Shaheen Peerbhai

If you were in Paris on a Friday and were looking to have lunch near Versailles, then Friday Lunches, the Paris Picnic Club was your go-to option. In an attempt to capture the spirit of those picnic meals, and which later grew into dinner parties, the Paris Picnic Club book was created.

The idea is to create an easy casual fun meal you could eat anywhere. Using locally sourced ingredients and cooking to order they created packed baskets of delicious meals to share in parks or anywhere in the city. The food is all designed to be as welcome on a picnic blanket as they would be on a formal dinner table.

The introduction not only explains the concept of the Paris Picnic Club but also goes on to explain their concept of cooking, cooking in France, and the pantry essentials required.

The recipes themselves are separated into unique categories including:

Small Plates
Sharing Platters
Bread, etc.
Tartines
Desserts
Drinks
Le Pique-Nique
Basic Recipes

The first recipe chapter, Small Plates, features recipes which might be found in a wine bar in Paris. These are plates to share with others while enjoying a glass of wine.

The next chapter Sharing Platters, for sharing with larger crowds. Other recipe categories are fairly self-explanatory. Le Pique-Nique is a few picnic-style lunch ideas, supper menus and a list of favorite picnic spots around Paris.

The basic recipes category gives you several recipes you will need for things like stock and other ingredients for the recipes in the book.

Hits The Mark

If you want to create the French experience, this is the book you will want. The recipes may draw from other influences as well but they do maintain that French “je ne sais quoi”.

It was somewhat disappointing that there were no photos of any of the finished results but the hand-drawn ingredients sprinkled throughout were lovely. I also found it odd that the chapter with the menu suggestions is at the end, rather than the beginning, but that doesn’t detract from the joy of the book.

See the full review and the recipe for Pain De Mie at The RecipesNow! Reviews And Recipes Magazine. This review is written in response to a complimentary hard copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.… (más)