Saturday 22nd August 2015
9am
Last night David and I went for a lovely little date night. So, of course, we went to our favourite restaurant in the whole wide world...Steak Parisian!!!
Every visit to Steak Parisian is an experience. It's run by an eccentric French man and his assistant that has this great wooden trolley that she uses for everything! If I was a waitress, I would definitely have a trolley like hers- I really admire it! It's so beautiful- a bit antiquey. Its a good metre or so long and half a metre wide with a couple of shelves that she uses to display the deserts on offer at the end of the night. It's made of a lovely traditional wood and it's the perfect functional accessory for her.
Jean Claude (the eccentric French man) is the world's best steak chef. I don't actually think that statement is a true fact- it's more my opinion but it still stands. He speaks with a thick French accent, obviously- because he is a real French man, and comes out the kitchen regularly to talk to his diners and tells the silliest jokes which are made funny by his Frenchness!
So, let's get to the food- The French Onion soup is theeeeee best you can get. David and I always start with it because you really can't get it better anywhere else- Jean Claude makes it himself and it's so tasty- really onion-y and peppery and even the waitress was claiming it's the best you can get! I once tried French Onion soup from M&S and it was pants!!
But last night I decided to try something else with my soup.....
SNAILS!!!!
I felt like I was on 'I'm a Celebrity...'! It was a bit tricky to get them out their shells and I was worried that I would end up flicking them across the room but by the third one, I had it doooown!
To be honest though, I don't think I would have then again because although they were pretty meaty, they were a bit pointless really. They were boiled in extremely garlicky butter so that's all they tasted of!
We did get into a snail discussion with the waitress though because I was curious of the snails journey from life to my plate.
She informed me that the snails were not crawling around a giant tank in the back of their kitchen but they were actually bought frozen from the Chinese cash and carry down the road! Which leads me to wonder....is there a difference between Chinese snails and French snails? And did the snails in the Chinese shop actually come from China or have they come from the gardens of England? And can you eat any snails or is there different breeds of snails? If I picked some snails, could I sell them to restaurants? I could start up a little business on the side!
So, after we'd finished the world's best French Onion soup, we moved onto the main event....the steak!
I would normally have the venison but apparently it wasn't in season (I thought deers were around all time of year but I thought wrong it seems!) so I settled for the veal but still with sauce for the venison....Jean Claude must have found it a bit bizarre because he came out to tell me that I had the wrong sauce for the meat and he'd had to make it specially pour moi!
So then it was time to get the bill. This is where the experience was embraced.
The waitress offered us a free shot....herself and Jean Claude seemed like they really wanted us to have one so we accepted. Then she disappeared into the freezer and came back with a shot glass ice cube tray!
So there we all are, at the back of an empty restaurant, sat around the little bar- David, Jean Claude, the waitress and myself all trying to drink out of these melting, slippery, cold glasses as Jean Claude tells David how tall, dark and handsome he is and the waitress reassures Jean Claude that its ok that he is short because good things come in small packages.... And that's when we took our cue to leave...
We headed over to The Castle for a last drink before starting the walk home through the town. This is the point that we get stopped by a homeless guy wanting money for a shelter.
Normally I wouldn't give money but last night we were feeling happy and had all the time in the world so we stopped and chatted to this guy and listened to how he had come to this predicament.
His name was Alan, his father was called Sidney, he was 61 and his wife had died 18months ago. He had taken it hard and ended up losing his job as a Lorry driver.
Alan told us about feeling degraded when he was made to clean toilets at homeless centres that drug addicts and drunks had misused and abused and how living life on the streets was rough and he could see how easy it would be to give in to drugs and alcohol abuse just to numb it all.
Alan was different, he accepted that he had fallen on a hard time but he was going to see it through and relying on the kindness of strangers he would get back on his feet.
We gave Alan £13.60- all we had spare and his face was a picture. He couldn't thank us enough and I wished more than anything that I could have helped him more. Winter is coming and all he had was a bag with a few belongings and no coat. I really hope he found some shelter last night and uses the money we gave him to feed and clothe himself today....
Peace out, A town.
