much ate our way through these cities; make sure you check out the gallery of images of the many foods we ate (below).
Sadly, my kids weren’t as adventurous with their eating in Rome and Paris as I would have hoped. Most often, the kids ate pizza. We had some great pizza while traveling and oddly enough, one of our most favorite pizza places was found in Paris and not Rome, which we will talk about late in this post.
We were in Rome for two nights and one day. Our first night in Rome we decided on a quick little meal at a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop. We walked a few steps from our hotel, in Trastevere, near the Ponte Sisto, and found this great place, buzzing with locals. The pizza place was called La Boccaccia. The place was rather small and the staff spoke limited English but they greeted us with huge smiles and incredible food. La Boccaccia had large rectangular pizzas that they cut to order (sold by weight). They have flavors like sausage and ricotta pizza, potato pizza and traditional pizza. It was the best pizza and we fed a family of 4, with drinks, for only 12 Euros. Unbelievable!
The next day was a full, busy day in Rome. We decided to have a fancy, late lunch. Through the recommendation of a friend we ate at Le Cupole, located in the Piazzale Flaminio section on Rome. The place was decorated very nice with clean bathrooms, linen tablecloths and beautiful place settings. The kids had the vegetable soup and pizza (again) while my husband and I had pasta dishes. The kids’ soup and pizza was far better than our pasta dishes. The food was average. I was expecting so much more based on the decor alone and was slightly disappointed at the quality of the meal.
We then made our away to Paris. For our first night there we decided to have a “fancy” dinner at Chez Jenny. The concierge at our hotel recommended Chez Jenny, which was just a few steps away from our hotel in the Plaza de Republique. The kids ate a burger and fries and salmon with mashed potatoes and ice cream for dessert. My husband and I ate duck terrine with reisling onion jam, salmon escalope vegetables and butter sauce, skirt steak with french fries and creme brulee with bourbon vanilla sauce. We washed our meal down with a beer, Kronenbourg Fleuron ed’s Alsace. The meal was very good.
For the rest of our time in Paris, we ate a lot of street food and enjoyed the city’s amazing pastries, baguettes and sandwiches. Most of the locals walk around with baguettes in hand, ripping off small pieces of bread and eating it throughout the day. One of the street food sandwiches we ate was the French version of the “hot dog.” The hot dog was nestled in a crusty bread and top with flavorful cheese and a great, spicy mustard which added just the right amount of kick to the hot dog.
Almost every evening, after a long day of sightseeing, we would find ourselves a little hungry once we made it back to our hotel room. Luckily, our hotel was located in a very busy, bustling area with lots of food options all around. Of course the kids wanted pizza – again – and we were happy to oblige. My husband found this great little shop in the Plaze de Republique. They made pizza using fresh, French cheeses, we even tasted one with blue cheese which was so good despite my initial hesitations.
Of course, we could not visit Paris without eating crepes. Crepes are sold everywhere, literally on every street corner. The crepes came in many different versions – nutella, nutella strawberry, banana. The crepes were made in such an effortless way by the vendors; I stood there in awe as they completed each step of the crepe-making with ease. I was so jealous of their skill; I had always thought crepes were difficult but they made it look so easy..
On our last night in Paris we ate close to our hotel again. It was Valentine’s Day and every restaurant was busy. Every evening, while in Paris, we would walk by this one resturant close to our hotel, called Pizza Pino. The place was always packed. We walked by Pizza Pino again on Valentine’s Day and finally decided to go in. We ordered the Pizza Palerme . Pizza Palerme featured chorizo, peppers, olives and an egg. Unfortunately, I did not remember to snap any pictures of our food. but I did happen to find a photo of the Pizza Palerme here. I am determined to figure out a way to recreate this pizza at home because I can’t get it out of mind. I must have it again. It was that good.
My European Food Tour included so many other foods not featured here. We enjoyed French pastries and cakes, devoured French desserts, drank Italian and French coffees and delicious French hot chocolate. Aside from the sites, the food was the next best thing.
If you are traveling to Rome, make sure you visit La Boccaccia and if you find yourself in Paris take the time to enjoy the Paris street food scene, which is amazing and so plentiful, and give a quick stop at Pizza Pino and order the Pizza Palerme.
Happy Travels and Happy Eating. xoxo
