RUE MONTORGUEIL - HIDDEN GEM - FOOD-LOVERS PARADISE
We are so lucky to live in Montorgueil, an incredible gastronomic quartier right in the centre of Paris - the second arrondissement. And because it is such a hard name to say, hardly any of the tourist guides recommend it, so it is complete hidden gem in the heart of the City of Light.
For nearly 1000 years, this historic street has been a bustling centre of commerce, a magnet for people who love food. Today, this magical street is a mix of the historic and ultra-modern, but despite centuries of change, one thing remains unchanged - here you can find unlimited delicious food. Whatever you heart and stomach desire, everything is here - cutting edge international cuisine, hip bars, trendy restaurants and a constant flow of people from all over the world coming to this gastronomic Mecca.
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The name Montorgueil is taken from “Mont Orgueilleux”, or ‘Proud Mountain’. Its history really began in 1183 (!!) when King Philippe Auguste created the central Paris marketplace, later known as Les Halles. A large shelter was built for the vendors to sell their wares, and soon merchandise was arriving by donkey and horseback from all across France. As the principal artery to Les Halles from the north, Rue Montorgueil became the destination for fish and oyster merchants from the whole north-western coast of France.
You name it, you can find it in Montorgueil - bakeries, butchers, a fishmonger, chocolate shops, an Italian delicatessen, aromatic cheese shops, beautiful scented florists, atmospheric bottle stores, ancient shoe-repairers and every possible nationality of restaurant - French (of course), Italian, Belgian, Greek, Kurdish, Indian, Thai, Lebanese, Chinese, Hawaiian (but no Philippines restaurant…yet!!)…specialising in everything from snails to oysters, from pizza to patisserie, from canapés to crepes, from macaroons to mackerel, from truffles to tiramisu, from Périgord foie gras to smooth Pommery mustard.
Some restaurants are here today and gone tomorrow; others like the famous Rocher du Cancale has been feeding Parisians and visitors since 1804. Situated in a (slightly tipping) 17th-century building with a gorgeous sculpted façade, it is a continuation of centuries while you eat this historic restaurant , savouring juicy, exquisite Cancale oysters direct from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, washed down with a bottle of Muscadet sur Sevre et Maine, while raising a toast to the memory of their most famous patron, Honoré de Balzac, who raved about this restaurant over 150 years ago.
Rivalling the Rocher’s fame is L’Escargot Montorgueil, which opened in 1832 and brought snails cooked in a hundred different ways to the street. This ancient restauramt has hosted the greatest names in arts and theatre scenes, who have queued up under the giant golden snail out front - Sarah Bernhardt, Marcel Proust, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí…to name but a few.
Even more famous is the oldest pastry shop in Paris - Patissier Stohrer, which has been expanding waistlines since 1725. When Queen Marie married King Louis XV, she brought her pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer from Poland with her as a taste of home. Today, pastry lovers come from all over the world to step into Pâtisserie Stohrer as if onto sacred ground, marvelling at the beautiful 1864 murals and to taste such classics as Stohrer’s Religieuse au Chocolat, the delicate Mille-feuille au caramel, or the divine Baba au Rhum.
Charles de Gaulle once said: “How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” In celebration of this tradition, another shop in the Montorgueil hall of fame is La Fermette, which sells all those 246 cheeses and more. Your nose can detect La Fermette from two doors away! For more than two decades, the Rigattieri family has run this amazing shop with conviviality and amiability, patiently giving primers to novices, while for aficionados, they offer a delectable range including delicacies such as truffled Brillat-Savarin and a 30-month-old Comté that food writer David Lebovitz called “the best cheese on the planet”.
Living here, it is such a privilege to go out in the morning to one of the boulangeries to buy still oven-warm croissants, delicious pains chocolat or chausson de pommes. In this area
But for us, the best thing about rue Montorgueil are the amazing characters who work there and the visitors who promenade the length of the street, enjoying the sights, mouth-watering smells and limitless foodie shopping. It seems sometimes like the whole planet and their dogs walk up and down Montorgueil, sucking up the atmosphere, seeing and being seen. Montorgueil is a theatre of food, a temple of gastronomy - it is just THE BEST.
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