Vegetarian in Paris

Today, we're going to conquer Paris. Croissants. It's the moment you've been waiting for. Wait, this is kind of not appropriate, is it? There it is. Yep, that's the vibe I wanted. I recently visited Paris for the first time and this is my favorite thing that happened. Sorry, the view got in the way. But I guess whatever, let's talk about the food. I'm not gonna lie. I don't really know much about French food, except obviously for the pastries and the fact that it's heavy on the meat. I'm Eastern European, so I'm familiar with that feeling. I'm speechless. Let me get something out of the way first. I've been a vegetarian for nine years. I don't want plain quinoa and tofu. I want flavor. I hold plant-based food to the same standard as any other dish, especially if I'm paying for it. So let's go as I try your most recommended bakeries and restaurants. Let me introduce Mamiche. Oh, it's crispy. Yeah, it was not crispy. I like the other one more. Okay, so let me fill you in. This is not my first day. I'll be straight with you. The day before, after the airport, I went to this bakery. Except, well, enjoy my only footage. Yeah, but I managed to get some photos. I got a sandwich. I got a croissant. I got a flan. God, that flan was crazy. And then I got a really warm welcome from the locals. Okay, let's go back. We're not done. Tradition chocolate. Most insanely chocolatey thing I've ever seen. It's like chocolate bread. It's not very sweet, but like perfectly sweet. I don't know. Look how dense it is. Choux vanilla. Vanilla was a very German vanilla. Oh, yeah. The exterior is so crunchy. And there's so much cream. The vanilla choux and the chocolate is like such a perfect treat when you don't want something super sweet, but like not get overwhelmed with the sweetness. I love it. The coffee is really good too. About to go to a restaurant to eat. See you there. If you're ever in Paris, here's a tip. Make a reservation. Even if on the restaurant's website they say we always leave space available for walk-ins. So don't hesitate to come. So I don't know if I'm just too Germanized at this point, but when somebody tells me to not hesitate, I no longer hesitate. And so I went there on a Monday and they told me to come back in two hours and the next three restaurants told me the same thing. The first night I was desperate and I just went to McDonald's and it was horrible. I don't want to talk about it, but it's okay. I went back the next day and look at this. I had plant-based caviar and fried potato sticks and this amazing radish carpaccio. Oh my God. It had these rice vinegar jellies on top. It left such an impression on me that I really wanted to recreate an Eastern European version of it. And I did with preserved lemons and pickles. It's really good. Recipe's in a description. I also ordered these carrots with barbecue reduction and homemade almond ricotta. And this was slow-cooked tarbeh beans. I was so happy and appreciative because finding a good vegetarian restaurant is so rare. Everything genuinely was so flavorful and I felt like you can taste the effort and love that went into this food. And of course, we humans evolved to have dessert after dinner. That is just plain science. Many people misunderstood him but this is what Einstein was really about. Why else would he invent the relativity theory if not to make us feel better about our expansion? Whoa, sorry. I don't know what that was about. I wonder if it's normal that a lot of the stuff is not crispy like I imagined it to be. I don't know, pastries are magic. The chocolate is hard though. I can't believe it. We can finally see some of the city which was beautiful. I had no idea it was going to be this beautiful. Not like anyone has told me about this before. Not like there's a reason why every romantic movie is staged in Paris. Not like there's a reason why it's one of the most visited cities in the world. I decided to buy these sunglasses because I'm so used to everything looking like Instagram. I was starting to get a panic attack from all of these concrete shades. I just wish somebody would have told me that I look like a complete goof. So I started to feel a bit insecure and I thought I would refer to science for treatment. Alcohol and sugar? What could be better? I'm not joking. This was probably the best thing I have ever had. This is very lemony cream raspberry sorbet flambéed with ginger rum. Crap. It would be a crime not to go here. Day three. Three of croissants. The biggest croissant so far. Honestly, nothing tops the first croissant. This one goes into second place. Someone DMed me saying that they asked for their croissants to be underdone in French. Something French. And I get why. Because then on the inside it becomes very chewy and soft. It's soaked in rum with almonds. It's ******* beast. Oh my god. I'm speechless. It's sweet, soft, crunchy. I don't know what I'm eating. Almost tastes like a cannelle. I don't want to move on from that one. But I don't have time. I have to go to the museum. I think this is some sort of a hazelnut financier. Very moist. The top is chewy. It's almost crunchy. Heavy on the hazelnuts. Okay. We need to talk. This was probably the most requested restaurant for me to go to. They serve vegan French cuisine dishes. So I got the classic bourguignon bleu bourguignon. You get it. However, I didn't like it. The amount of wine that was used in this dish is not normal. Maybe the chef was having a bad day