France, part 6 - lunch at the Hippopotamus

i2s (pronounced eye two ess) decided to take us to lunch. Nice of them, really. So they took us to this restaurant called the Hippopotamus. (This picture makes it look like a hole-in-the-wall, but it's just the back. The trees block the rest of the building which was decently sized.) First they gave us menus in French. Luckily, they had pictures. You think I'm indecisive at American restaraunts when I can read the menu? Hah! You ain't seen nuthin' yet. We all probably sat there for 15-20 mins, just trying to decide. Well, except Dennis. He just always gets steak. Wouldn't it be nice to always just know what to order? Also, they brought us out English menus halfway through. They were much smaller... much less detail. Though, to be fair, we couldn't read the detail on the French menu. They didn't do a very good job explaining what everything was, this time, though (They have since improved dramatically). Even in English we couldn't figure out what everything was. And even the stuff I did understand, I had never tried before.


I ended up ordering goat cheese on toast atop lettuce and raw beef (I'm sure it was raw) "cooked" (I think they mean soaked... maybe boiled for 10 seconds) in lemon juice. I tried one piece of the meat and never touched it again. I ate one full piece of toast and goat cheese, but that goat cheese is really thick and I maybe gagged once cuz my mouth was so full of it. Luckily, no one saw it, since I got my napkin up so quickly. :) I started on the second piece but just couldn't finish it. Also, I ate a fair share of the lettuce. Despite being dripping in lemon to the point of pucker power, it was still the tastiest thing on that plate.
To make up for the less-than-stellar main course, JP and I happened upon the best thing about France... their desserts. This dessert takes the cake. (No pun intended.) It was a sampler platter including (starting on the right and going counter clockwise) strawberrie, chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks (which was quite amazing), pineapple that tasted remarkably like cobbler or something, crème brûlée (thought of you, Kristy!), and île flottante. That was divinely delicious. It's basically beaten egg whites (meringue, if you will) atop a vanilla-like pudding. I may have to learn to make it.

Needless to say, I was quite stuffed.

Oh, and don't forget the mints on the way out. JP calls them Hippomints. Not to be confused with Picklemints like I thought she was saying. :)