Starting Life in France

La Maison des Millésimes – buying wine

Wine and France go together like two peas in a pod, so where do you go if you want to buy some wine? Well, 137 Boulevard Saint Germain could indeed be a stop – La Maison des Millésimes.

Meaning The House of Vintages, this wine shop will cater for every price and every quality of wine that you could hope for. Prices start at 6€ per bottle and will go as high as 2000€ depending on stock at the time.

The advice that you get in there from the extremely friendly team is second-to-none and the selection of French-only wines has few rivals.

une cave à vins – wine cellar

The shop has just set up a blog that you can find over at http://maisondesmillesimes.wordpress.com/ if you’re after some advice on what to drink next. Posts will most likely be available in both French and English – the translations, too, will be second-to-none, I’m sure.

So, rendez-vous at 137 Boulevard Saint Germain, 75006, Paris between 10am and 10pm every day of the week.

By the way, did I mention that I work there? 😉

Le Train Bleu

http://www.mgimidsnell.com/

Up to now, I think that my most flamboyant treat was to have a meal at Gare de Lyon’s Le Train Bleu restaurant.

Quite the opposite of Chartier (see blog post), this is some of the best service and food that you can find in Paris. At least as far as I’m concerned it is. It may not have Michelin stars, nor world-famous chefs (well, not all the time) but it does what it says on the tin and it does it splendidly.

http://www.janhansonphoto.com/

As you can see from the photos the surroundings are just superb. Now this isn’t a restaurant for your average student budget, but it might be one for your graduation or other special occasion.

Once again the menu is traditionally French and the wines and digestifs compliment the menu very well.

There are set menus – formules – ranging from around 50€ to just under 100€ which permit you to spend a little less than if you were to eat à la carte. To give a rough example, 3 people eating a main course and a dessert with an apéritif, a bottle of wine, a digestif and a coffee with a little bit of a tip will come to about 320€. To be honest it was the digestif in the form of an Armagnac at a whopping 24€ per measure that put that bill up…but still, it was worth it 😉

The food itself was exceptional. I’m not one for blowing silly amounts on food but I honestly believe that this was worth every cent. Like I said, it’s not your every day dinner but it is something that you can do once in a while – or just once, in my case – and have a great time.

It’s Michelin star quality food without the Michelin star prices.

www.le–train–bleu.com/

1er étage Gare de Lyon – Place Louis Armand – 75012
France
01 43 43 09 06