My husband and I love Paris (and France)—we lived there for a while many years ago and every year after that we visited, until the pandemic hit the world. And as we all know, the pandemic put an end to most national and international travel for a while.
So, we were very happy to be able to return in the summer of 2022. We took our daughter, her 6-year-old daughter, and her partner with us and we were really looking forward to sharing all the things that we love about the city and the country. And, it was a wonderful, successful trip.
Our daughter loves seafood, so was extremely happy to have the chance to eat fresh oysters many times, in Paris and especially in Brittany. She was also keen to try snails—escargots—considered a delicacy by many and on most menus. Our granddaughter is generally a pretty adventurous eater and will try most things, at least once. So, she decided that she was going to try snails too.
My husband and I chose Le Julyann, 36 Faubourg Montmartre (9th), on the corner of rue Cadet. It’s a part of Paris that we know well and we’ve eaten there before. Plus, it has outdoor seating, which was perfect as that was the time when there was a heatwave in Paris.
What a delightful experience it was to watch this young girl have such fun and approach her new adventure with such verve. She even got her mom to take a short video of her eating the snail, explaining how to hold it, how to get the snail out of the shell and what it tasted like, because she wanted to share it with her class at school! A different kind of “show and tell!” Our waiter was wonderful too, making the experience really special. We started with a shared plate of escargots but had to order another, as that didn’t go very far among 5 people! The rest of our meal there was also very good.
Our granddaughter liked the experience so much that she ordered snails again another evening in Montmartre at Chez Eugene on Place du Tertre.
At the end of the trip, I think we ended up with some more dedicated francophiles! And not only because of the snails, although that certainly contributed.
To-ing and Fro-ing in France 