Saturday 30 November 2013

The Corner Shop

We hired a great apartment for our Parisian holiday in June. It was on rue de Sevres in the 6th, and very handy to so many wonderful places. The rather magnificent food hall, La Grande Epicerie was our local corner shop! While any trip to a Parisian supermarche is wonderful, La Grande Epicerie is like a supermarche on steroids.

And we took full advantage of it. We sampled many delights. They were in the midst of a major renovation in June/July and so the shop would often look quite different every time we went. Whole departments would move on the weekend. So it was the thrill of the new every Monday.

But there were always walls of chocolate
sadly we were generally too busy eating pastries to eat chocolate

Gorgeous produce, much of it reasonably priced
But beware the exotic.
Pay attention when the lady weighs the dragon fruit that Master Wicker must have.
Otherwise you get it home and realise it was over 8 euros.
Then you nearly die of shock. 
Best. Tomatoes. Ever.
Eaten on a picnic by the Seine, in the gorgeous summer Paris evening light.

Tim Tams!
But no we didn't buy any.
No time for Tim Tams in Paris. 

We did buy many baguettes de tradition though.

We didn't have time to try their macarons

They  do have an amazing patisserie section
We had a celebration tart one night, it was most delicious. 

We often stocked up for dinner

Our foraged dinners often came out of here

There were three foie gras fridges! Three.

A whole walk in room of dairy

We never did get to trying the horse milk

But we certainly did try the butter. It was glorious. 

Walls of delicious French yoghurt. 
There is a fabulous wine store downstairs. Quite reasonably priced. Actually great value. 


So many bubbles!

So much deliciousness.

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This post is linked to Weekend Cooking
a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog

21 comments:

Brona said...

Yum!
Yum!
Yummy!
What a delectable choice of photos this week Louise.
I love that you get to enjoy your time in Paris over again with these posts :-)

Parisbreakfasts said...

Very enticing post..
Makes me want to go today.
Wait I can go!
The endless choices makes it into a browsing experience rather than a buying one...too much fun just looking.

skiourophile said...

How wonderful that that was your local! I've never stayed in that bit of Paris, so that's gone straight on my list of ideas for next time.

Louise said...

Brona, I relive it every day in my head, it's lovely to relive it here too.

Carol- the browsing experience is certainly extraordinary. We browsed a lot more than we bought every time. But we did buy every time too. I hope you do go and buy something on my behalf.

It was completely wonderful Vicki. It's an absolutely fantastic area to stay. We've stayed in 5th, 2nd and 6th now. All were incredible. But the 6th was most amazing yet.

Unknown said...

What a wonderful place! I wish we had supermarkets that look that that here. Have a great day, Louise!

Beth F said...

Wow!! Thanks for the awesome tour -- so many wonderful & exotic (horse milk!) foods. Now you're making me want to plan my next trip!

Unknown said...

Wow, all the food is making me hungry! Great pics, thanks for sharing. I've never seen the inside of a Parisian grocery store before.

Anonymous said...

"Walls of chocolate" I love these photos, all so enticing... I want to visit Paris again! I don't have a photo today, but also a French post. That's why I want to go there, maybe Cabourg, after Paris. ;)

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Oh, you were in "shop heaven," and I am quite envious. Lovely photos...they will keep the memories alive for you.

Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

Carole said...

Just fabulous! Love French shops. Cheers

Sharon Galligar Chance said...

Now I have to go to Paris, just to experience the market! :) Lovely photos!

Susan said...

How can supermarket food look so beautiful? It's Paris. We're going to London soon, and I can't wait, but I'm not looking forward to the food the way I did with Paris.

Susan Lindquist said...

Sigh ... that food market has it ALL over Whole Foods or Hannafords! Oh, to picnic by the Seine on a warm summer evening ... double sigh ....

Booksnyc said...

I always find grocery stores in other countries fascinating. This one looks great - thanks for giving us a peek!

Joy said...

These great! We never made it to a super market, but I was impressed with the selection and quality at the MonoPrix across the street from our hotel. We were so tired after day of walking in Paris, that we often got our supper from there.

Joy's Book Blog

Peaceful Reader said...

It sounds amazing! How could you not try the macaroons! Delicious. I could leave on the baguettes alone for sure.

Lady In Read said...

droolworthy!

Heather said...

oh yes, I would shop there again and again

Paulita said...

Louise, This post really took me away. I wish I were magic and I could blink my eyes to apparate there. The wine room was intimidating though.

Couscous & Consciousness said...

Loved taking your stroll through La Grande Epicerie - if I went in there, I reckon there is every possibility I'd never come out. Three fois gras fridges?! - holy cow!

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Great pictures - I took a double take when you said horse milk. Wow... I had no idea. :)