The Monthly Joie Review: November 2023 Recap
Sharing all the people, places and things that might bring you some joy from my November.
Bonjour dear friends! I am a good two weeks + late sending this out to you but the changing of the months unfortunately came with getting a horrible case of strep throat. I called SOS medecin to make a house call since I couldn’t leave my bed to see a doctor and they gave me prescriptions for strep and covid tests. Both came back negative so I suffered a few more days before marching back to the pharmacy and begging to be retested. I couldn’t sit at home waiting for what they thought was viral to pass because with each day it only felt more miserable. I am glad that I pushed because it turns out that it was in fact strep and I was so very happy to get antibiotics to start the path towards not feeling like I was swallowing chards of glass. All that to say, I started my month off sick, then recovering and finally catching up.
For a spell, I considered skipping the round up but there were a few places that I visited last month worth sharing. So here we are with my monthly recap in hopes that you find a little inspiration and insight for people, places and things you want to check out.
I realized how fortunate I am after reading
article The Friendship Problem about how adult friendships are in crisis because people are either so over scheduled or using social media and digital conveniences as a substitutes for making IRL meet ups a priority. Living as an expat in France, far from my family or childhood friends, I have come to rely heavily on my community of friends for support. I really don’t feel like I have a friendship problem or that scheduling to see my people here is like admin. I admit that there are some friends who live on the other side of the river or on the outskirts that I don’t see as often, which is a bummer. But I love how French culture seems to encourage random apéro meetups or quick cafes that don’t need to be scheduled.My dear friend Mary lives a 5-7 minute walk away from me and I love how she might call me with an hour notice and ask if I want to come downstairs for a drink. Or ask if I am up for a nibble in the neighborhood. Last month we met at a little restaurant that gets kind of loud and wild on the weekends called La Parade. In the summer, Elliot, the owner, who I am friendly with, likes to put lots of tables out in the warmer months and he always makes sure the vibe is fun and welcoming. He also makes an effort to remember people, which I love, but also I love to order a few dishes to share and a glass of wine. This particular evening he stopped by our table to let us know that he launched a new Mexican restaurant called La Bagarre, which I will have to try and report back.
And speaking of friendship and fellowship, my friend Claiborne, who has a lovely food blog, was passing through Paris to celebrate her 50th birthday so I asked how she felt about coming with me to the “school bar.” It’s a cafe near my children’s school that most of the parents stop at for a drink after picking the kids up for school. The school bar has really helped me get to know other parents at the school and encouraged me to be spontaneous with my Friday night plans. Even if I hadn’t planned on anything, if a parent asks me for a drink after school, I always say yes. No admin involved.
As you know or will quickly learn about me is that I am loooove lunch! I love to find all the best menu prix-fixe in the city and one day I will finally make a list of my favs but for now I just share them here. Last year, I needed to photograph Frank Barron for my book but I was living in Provence writing and couldn’t come up to Paris for a photo session. Frank suggested I reach out to the photographer Cedric Terrell, who had recently moved to Paris, to snap a portrait for me. He has since become a dear friend and I look forward to getting to know him more. And how do I do that? Lunch!
We met for lunch at Siseng, which used to be an old fave of mine. Haven’t been in ages and was happy they immediately were so happy to see me, congratulated me on the book and asked about the kids. The food was as good as I remembered it and had to order all my old faves. Cedric went for the lunch prix fixe of a choice between five different bao burgers and sweet potato fries for 17 euros. I kind of went overboard and started with the marinated chicken spring rolls that comes with a spicy pineapple sauce and tempura enoki mushrooms, which was a new item. (I normally also love ordering the fennel, mango, coriander and mint salad but had to tame myself). Then I ordered the 5 épices beef bao burger that is marinated beef with an onion ring, onion jam, arugula, spinach and a tamarin sauce. I am also obsessed with the tofu one as well but went for beef. It was a delish meal and just typing this makes me hungry and wish I was headed there for lunch right now.
Reyna has been on my list for quiet some time and my friend Lucy and I finally snagged a dinner reservation there. (They aren’t open for lunch). I remember reading about Erica Paredes a lot on Instagram when she was doing many Filipino food pop ups around town with epic waitlists. I love chicken wings so was eager to try her different flavors and they didn’t disappoint. We also order a few veggies dishes to balance our meat heavy choices and then some yellow Java rice which was so flavorful. I actually tried to make some Java rice of my own after that and found there were a few good recipes online to try.
Monday is always a tricky day to find a reservation in Paris because many restaurants close to give the team a break after being open all weekend. I appreciate this but usually have a hard time finding a place to eat when I have a dinner date. Restaurant Le Square Trousseau, which I have mentioned here before, is always a solid option for me. They are open every day till 1am with non-stop service, so it was an ideal spot to meet my friend David Lebovitz for a Monday evening dinner last month. We kept it simple and shared baked mussels, pate de campagne and a little mountain of skinny fries. You will probably hear me talk about this restaurant a lot so don’t be surprised or get too annoyed with me. I go often because it’s that good.
Another spot, where I will probably be a repeat client is Kubri, a Lebanese restaurant in the 11th. My goodness what an insanely delish meal I had with our friends visiting from LA. We ordered a few dishes to share and all kept commenting about how wonderful everything was. I would list out the dishes but the menu changes so often that what I mention here might not be available when you visit. I did run into friends the following day who were having lunch there and they were impressed with the lunch prix fixe, so I will have to try that very very soon.
The other really interesting restaurant I visited last month was for a solo lunch at a new vegetarian spot called Maslow. I am not vegetarian but they invited me to try their food which they market as a vegetarian restaurant for non-vegetarians. They also had a lunch prix fix for under 20e but I was greedy and wanted to try a few dishes. That area in the first by Châtelet is very hit or miss when it comes to finding quality food, so I was impressed the young owners secured this large location along the Seine. It only opened a few months ago and I anticipate they will do well because of the location, vibe and delicious food.
Before I ended my month horribly sick in bed, we took a family trip to Thanksgiving. We rarely go home because the kid’s cannot skip school that long but we decided to play hookie this year. I really enjoyed being with my family but mostly I loved watching all the kids bond. The poor things all cried when they had to say goodbye.
I don’t imagine that I’ll be able to travel home for Thanksgiving again anytime soon while the kids are in school but if I am being honest…I am okay with that. I will probably save this for another post, but I realized that Friendsgiving in Paris brings me a lot of joy. There is something special and sweet about a group of people who are all far from their families coming together with dishes or cooking together, then sitting for a meal to chat, share and then play games or chat more. It’s probably not too different from any dinner party throughout the year but it feels festive and perhaps we arrive for Friendsgiving with intention as opposed to dread of any family drama. More on that when I have fully processed my thoughts of Friendsgiving vs Family Thanksgiving.
I will end here because I am fully in my December feelings and have a few other things to share with you this week.
Bisous xx, Ajiri
The notes:
La Parade
2 rue des Goncourt
75011 Paris
Visit their site here
Reyna Paris
41 rue de Montreuil
75011 Paris
Visit their site here
Kubri
108 rue Amelot
75011 Paris
Visit their site here
Maslow
14 Quai de la Mégisserie
75001 Paris
Visit their site here
Aube
8 rue de la Main d’Or
75011 Paris
Visit their site here
Siseng
82 Quai de Jemmapes
75010 Paris
Visit their site here