Thursday, April 16, 2009

Cafe Le Zimmer since 1896

This is one of the old cafe in Paris, France called 'Cafe Le Zimmer'. It located in a kind of upscale crowded of locals & tourists but with the good location since it was facing to fountain and across river Seine to see St, Chappelle and far sight Notre Dame.

Cafe Le Zimmer could be counted as one of the historic cafe/brasserie in Paris since it was here since 1896 in Chatelet area. Outside look the same as the other cafe, however, when stepping inside, we could see the astonishingly beautiful ceiling and grand decoration.

We went there one night for a cup of tea and a cup of Creme Brulee. In French it means for "burnt cream" ... It's made from a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by caramelizing sugar under a kind of blowtorch or intense heat to make it brownish and crispiness. It normally flavoured with just vanilla custard. However, at Cafe Le Zimmer, the vanilla came from Madagascar (as it said on the menu) ... I found out that this type of vanilla was commonly known as "Madagascar-Bourbon" vanilla, which is produced in a small region of the East African nation of Madagascar (the world's largest producer).

Actually, coming to Paris, we should go for Souffle Desserts instead of this crem brulee. However, as soon as I saw Creme Brulee on menu, I forgot about Souffle since Creme Brulee is an amazing enjoyment for me - it's so light, crisp, and delicious.

Look at how Creme Brulee was served in Cafe Le Zimmer ... it was in a flat bowl (with this flat we can enjoy more of the sugar crispiness as much as we can -- compared to some of the shop in Thailand, they always put in the tall shape cup or bowl). Ask me about the taste -- I think they have a secret of making this ... the smell of milk and eggs were so aromatic together with vanilla aroma. The sweetness was just right even though there was a thick layer of caramelized sugar on !!!










and yes, it went well with Tea -- Darjeeling Tea (of course, in France, it must be Mariage Freres -- the Mariage Family who know the French art of Tea and selling more than 500 high quality tea in 35 different countries)

Cafe Le Zimmer
1, place du Chatelet, Paris 75001
Tel: 01 42 36 74 03
www.lezimmer.com

1 comment:

tapirgal said...

We loved it, and kept going back. Great food and nice waiters, as all the reviews have said.