Monday, April 21, 2014

Sunday Brunch at Hotel Fouquet Barriere

Among with the invasion of hamburgers, Sunday brunch has taken Paris by storm the last few years.
Coco (here demonstrating the ivy and laurel leaves climbing up Paris' original lamp posts in her neighborhood) invited me to join her and other bloggers at Hotel Fouquet's brand new Brunch service at the Barrière.
And I invited Bear. The Hotel is on 46 Avenue Georges V a few steps away from the Champs-Élysées 75008
Bear insisted on the grand tour before we brunched.
A splendidly landscaped terrace awaits if you're in the mood to eat out doors.
As do barbecue chefs wait to take your order...
And deliver it to you hot off the grill (I want to say 'barbie' for the Aussies out there...)
Other chefs are waiting to make you fresh pancakes with bacon and syrup. Bear dived in.
I was saving myself for the Mediterranean feast in the other room. There are at least 3 buffets if not more.
First asparagus of the season !
Artichokes in France are the best. I love the extra long stems.
A Lebanese feast was calling my name. I have to buy fresh Tabouleh and humus at Bastille marché every week. I'm addicted.
All kinds of cooked meats and Morel mushrooms!
My plate. I tried not to totally make a fool of myself but...
Bear did make a fool of himself over the raspberry fool.
This is Bear's dessert plate.
I was admiring this gorgeous cake, but one doesn't like to take the first slice and ruin the symmetry does one? So I abstained from dessert believe it or not.
Chef Charles Ducrazet and his team created this fabulous giant chocolate egg-birdhouse, but they weren't slicing that up either...
Here are some other intriguing chocolate eggs around town: Puyricard went all out with a gold-leafed giant egg (how many kilos is this one is?) with a Pont Neuf landscape etched into it.
Dalloyau had an egg-like white chocolate gateau in their windows yesterday filled with fresh strawberries.
I'm still in love with Dalloyau's giant strawberry, carrot and Spring pea eggs but I made do with their mini eggs filled with raspberry and apricot. Heartbreaking the choices one has to make...
Mad for this witty chocolate cloche/bell of Alain Ducasse placed under a bell jar. All at the new Ducasse chocolate shop recently opened in the 6th, 26, rue St. Benoit a step away from Café Flore.
These eggs are NOT filled with little chocolate fish/friture. Instead they are called 'feuilleté' and have different layers of dark chocolate, feuillantine and praline - very unusual indeed.
Post-brunch Bear and I wished we'd run the Paris Marathon earlier but instead ambled down the Champs-Élysées and through the Tuilleries almost all the way home. Still I'd jump at the chance of another Sunday brunch at Hotel Fouquet Barrière.

21 comments:

  1. Wow...such a Sunday treat :-) Their brunch looks very delicous..and those chocolate eggs from Alain Ducasse seem to be calling my name...luckily I have one of his choclate bars at home otherwise I would have run to his boutique ;-)

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  2. How much cost this brunch?

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    1. please tell us!!! we want to know!!!

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  3. Sunday brunch looks devine, but I am afraid that so many choices & temptations would totally overwhelm me and as a result I would experience that unpleasant Thanksgiving feeling where I swear I will never eat like that again (Is that just an American feeling?). Having only one trip to Paris under my novice French-made belt, at this point, I still yearn for that small cafe meal & atmosphere with the fixed price that's in my budget (that brunch is not).

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  4. cyndid from SD10:07 AM

    Looks fabulous.I just returned from Paris,and not only did I not have full access to the internet,I did not want to take the time.There was too much going on,that crazy color run,Giverny,etc.But Carol, I too was so disappointed that you did not get your Visa.When the time comes up again,we will all rally around with positive thoughts.
    I did get my Easter chocolates,so good with fillings you talked about.
    keep bringing us joy every day.You are good at that.
    cyndi

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  5. When we are in Paris on Sundays we visit the Bastille market and get the taboulah and hummus too - and my husband insists on visiting the Chicken Lady - and of course we have to have some cheese and bread. Our hotel allows us to have our picnic in their breakfast room - some of our favorite meals that way!

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    1. I have yet to discover the Chicken Lady ;(
      But we are eating the very same Tabouleh I bet. One row over is the Hereng guy who has the best 'new' pickles in town and slaw also. He is Polish fyi...

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  6. I love tabouleh, hummus and tarama from the market. The Lebanese traiteur is my favourite stall. I want to buy some guimauves Puyricard before I leave Paris.

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  7. Oh, my! All that food! Happy Easter!

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  8. Barbara Lillian12:05 PM

    Oh wow! I can't find enough adjectives to describe all that... what a delightful lunch you must have had. Just the surroundings never mind the choice to choose from.and all those chefs standing waiting to grill your lunch.. and you never let a sweet morsel touch your lips.... What a wonderful place for brunch.

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  9. Beautiful looking brunch but I think I might have started with dessert.

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  10. You must enjoy yourselves so much the 3 of you:)

    For some reason I now follow Coco and Janice..but their posts don't come to me:(
    I feel like I was at an all day buffet w/ Easter yesterday..
    The sun was out ..but like a typical April day..sun..but brown grass..no leaves.. no blooms..Indoor blooms though..
    It's the Boston marathon today..

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  11. Only French can make this great looking and tasting foods! American brunches are not the same...Canada is not too bad when we go to a Fully French restaurant for brunch (:
    You must have had a great time, it looks lovely ...the garden and all.
    ciao Z

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  12. Carol, that brunch display really does stretch way beyond pancakes. I think that your plate looked wonderfully appetizing...all those colors and textures artfully arranged.

    Sorry that I never found time to photograph chocolate bunnies in NYC, but at least I managed to acquire a couple, milk and dark. They now grace a shelf like Staffordshire dog figurines.

    xo

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  13. Boy that looks good :)
    So much food, all looking so delish!!
    And that garden looks beautiful, too.

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  14. marcelle8:56 PM

    Janice un article très intéressant est paru dans La Presse (journal canadien Français)CE WEEK END,racontant votre vie à Paris.monique ne l'a pas vu? surprenant car c est elle qui m'a fait vous découvrir.

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  15. Just hopping in for a moment to say that looks fantastic. I would have eaten so much, but then not eaten again all day. At your kind suggestion I bought Janice's book on Kindle and I LOVED IT. Thanks so much for the introduction and now I am following her too.

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  16. Paper clip dings? Really? Boy, someone needs to get a life.

    Glad it was Bear who made a fool of himself over the fool and that you had nothing to do with it! It all looks quite amazing and wonderful!

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  17. Maureen9:30 AM

    Caro, l only the French could take the Sunday Brunch idea and make it so fabulously thier own with first aspargus of the season etc. etc. How you passed up dessert is beyond me! Such iron discipline. There is no way I would have managed that .

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  18. There's a reason I hate buffets: I know no restraint. Seriously, I must try it all no matter the damage.
    Please keep an eye out for les Barbets...a French water retriever...no, I mean a retriever that works in water. They don't bring you water.... :-) I met one at the dog show and am totally smitten.

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  19. This brunch is amazing. The offer is pretty large and there is no compromise on quality. Definitely worth trying.

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