México en Paris


Tacos de carnitas y una tostada de nopal con queso
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As I've mentioned before it is a lot harder for authentic Mexican food in Paris than it is to find something American. There are McDo's and burger joints everywhere and also American themed restaurants. I've found a lot of Tex-Mex places here which causes French people to think that fajitas and chili con carne are Mexican dishes (PS. That's not really Mexican). So for Mexicnas good luck on finding dishes like menudo! In my search to find the best Mexican food I've come up with this conclusion- if you want authentic Mexican food then you'll have to cook it yourself.


Last weekend included such Mexican foods as menudo, tacos de carnitas, and a tostada de nopal con queso. I know you're probably asking yourself, "wait I thought you said that couldn't find menudo in Paris?" and yes, you're right I still haven't found it but thankfully my friend Orlando (the same guy who made the buñuelos for el 16 de septiembre) knows how to make it!

Almost all the ingredients minus the granos (hominy) and chiles can be found in Paris. The other ingredient which makes menudo is pancita or tripe as its called in English and French. We easily found tripe here in Paris at a grocery store called Auchan but I'm sure you can find it at any other one. I would talk more about how to make it but unfortunately I wasn't the one who made it. Now I have to talk about what the French, more specifically a French couple, thought about menudo.

The smell of the tripe instantly brought me and my friends back home, I seriously forgot that I was in Paris for a second, but for Orlando's French roommates they thought the smell was foul and got pretty scared to even try menudo. Once the menudo was ready the look of their faces screamed "I'll try it just for you but I don't guarantee that I will like it." And they didn't like it- their faces let us know exactly how much they did not like it. Their expressions were PRICELESS! But then again if they weren't a fan of tripe and they aren't fans of spicy food then menudo was probably not best dish to introduce people to Mexican food.
Menudo
One of the things that I've found in Paris is a nice group of Mexican friends, don't get me wrong I love talking to French people but I also like having people that know exactly what I'm going through around me and I've found a good group of Mexicans here. Last Saturday we decided to go to Candelaria which is a bar/taqueria here in Paris. When we walked in the first thing I noticed was how tiny the eating area is but one look at the menu and I thought "well this looks promising although it is pretty pricey." 2 tacos for 5,50€ is ridiculous especially if you're from Tijuana but I decided to cave in and get two tacos de carnitas because they did not have carne asada for some odd reason. I also ordered a tostada de nopal con queso just for the heck of it. I would not personally label this as an authentic Mexican place especially after seeing that the carnitas had orange peels. Yes, orange peels! The tostada was really good but the tiny strip of nopal made me think "que pinches codos" because it wasn't like it was cheap. To me this place seemed more of a Mexican-French fusion than an authentic taqueria. If I could come up with a perfect simile for their food it would be this: Their food was as Mexican as their XX which is actually manufactured in France and just has the XX name.

Next time I'm saving my money and just buying those Carrefour flour and corn tortilla hybrid and making my own tacos. It's certainly not easy being a beaner in Paris.

4 comments:

  1. Typically Parisian, I'm sure you could do much better yourself :-)

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  2. Is that picture of the one you made? My mouth is watering! Haha.

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  3. Explore: Definitely! I'm going to try to make carne asada tacos myself very soon.

    Nicole: No, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the one that my friend made but it looked good too, maybe not mouth watering but it was still very good. haha.

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  4. Finally someone writes an honest review. I was very disappointed by Candelaria. The place is ridiculously small and expensive. It was awkward and weird sitting at a table designed for midgets with another family. Like you, I finally gave up on Mexican food in Paris and gave in and bought the tortillas from Auchan. I even found black beans in an ethnic food shop.

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