Eat and love fashionable food in Paris

MILLIE: Paris is known not only for its famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. It’s also the fashion capital of the world. Although I did try to shop as it was sale time everywhere, it was not my priority.

Having arrived on a Sunday, most restos in the Faubourg St. Honoré area were closed but as soon as the doors of Fauchon opened that Monday morning, I was there, excited like a little girl.  Fauchon is the connoisseur’s food boutique. It’s not a grocery or a deli but a specialty food store where one finds unique quality food items bearing the Fauchon brand. It is, for me, the ultimate in fine food shopping!

I was delighted to see how it has grown to two stores in the Place de la Madeleine area. I could spend a whole day there, picking up every item that catches my eye, the way a shopaholic would fit every garment she fancies.

By the entrance of the first store is a long display showcase featuring an array of handmade Fauchon chocolate pieces that made my mouth water. On the opposite side was a fabulous corner featuring a to-die-for collection of marrons glaces, made with cognac, or rum, or a liqueur called Poire William. I noticed an interesting new flavor — au chocolat — although my favorite is still the original au nature.

Fashionable show window of edible art

KARLA:  Marrons glaces were one of my Lola Meldy’s favorite sweets. She would often have a box hidden from everyone else, but I, of course, knew where they were. She would save and savor them as she ate them piece by piece. Marrons glaces are basically chestnuts candied with sugar syrup and glazed. Last year, my Mom’s friend Tita Ditas Intengan went to Turkey and sent us  marrons glaces as pasalubong. Just like my Lola, Mom kept it from us and ate one piece at a time until fully consumed. I got to try a piece when she wasn’t looking and the ones from Turkey are bigger but not as sweet. We have also tried the ones from China but it’s not the same as the original French ones.

My Lola Meldy loved chestnuts. I remember when we would travel to Hong Kong, one of our merienda stops would be the café of the Hong Kong Hotel beside Ocean Terminal. Lola used to order two chestnut cakes, one to eat on the spot and one to bring back to the hotel. Then she would order another one just before departure and I would have to hand-carry it all the way back to Manila.  

Chestnuts are actually fruits encased in a hard shell. Chestnuts are usually eaten boiled, quick-braised or roasted. Our family tradition is that we normally serve it during Thanksgiving as part of turkey stuffing. During the entire Christmas season, we would always have roasted chestnuts served after dinner or sometimes scattered on the table as part of our edible centerpieces.

MILLIE: The section next to the chocolates is where I spent more than an hour just looking at the endless selection of cookies and bottled jams, dried spices, tea assortments and coffee blends like I was shopping at Hermés for something unique and originally French.

The second store was even more exciting and irresistible but since I had just had breakfast, I decided to forego any tasting for the moment and do some chores. I came back after two hours, ready to devour anything. I set my eyes and appetite on a  piece called Carre Nordique, a trio of  cold entrees  that cost a fortune. It was composed of my favorite smoked salmon on a canape; tiny pancakes or blinis with kani crabstick, fresh dill leaves and mayo; and finally pink salmon flakes and mango bits with chopped onion and parsley greens topped with dill pickle and olives.

KARLA: My mom and I are really smoked salmon fans; ever since I was three years old, my favorite of all was smoked salmon. Norwegian salmon for me is the best. There is also Canadian and Scottish. I loved smoked salmon so much that when we would travel and our hotel would usually include a breakfast buffet, as most kids ran to the cereals and milk stations, I would normally go straight for the cheeses and smoked salmon. Yum! My mom and grandparents would always say that the price of the buffet was sulit as long as I was eating because I go for the expensive stuff.

Eclair Leopard, an edible, fashionable dessert by Fauchon

Most times, I can tell if the salmon is Norwegian or not. We recently ate at a restaurant and I ordered their smoked salmon as an appetizer. I kept telling my mom that it tasted different. True enough, when Mom tried it, she said I was right — they had served us Canadian smoked salmon.  The color and texture are not the same.

MILLIE: Fauchon also had a counter featuring hams and processed meats like jamon Jabugo, Iberico, prosciutto, salamis and pates, which made my mouth water.  The cheese selections from all over the globe were very impressive and I momentarily remembered my dad when I spotted one of his favorite cheeses, Tete de Moine.  Traditionally, whenever I travel, I would bring home fine food items for mom and dad and the rest of the family as pasalubong, no matter how perishable the food item was.

There was also a showcase exclusively for that expensive delicacy called caviar.

Although I wanted to bring some home, I didn’t have space for it and didn’t want to hand-carry it home.

KARLA: Traditional and classic caviar is lightly salted roe from sturgeon found swimming in the Caspian and Black Seas.  These caviar varieties are Beluga, Sterlet, Ossetra and Sevruga. The most expensive type is the beluga, whose eggs are silvery gray and about the size of peas. Sterlet caviar is smaller and golden in color and so rare it is believed to have been served exclusively to Russian czars and the Shah of Iran.

Last year, Russia lifted the ban on caviar from sturgeon, which happened as a result of overfishing and pollution. Caviar looks a lot like papaya seeds and brings to mind a story I grew up with. Mom would often tell me that in the ’60s and ’70s, fine food items were unavailable locally. So there was a time when her friend Cassam Gooljarry would bring her tins of Russian or Iranian caviar from Hong Kong, which she would use for special clients.  She stored the tins in our ref at home with a sign: “Do not touch.”  One day, she noticed that someone had opened up a tin and eaten the caviar. Since no one owed up to it, Mom was so furious that she actually thought of refilling the tin with papaya seeds just to get even and to find out who the culprit was. She waited and watched as the culprit, her brother Gerry, opened the ref and grabbed the tin of what he thought was caviar and took  a mouthful. Mom laughed so hard as she watched Uncle Gerry spit out the papaya seeds.

MILLIE: The long counter of fashionable-looking Fauchon desserts was irresistible! I’d walk from end to end looking for a sweet ending and I could not resist the Eclair Leopard, perfect with a cup of espresso. Believe it or not, in the succeeding days that first week in Paris, I was at Fauchon every day trying a different snack or dessert, all of them exquisite, fine and unique. Burp!

* * *

Send e-mail to milliereyes. foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com. Find us on Facebook and read articles you might have missed: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes.