For the first few months we are living here, Jeremy's company is kindly paying for expenses related to us not having our shipment from America yet. For example, they pay for us to wash our clothes at the laundromat because we don't have a washer or dryer, and they pay for us to eat out since we don't have cookware, but they won't pay for food we would buy at a grocery store because we would be doing that anyway. Get it?
So while they are being so accommodating, we are eating out as much as possible. Eating out is expensive here, so we figure this is our only chance to do so! So far we have had Thai, Chinese, Pizza, Sushi, and various fast-food type meals. I was surprised to find that these foods aren't more universal. I can understand pizza being different depending on where you go, but you would think that since Chinese is neither American or French, it would be kind of the same where ever you go.
So one day in the thick of my cold, not wanting to go out, I told Jeremy to go to the Chinese place we had seen and grab some lo mein or egg foo young and some veggie fried rice. He came back with something different because they didn't have any of that stuff! Have you ever heard of a Chinese place that didn't have fried rice? Me either! So he got me something kind of similar to egg foo young. It was an omelette with vegetables, but no bean sprouts or leeks, and no brown gravy. Instead, it was saturated in butter. And Jeremy, who wanted general tso or beef and broccoli, ended up with chicken and cashews in a sweet sauce.
Then for the Thai food, I got Thai iced tea and vegetable fried rice and Jeremy got a chicken and noodle dish that he thought would be similar to drunken noodles. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Thai food but with American Thai food, Thai iced tea is tea with condensed milk. Vegetable fried rice is a mildly spicy mix with assorted vegetables (the one near I always went to did tomato, broccoli, leek, onion, carrot, and green pepper), pineapple, egg, and your choice of meat or fried tofu. Drunken noodles are stir-fried broad rice noodles, chicken, and various vegetables in a spicy sauce. French Thai tea uses coconut milk, making an already sweet drink much sweeter. The vegetable fried rice was slightly sweet with onion, carrot, and some unidentifiable vegetable. It reminded me of a small broccoli stem. I don't know. The noodle dish was rice noodle, but short and fat, with chicken and slightly cooked kale in a sweet sauce. All in all, it was good but since it wasn't what I was expecting I think it set my mood a little sour. The dessert, however, was delicious. A warm, sweet, sticky rice with thick slices of mango next to it, all laid in coconut milk.
The pizza was hit or miss. The first place we tried (when we visited back in November) was delicious. The second place, not so much. We got a vegetable pizza which consisted of tomato, mushroom, and potato. Yes, potato. Precooked, soft, cubed potato. Pair it with a soupy, slightly metallic tasting sauce, and you have two very disappointed Americans.
The sushi was disappointing as well. The rice tasted like normal rice, not sushi rice, and none of your typical "specialty" rolls were available. They had odd rolls like The Italian, which was wrapped in prosciutto instead of seaweed and The Caesar, which was wrapped in romaine with chicken on the inside. The California roll is nothing like ours either, consisting of crab stick and mango. Many other rolls had a soft cheese in them, kind of like how some of our rolls have cream cheese. I was never a fan of cream cheese rolls and consequently am not a fan of these either. The only roll I could see being served in an American menu was their Dragon roll, which was shrimp tempura and spicy mayo topped with avocado.
Most fast foods are kebabs, burgers, sandwich shops (there is even a Subway!), or paninis. There is seriously a kebab place every block. Three blocks down there are two kebab stores right next to each other. The burgers are huge but basically similar, as are sandwich shops except for their lack of vegetarian options. Paninis here are very long and thin, as they use baguettes instead of slices of bread.
So far I am unhappy with my eat out options. We have a few more places in mind, including a place with a veggie burger and a couple Italian places, but it seems to me I need to keep away from anything that might also be found at home, or I will wind up disappointed. It seems we will have to venture out further to find actual French restaurants in France!
So while they are being so accommodating, we are eating out as much as possible. Eating out is expensive here, so we figure this is our only chance to do so! So far we have had Thai, Chinese, Pizza, Sushi, and various fast-food type meals. I was surprised to find that these foods aren't more universal. I can understand pizza being different depending on where you go, but you would think that since Chinese is neither American or French, it would be kind of the same where ever you go.
So one day in the thick of my cold, not wanting to go out, I told Jeremy to go to the Chinese place we had seen and grab some lo mein or egg foo young and some veggie fried rice. He came back with something different because they didn't have any of that stuff! Have you ever heard of a Chinese place that didn't have fried rice? Me either! So he got me something kind of similar to egg foo young. It was an omelette with vegetables, but no bean sprouts or leeks, and no brown gravy. Instead, it was saturated in butter. And Jeremy, who wanted general tso or beef and broccoli, ended up with chicken and cashews in a sweet sauce.
Then for the Thai food, I got Thai iced tea and vegetable fried rice and Jeremy got a chicken and noodle dish that he thought would be similar to drunken noodles. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Thai food but with American Thai food, Thai iced tea is tea with condensed milk. Vegetable fried rice is a mildly spicy mix with assorted vegetables (the one near I always went to did tomato, broccoli, leek, onion, carrot, and green pepper), pineapple, egg, and your choice of meat or fried tofu. Drunken noodles are stir-fried broad rice noodles, chicken, and various vegetables in a spicy sauce. French Thai tea uses coconut milk, making an already sweet drink much sweeter. The vegetable fried rice was slightly sweet with onion, carrot, and some unidentifiable vegetable. It reminded me of a small broccoli stem. I don't know. The noodle dish was rice noodle, but short and fat, with chicken and slightly cooked kale in a sweet sauce. All in all, it was good but since it wasn't what I was expecting I think it set my mood a little sour. The dessert, however, was delicious. A warm, sweet, sticky rice with thick slices of mango next to it, all laid in coconut milk.
The pizza was hit or miss. The first place we tried (when we visited back in November) was delicious. The second place, not so much. We got a vegetable pizza which consisted of tomato, mushroom, and potato. Yes, potato. Precooked, soft, cubed potato. Pair it with a soupy, slightly metallic tasting sauce, and you have two very disappointed Americans.
The sushi was disappointing as well. The rice tasted like normal rice, not sushi rice, and none of your typical "specialty" rolls were available. They had odd rolls like The Italian, which was wrapped in prosciutto instead of seaweed and The Caesar, which was wrapped in romaine with chicken on the inside. The California roll is nothing like ours either, consisting of crab stick and mango. Many other rolls had a soft cheese in them, kind of like how some of our rolls have cream cheese. I was never a fan of cream cheese rolls and consequently am not a fan of these either. The only roll I could see being served in an American menu was their Dragon roll, which was shrimp tempura and spicy mayo topped with avocado.
Most fast foods are kebabs, burgers, sandwich shops (there is even a Subway!), or paninis. There is seriously a kebab place every block. Three blocks down there are two kebab stores right next to each other. The burgers are huge but basically similar, as are sandwich shops except for their lack of vegetarian options. Paninis here are very long and thin, as they use baguettes instead of slices of bread.
So far I am unhappy with my eat out options. We have a few more places in mind, including a place with a veggie burger and a couple Italian places, but it seems to me I need to keep away from anything that might also be found at home, or I will wind up disappointed. It seems we will have to venture out further to find actual French restaurants in France!