and just wanted to get everybody else drunk too. Being a chef is hard. I kind of get it. The other dish is supposed to be a roast. Which was quite good. I actually enjoyed it. I didn't like that it comes with very simple plain side dishes like quinoa. Because these dishes are definitely on a more expensive side. So honestly, I was expecting more. Would I recommend it? I don't know. It's not bad. But I don't know if it's worth the price for me. I wanted to order onion soup. But then I saw someone eating it next to me. And it did not look good. It's the clumpy vegan cheese, you know. It does not melt. But you know. At least I got to walk around the city of Paris. And enjoy the fresh air of cigarettes and car fumes. That aroma. I just really wanted to appreciate how Louis Vuitton decided to match their aesthetics with McDonald's. I just thought it was a really good move on their part. Really made me feel like I'm not just going to eat McDonald's. It really made me feel like I might be able to afford a Louis Vuitton t-shirt one day. Speaking of. If somebody is looking for their 200 euro cashmere scarf. It's on a street next to the very expensive chocolate. Which I bought, yes. I finally got to see the thing. It's actually kind of like a hidden gem. So if you're ever in Paris. I actually really recommend it. There's something about this woman. I feel like she's just got it all. Here, I gotta unbutton my pants. I walked from morning till night. So I was still really hungry. And had to eat something before I went for this. Such a big difference when you eat regular chocolate and something like this. It's just like 100 times more intense. Explosion of flavor of chocolate. Guten Morgen. Oh wait, wrong country. If you don't know what Ritz is. You probably live under a rock. Which fair enough. It's actually commendable these days. It's the most luxurious hotel in the world. And turns out they had a bakery for us peasants. Day four. Let's eat some more. A fancy poisson. That was the loudest poisson ever. It's just made to dip in a coffee. I got a seven euro cappuccino. Seven euros is a standard price for a Starbucks drink. But this is the smoothest cappuccino I've ever drank. Duncan. It's a piece of art. Oh my god. That crunch is everything. I could get so much enjoyment in the process. This is the first pan of chocolate that has enough chocolate in it. Oh, I got a knife. Tastes like ice cream. It gets more and more intense the more inside you go. Even though it was so expensive. But sorry for the potato quality. I was in Paris. You know what I mean? We're filming from potatoes from now on. I would definitely go back to this bakery. I don't know why I didn't try the mandolin. I don't know. Because it's supposed to be their signature thing. It's literally on the logo. This is what I indulge, okay? This is where I spend all my money. I'd rather film from a potato but buy a 10 euro croissant. Thank you. Speaking of 10 euro croissants, which was also not 10 euros. But before going to this fancy thing, I actually wanted to go to that famous Instagram pastry chef. But I didn't make a reservation and I didn't want to wait in line for two hours. And I was thinking if I really want to spend another 30 euros on one or two pastries. Which I would have done 100 percent. But in that moment, spending like 60 euros on just breakfast felt a little much. Just slightly out of my budget. I think my experience would have been very different if I hadn't asked you for recommendations. But I want to give a shout out to this one person, mdbk01. You could work on your username, not gonna lie. Because these exact three restaurants were my favorite. And I would 100 percent continue recommending them. I love restaurants that allow you to order multiple dishes from the menu. Instead of just ordering for yourself. Because usually I just want to try everything as much as I can. This was whipped ricotta. But it kind of lacked flavor. So let's move on. Oh these were cauliflower gochujang wings. So so good. Like 9 out of 10. I think this was my favorite. It's a deep fried portobello with some soy sauce. It was so crispy. This is andouille and black sesame. Very chewy gnocchi. Completely opposite of what gnocchi is supposed to be. But I loved it. My biggest loss and disappointment is when I'm too full to get a dessert. But that only means I just have to take a walk and go to the nearest bakery. I got this lemon meringue and that mandolin thing. The mandolin thing, so worth it. I'm not telling you where I got it because it was just something very random. And I think you can get this anywhere. And some people DMed me that the baguettes are too hard. Too hard to bite into. It's a crispy croissant. It's very flavorful and buttery. That's a good one. This one looks significantly flatter. Oh, this is like a... Has some earthy and nutty notes. You don't think that butter can taste so different. Oh my god. Oh my god, this is probably the best. Pond Suisse. Chocolate and pudding. Everything has such a good texture. If all the pastries are so crunchy. These lines are not just for the look. It's also for the texture. This one is like a masterpiece compared to this one. I'm just marathoning through pastries right now. This is my breakfast. Okay, a chocolate eclair. It's hard to blow me away with an eclair to be honest. I had some really good ones in Berlin at this place. I don't like the chocolate. The chocolate tastes too confectionary. I'm gonna go back for my