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| Outdoor seating, just like in Paris |
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| Real bread.. |
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| Just like Paris! |
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| Versailles style salon |
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| Jacque (and me of course..) |
The other day, we went flat hunting again (yes.. again.. I feel tired just saying the two words). After seeing 6 flats in the morning, getting stuck in traffic for 1 hour because we had to go back to the ‘countryside’ to have lunch at Mario’s parents, and heading back to the city centre to see yet more flats, we were dying. Then Mario displayed a rare hint of his intellect and surprised me with a suggestion that we should stop by a ‘tea place’! Of course, I welcomed the idea.
So we went to the ‘Salon de Te’. We entered through a very relaxed outdoor seating area that evoked a European air, and were welcomed by waiters in their white aprons. Then as you get inside you discover how bizarre Jacques is. You have an 18th century interior with stained-glass windows and Russian decorative eggs that have been arranged in a pyramid to adorn the walls. It reminds you of palaces with the likes of Versailles in France and Wallace House in London, but you’re bang in the middle of Bogotá, in Latin America!! This guy must really miss home. He turned the whole place into a salon of Marie Antoinette’s palace. And on top of this aesthetic decadence you get your eclectic combo of black and white photos of Paris metro stations and cafes that remind you more of a 19thcentury belle époque Paris. Jacques surely does have its lure, by being ‘different’ here, since you’d expect a salsa bar or a steak house rather than Rococo!
With such an ‘authentic’ décor of museum standards, you get food that displays the same level of authenticity (although you have the random chirros that sat next to the meringues..?!). You think you’re in Paris! I didn’t try the croissants but the oat bread that I bought rivals ‘real bread’. To be more precise and to give a background picture, the bread that you can find here are more like sweet brioche that lacks gluten, elasticity and depth (don’t get me wrong, you get a large variety of snacks like almojabanas and pan de yucca).. So, yes, it was comforting to know that Mario didn’t bring me to a forest!
onechineseincolombia.com 
simply incredible place…even more incredible w/ french girls on the display…
remember, H, it’s ‘House of Tea’.
in that case, french girls w/ tea cups
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