Taste of Paris - Grand Palais

Last night was the major foodie event opening of TASTE OF PARIS at Grand Palais.

Get ready to graze from France's top chefs and purveyors.

14 stations serving tasting bites from master chefs.

Alain Ducasse, top chef and head honcho of the event confers.

Whilst the line chefs rush to produce.

The last real and true jambon de Paris, Le Prince - a must-taste.

Saffron from the Vallee de la Vienne. No need to go to Persia.

Divine oils from Huilerie Beaujolaise with intense flavors of pistachio and hazelnut, used only to dress food, so delicate.

Did you know ketchup is hot, hot, hot in Paris? You can put it on just about anything and it comes in a variety of flavors here. From Oliviers & CO created by 'Goth' chef Olivier Streiff.

I bought a bag of fleur de sel salt from the Les Sauniers de l'Ile de Re - a place I am dying to visit.

Sausage tastes

An eating game - try eating with your opposite hand or blindfolded from Jeux de Degustation. Very fun to watch.

The perfect companion at a tasting - food designer and cookbook author, Coco Jobard. There is almost no one Coco doesn't know in the food world. Here she inspects the best kitchenware on the planet. Cristal will last as long as you do says Coco.

We try NOGLU cupcakes. Tastes yummy. How do they do it?

Can't remember what these are exactly but they look good from Benoit Castel of Liberte. Coco says I must go taste his cream tarts.

The Laurent-Perrier Champagne was flowing but we needed to keep our wits about us and abstained.

Loved this giant poster of a traditional French bistro.

We did get to taste this foamy concoction from restaurant Kei. Stir it up before eating. Wonderful with hints of sesame oil. Otherwise very mysterious.

The deal is you buy giton coins before entering. Then get on line at 14 tasting stations.

Master chef Joel Robuchon in attendance. Other chefs presenting mini plates of their famous food through Sunday: Francis Fauvel, Kei Kobayashi, Stéphanie Le Quellec, Jean-Louis Nomicos, David Rathgeber, Guy Savoy, Pierre Sang, Frédéric Simonin, Frédéric Vardon.

The piece de resistance to cleanse our palates (several times) was Giolito gelato from pastry chef Gilles Marchal (formerly top chef at La Maison du Chocolat FYI).

He has a new patisserie in Montmartre, 9 rue Ravignan 75018 and I haven't been yet. This is obligatory. The pistache, mangue, caramel flavors were out of this world.
Stepping out of the Grand Palais on to the Champs-Elyseese at night is also out of this world.
TASTE OF PARIS will be on through 24 May.