Paris: Day 2 Angelina

If there is one place that is an absolute must visit while you are in Paris I would have to say Angelina's is the spot. While its in a very touristy area and can be quite crowded sometimes it is well worth the wait. We enjoyed some of the most delicious pastries there that we had to go back for seconds the next day. Angelina has some of the best hot chocolate you can find in Paris. They import their hot chocolate straight from South Africa and boy is it chocolaty. I had to bring back a can of the powder mix for myself and a bottle of creamed hot chocolate for my brother Jordan who is a huge fan of any milk and flavor concoction. I have saved my hot chocolate mix for the first day it snows here in Utah. For those of you who want to indulge in a little bit of Paris come on over that day and enjoy some hot chocolate with me. There is always a wide array of freshly made deserts at Angelina's but you will want to arrive early because they only make a certain amount of food for the day and once its gone, its gone.

Before heading out to Angelina's we stopped and picked up some breakfast. After seeing the size of Orchid's omelet we opted to share. This was an amazing jambon ouef (Ham Omelet) with a side salad which had a incredibly sweet and flavorful balsamic dressing.

After breakfast we walked off our meal as we headed to the Metro.

When we first arrived in Paris I was absolutely terrified of the Metro because at first glance it looks like an architectural nightmare. Thankfully we sucked it up and decided to try our luck after downloading the Paris Travel Guide Offline for our iPad. This app saved us hours of walking and money we would have spent while being lost and forced to take a taxi. 

In the metro there are all sorts of advertisements for french movies and stores. Here is an upcoming box office hit called "Les Lascars Gays" which I believe is french for "America wake up and stop being so judgmental." Of course I haven't taken any french lessons so this could be wrong lol.

It seems that even telemarketers in France get to relax all day! At 20 euros per hour I would be looking just like that guy at a desk job. 

Finally the wait is over and we arrived at The Louve exit and walked up to Angelina. 

Once inside Orchid placed an order for a few items to take with us while I waited in line for a seat. This is absolutely a pastry lovers paradise.

I could feel my sweet tooth aching as we looked at all these delicious pastries. There was so many to choose from that we had to try it all. Instead, we limited ourselves to a total of 6 pastries. I first ordered the Saori (pictured below) and Orchid the citron tart (far right). I would advise anyone visiting Angelina to put the citron tart on their must devour list.

Next up we ate the "Tarte fine aux pommes, caramel au beurre sale" which is the longer french version of delicious carmel apple pie tart. Orchid got the strawberry parfait with cheesecake bites.

One of my absolute favorites was the apricot parfait. I loved this so much I had to buy another for the road. The apricots were sliced in half and covered with a apricot paste and a dash of vanilla caramel cream on top. 

The French are famous for their exquisite macrons. I am not usually a fan of these because they are a dry pastry with a refined sugar paste in the middle. However, we did buy a few and they were extremely flavorful. One thing to remember while in Paris is that every flavor will taste exactly like the real thing where as in the U.S. you will usually get a factory made flavoring agent.

Unfortunately, we did not try the Mont Blanc (pictured below). These amazing looking chocolate cupcakes with powdered sugar were mistakenly passed up and I am still kicking myself today for not eating one. 

As you can see both me and Orchid were extremely happy with the food and the service. Angelina has a lot of English speaking workers and their menu includes English translation as well.

Practically everything about this place caught my interest right down to their copper lined coffee cups which are available for purchase as well.

Here is the aftermath of our meal. If your table does not look similar to this you must have been doing something wrong or ordered too small of a meal.

Here is a close up of the apricot tart I ordered. Many high end pastry shops will garnish their food with a flake of edible 24k gold. 

Vanilla bean and passion fruit macrons.

Since we went a little overboard on our daily budget at Angelina we decided to order some take-away to bring back to the hotel room. For those of you wondering, yes that is ketchup and mayo or as we Utahns call it Fry Sauce. If you are in Paris and on a tight budget or just looking to save money dont disregard the take-away/ fast food restaurants. Many of these restaurants offer high quality meats (compared to the states) and are quite filling. Couscous is usually found in every take-away restaurant. Pictured below is the chicken and lamb from a local Turkish restaurant, both came with couscous, fries and coleslaw. Total cost under $12 euros.

Bon Appetit! - Talyn Sherer