Bibimbap in Paris?

bibimbap

The Rue des Petits Champs is off the Avenue de l'Opera in Paris. This street is lined with Japanese restaurants and an Oriental grocery store. The side streets reveal more Asian restaurants and on a rainy afternoon I discovered this Korean restaurant that serves bibimbap. What I like about this dish is that it is a healthy mix of rice and vegetables, similar to the one I was served. It may also be prepared with beef or chicken.

For starters the waitress brought little bowls with kimchi, daikon, julienned carrots, and seasoned lotus roots.

My bibimbap was served in a hot iron cast pot. The ingredients were layered with steamed rice at the bottom of the pot. The rice was slightly roasted from the hot pot which I am partial to because it is crunchy. Vegetables like zucchini, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, bok choy were added on top of the rice and an egg cooked sunny side up capped the dish. Strips of seaweed were sprinkled over the egg. I didn't add the gochuchang paste as I like to taste the vegetables in its natural juices.

The meal came to 16 euros. I had arrived after the 2 p.m. crush when bibimbap is available for 10 euros. On the whole I thought my meal was quite good and it was exactly what I needed on a cold and wet day in Paris.

brochettes of salmon, tuna, chicken

Eating ethnic cuisine is one way of stretching dollars while traveling in Europe. These restaurants are all over Paris and in Japanese restaurants particularly, lunch menus offer meals starting at 8 euros. For this price you will get a bowl of rice, soup or salad and four brochettes. I got 2 skewers of salmon, 1 of tuna and another one of chicken. There are several combinations to choose from. You can ask the waitress to hold the teriyaki sauce.

For bibimbap recipe check this link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_34704,00.html

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Photos by Charie

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