(Dr HH picks up right where he left off in last week’s installment.)

I spent some more time ambling around the city after my exhibition before heading to Le Potager de Charlotte for my dinner. This promised a bit more of an upscale dining experience. I’ll be honest, the menu didn’t really excite me but after reading all the glowing reviews, I thought I would give it a go. This meal did not hit the mark for me but I may have just chosen poorly. I’m keen to support places doing higher end vegan dining and I’ll happily give them another try when I make it back to Paris again.

I had the sesame marinated tofu to start, and it just lacked flavour. It was a big piece of tofu with a lovely texture and a good sesame seed coating. As we all know, getting your marinade into a big piece of tofu is not easy and it just didn’t taste of much. It was served on a soy and lime yoghurt sauce, and this also didn’t really deliver enough flavour.

In classic fine dining style, the dishes are mostly just a list of ingredients so I didn’t know what to expect from the mains (except probably the bowl of pasta). I went for the hazelnut mashed potatoes and was a bit underwhelmed again. The issue probably is that mashed potatoes are just not that exciting, so I’m willing to hold my hands up and admit I probably chose poorly. The tamari and rooibos sauce was pleasant and got good when I got a nice hit of the wholegrain mustard too. The white asparagus sitting on top of the mashed potato was fine, I don’t have strong feelings about asparagus. Maybe it was great asparagus but it didn’t do much for me. Bits of hazelnut added a crunch. I was disappointed to find the mushrooms on the dish were a few raw slices. I always prefer my mushrooms cooked.

For dessert I got a creme brulee topped with some completely unnecessary goji berries. It was a hearty deep pot of creme brulee, which unfortunately meant the caramelised top to custard ratio was not what I had hoped for. The top was nice and sweet and crispy but it was already broken up so I didn’t get the chance to break my way in. The custard itself was well set but I would have preferred it to be a bit sweeter.

I had a bottled drink of fizzy cherry, verbena and lavender, which was nice. The flavours were good and it wasn’t very sweet, which worked well.

Earlier in the day, I had opted to spend a few hours strolling around Bois de Vincennes. The park is described as one of the “lungs of the city” and it made for a nice peaceful contrast to the hustle and bustle of being in the city in the morning. It’s a huge space and I only explored a fraction of it. I took a nice leisurely walk around one of the lakes, enjoying the views and the birdsong. There were quite a lot of peacocks running loose so I spent some of my time watching them from a suitable distance, which sadly cannot be said for everyone as there was one person right up in their faces taking pictures. I could happily have spent most of my day here if I hadn’t already had various meals and exhibitions planned.