Culinary Work of Art : Rue Montorgueil, Paris

[caption id="attachment_321" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Market Street Paris - Chocolate to Fresh Fish"][/caption]

Oh, Rue Montorgueil is one of the most amazing streets of all in Paris. We stayed in one of the little streets Rue Marie Stuart just off the Montorgueil.  The street is a trendy, chic  shopping strip mixing both great food and cutting edge fashion. It has been involved in a fair amount of Parisian history over the years. It was even immortalised by Monet in his painting of same:

[caption id="attachment_333" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Monet's Rue Montorgueil"][/caption]

This photo courtesy of Wikipedia

This wonderful street just hums with the excitement of all things food and  is alive with people doing all sorts of things  from movie stars (yes we did see one) through to buskers.

[caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Rue Montorgueil in Paris offers out door dining, chocolate and more!"][/caption]

This is a genuine old market street. On market days all the food shops open and you can buy anything from fresh fish through to bread or have your keys cut. There are several chocolate shops of excellent quality and also has the legendary Stohrer's ( more coming on this amazing store).  Arriving late in the afternoon, we had a baguette at the ubiquitous Pauls although with genuine bakers on view still making bread late in the afternoon it seemed quite authentic.

[caption id="attachment_324" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Pauls has bakers on view baking late into the day"][/caption]

We bought the most amazing raspberries and enjoyed them with chocolate from the store next door (more on the chocolate later).

[caption id="attachment_325" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="everything from fresh raspberries to chocolate on sale"][/caption]

We felt so special steeling away to our apartment with a take away breakfast of croissant and croque-monsieur - the later a rather elaborate version with bechamel sauce topping.

[caption id="attachment_326" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="breakfast take away at the Montorgueil"][/caption]

At night the streets came alive ( we were there on the night of the Solstice and "coming alive" took on a whole new meaning with DJ's and parties in the street - at midnight a marching band went down our little cobbled street!)

Many delights make this market street every bit worthwhile getting to - despite how tired feet may  feel taking in all the sights of Paris.

Stohrer Patisserie is an institution and located mid street. It is outstanding and so good it will be a separate blog.

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So easy to get dinner anywhere on the street. We tried Grille Montroguiel located at 50 Rue Montroguiel and it was very good.

[caption id="attachment_328" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="After a big day of chocolate - dinner on Rue Montorgueil"][/caption]

We also ate at the oldest buidling on the street. Cafe Au Rocher De Cancale located at number 78.  This cafe was set up in 1848! The building is an old wooden style and above the relatively new awnings seems to consist of wood just sitting there almost held together by nothing except the constant crowd of people sitting, talking and relaxing. We did have dinner there - service was excellent.

[caption id="attachment_330" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Oldest buidling on Rue Montorgueil"][/caption]

Picked up this photo of the Au Rocher de Cancale from their website. It is amazing - not much has changed!

[caption id="attachment_335" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="old photo of "au rocher de cancale""][/caption]

this photo courtesy of the Au Rocher De Cancale website

Getting there is well worth the effort - catch the Metro to Les Halles or for a slightly less confronting metro station get off at Etienne Marcel. Rue Montorgueil is a food lovers delight!