sandwich. And this is the hardest baguette I've bitten into. But I've been trained by the Germans to not shy away from this. I will conquer this baguette. The muscles from Germany are here. If the French had invented pasta, this would be it. Honestly, I came to this restaurant right after my enormous breakfast. I was not hungry at all. But this is my last day and I thought, come on, let's do it. Let's just do it. Let's just make the most of it. I don't know if I'll ever come back. It was, it was tough. They were bringing fresh pieces of bread with each serving of pasta. I was thinking if I should just pull my mom and stuff the bread pieces into my bag, just not to waste them. Yeah. Even though I wasn't hungry, everything was so good. The first pasta was onion soup with sour cream. And of course, I had to fulfill the duty for my country. And choose this one first. This was tomato gin with ricotta. And I was still having FOMO, so I ordered a third one. It was my favorite. This is where I learned about the pasta pici. And it had pickled mustard on top. I was so heavily inspired by this restaurant, so I went home and I tried to recreate my own version of pici pasta with kimchi and cheddar. Check it out. This whole vibe matches the exact mood I was in. I was really tired. I spent half of the day walking, but all I could think about was, I just want to go back to Airbnb and lay down. I was still trying to convince myself and explore, but it started to rain. I took shelter in this church, which coincidentally had a live concert going on. Shout out to these school kids. I think it was like a school thing. That literally made my day because I was no longer regretting getting out of bed this morning. And of course, as if the day could not get any worse, there was a chocolate store across the street. Can you believe it? The world just hates me. I had to buy another box of chocolate in order to go home. Unbelievable. Welcome to the crib. Honestly, pretty trashy. I'm so done with Airbnbs. This one is probably the worst one I've ever been to. It has a leaky shower and I read some reviews. There's only one review talking about a leaky shower and the owner replied completely gaslighting that person saying that the review is nonsense, that everything is in perfect condition. Second, there are freaking ants on the floor. There are ants inside the apartment. I don't have anything against ants, but it's just like, it's not what I want in my vacation state. That's not screening sanitary for me. Third, there's no proper cutlery in the kitchen. There's not even a single spatula. You have pans, which are in such bad condition. After one time use, they're going to get cancer. Everything's nonstick and all the utensils on the pan are metal. And four, there's a bunch of random noises. Thank God I brought some earplugs because there's some humming sounds. I couldn't sleep otherwise. This box right here is literally next to your head. And this is where some loud humming is coming from. Also, the floor is dirty. I put on fresh socks and my socks were already dirty just from walking around. But okay, to be fair, this was a pretty cheap Airbnb. I paid like $370 for five nights. Can I even complain? I can't complain because the owner is just insisting on everything being perfect. Um, so anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow. Okay, I have a problem. Every time I go on vacation, I underpack. Oh, sorry. On the first day that I came here, I realized, oh wait, I have only one sweater with me. I bought a bunch of clothes, including this, which is pretty cool actually. This thing was on sale. One thing I really wanted to buy, this Oxford shirt. It's like the collaboration with some sort of Anderson guy. But this shirt is literally like the nicest quality. Wait, let me put it on. I mean, I don't know. It's like a very basic button-up shirt. The same shirt, but in blue. Kind of office blue, you know what I mean? Also, I bought this, the same sweater, but in a different color. I came back home early today, so I thought maybe I'm just gonna put this for dinner. Because I cannot leave my house without having breakfast. I'm gonna die. Even if I go to a bakery, I still need something to last me on the way there. I always need to have a snack in between whatever I go. This is where I've been cooking all of my breakfast. Actually, what I did is I bought pasta sauce with some onions and herbs, and I was just making shakshuka every single day. Pasta sauce shakshuka with some baguettes. And for another option, I bought some pre-made cut potatoes. I just fry them in the pot and eat them with some eggs. I usually try not to cook at Airbnb, but you know, you can't have three meals out every single day. That's gonna cost a lot. There's already something new that I do. I'm not going on vacation to cook some random meal. I'm going out. Maybe for some of you, this sounds weird. I don't know. But I try to do things on the budget. I have some kiwis. I try to still eat some food. Emphasis on try. When I went to the grocery store, I bought some snacks that look interesting. This is like some crunchy snack that has cheese inside. Honestly, really good. I'm not that big on cheese, but this is really good. One thing I realized in France, I need to be trying more French cheeses, especially like with the food that I had. A lot of them had cheese. For some reason, I didn't think that French eat that much cheese. I didn't think that French eat that much cheese.