While in France on my honeymoon, wanting to do a little something different we chose a food tour in a part of Paris called Montmarte.
Montmarte is a district of Paris that sits on a hilltop that housed some of the greatest artists in history, Picasso Dalí, Vincent van Gogh, Renior, Monet. This district still has two remaining historic windmills: Moulin Radet and Moulin de Blute-Fin, and is not too far from the nightlife and the Moulin Rouge.
After arriving to Montmarte by metro, we were greeted by our guide right outside the Montmartre metro station. From there we started walking on a main road where our first stop was:
La Butte Fromagère, 32 rue des Abbesses
Cheese shop/fromagerie:
Here we picked up the following
- Tome Caussonard (sheep cheese sampled at the shop)
- Brillat-Savarin truffé (triple cream brie with truffles)
- Comté 18 mois (hard cheese)
- Roquefort Vernières (blue cheese)
- Rouelle du Tarn (5 week old goat cheese)
- Picodon (3 month old goat cheese)
- Beurre Bordier demi-sel (salted butter)
Next Stop was Jacky Gaudin, a butcher. Here we learned that the more medals a piece of meat had the better the farm and quality. Next to the door we were shown that the butcher displayed photos of the cows and where the meat was sourced.
Butcher/boucher:
Jacky Gaudin, 50 rue des Abbesses
- Saucisson à l'ail (garlic sausage sampled at the shop)
- Paté de canard aux pistaches (duck paté with pistachios)
- Paté de campagne (pork paté)
- Jambon de pays (French prosciutto)
- Rosette de Lyon (saucisson - cured sausage with black pepper)
Ladurée in Paris
After the butcher our tour guide dropped us off at a chocolate shop while our guide continued to run around and buy baguettes, grapes and strawberries and some special treats for later. Meanwhile, we were at the chocolate shop sampling a few of their chocolates as the store owners told us the history about how french macarons originated. . .
It’s believed that the marcaron was born in Italy and came to France by the true hero, Catherine di Medici, a noblewoman from Florence who married the future King of France, Henri II. The first macarons were very simple cookies made of sugar, almond flour and egg whites. The macaron we know today was adapted by Parisian confectioner La Maison Ladurée, who sandwiched buttercream, jam, and ganache between the cookies. Whether it’s Paris or NYC - Ladurée has many locations and is definitely the holy grail of macarons.
Chocolate shop/Maracon shop on Tour:
Illèné, 4 rue Tholozé
We got to pick two chocolates and two macaroons as a take away treat.
Bakery/boulangerie:
Alexine, 40 rue Lepic
- Financiers (small almond madeleines we had at the beginning of the tour)
- Eclairs (chocolate and coffee)
- Baguette
- Baguette tradition
Wines:
- White wine: Bourgogne Petit Chablis, by Jean Pierre and Alexandre Ellevin (chardonnay)
- Red wine: Bourgogne Poulleau Père et Fils (pinot noir)
- Sparkling wine: Vouvray du vignoble Brisebarre, brut
Once our guide returned to the chocolate shop to pick us up we continued walking to their Secret Food Tour office. Down in the basement of their office was a cellar set up for us to casually eat everything we had picked up along the way. Our tour guide shared her favorite things and origins of wines/regions.
I absolutely loved this take on a food tour, where you could sit down and eat as a group. Get to really know the country and foods with a personalized experience with your tour guide.
Highly recommend Secret Food Tours.
