[Paris] The Parisian Kitchen

The Parisian Kitchen

Add: 4 rue de Tocqueville, 75017 Paris
Tel: 06 16 93 34 06
Website: www.theparisiankitchen.com
Price: €120/person
Visited: May 2015

After years of working in the luxury industry (most recently at Louis Vuitton, where she stayed for seven years), Bénédicte Mesny decided that she’s going to make a change in career – by starting her own cooking classes. When I received her invitation to experience one of her menus, I took a quick look on her website to see what the program is about – market visit, 2-hour cooking class with starter, main course, and dessert, followed by lunch with cheese and wine included…and all is held in her beautiful Parisian apartment in the 17th arrondissement. How could I say no to that? Let’s go.

We arrived at Bénédicte’s apartment around 10am, and after some tea and chouquettes which she thoughtfully prepared for us (in case we didn’t have breakfast), we went off to Marché de Lévis to pick up things we needed for our lunch. From the three options Bénédicte offers, we chose the poultry menu, which included salmon tartar as appetizer, poultry roll as main course, and chantilly cloud as dessert. As I’m not a big fan of meringue, we decided to change the dessert to chocolate soufflé instead (Woohoo!)

Back at the apartment, we started cooking. There was some chopping, rolling, simmering, boiling, searing, and baking…I won’t give much details here lest you want to experience the class yourself.

While she was setting up the table, Bénédicte offered us some champagne to accompany the gorgeous sunshine pouring through her windows. Not a horrible way to spend a Monday morning, I tell you.

Et voilà, à table!

Our appetizer: salmon tartar with apvcado and mango, simply seasoned with lime juice, spring onions, chives, apple vinegar, and olive oil.

Main course: poultry rolled with sage and mushrooms, served with potato/squash purée and white wine mushroom sauce.

Bénédicte then offered us enough cheese to feed a family of 10, and also took the time to teach us how to properly cut each type of cheese (why yes of course there is a specific way for each type of cheese, details here).

Lastly, a sweet ending with chocolate soufflé served with caramel sauce.

It was a lovely time learning a few dishes from Bénédicte, but more than a cooking class, the experience is also about going into a Parisian home and learning the Parisian way of life from a true Parisian. If this looks like something you would be interested in, check The Parisian Kitchen website for details, and happy cooking!