28 Dec Le Vaudeville, Paris

We managed to get a table without a reservation as long as we finished before 9pm. The interior decoration was pretty flashy, but I didn’t take many photos because I felt shy about using my camera inside. The tables along the side we were seated at were very close together and had to be pulled out in order for people to sit down along the wall. There wasn’t any English menu, but the waiter was able to translate for us. He did seem distracted though. It was a busy restaurant and I think he was one of the more senior wait staff. Mum actually wanted their two course €28 menu, but it was only available after 10pm. Mum and I picked one of their specialty dishes – I had salt cod with mashed potatoes flavoured with truffle oil (€27.50) and mum had chapon chicken with morel mushrooms, macaroni gratin with parmesan chicken (€28.50). Dad ordered Hereford rump steak with potato millefeuille and porcini sauce (€27.90). Mum enjoyed her chicken, which seemed to also have sun-dried tomato in the sauce, but like all the dishes, it was expensive. Apparently a chapon chicken is a chicken bred so that it has higher marbling than regular chicken and is therefore juicier, more tender and has a greater depth of flavour. Mum did think that it tasted better and was quite juicy compared to normal chicken, which is just as well considering the price. Dad also ordered still water rather than tap water, which added another €6 to the bill.