The girls left for their second French course in Vichy today: and I had scrambled eggs at Passionément Truffe to compare it to Chez Bruno from a couple of weeks ago. Verdict? Chez Bruno wins for value, ambience and cooking. But, if Lyon is easier to get to! Dinner was at one of the four […]
A week goes fast. So today, we packed our bags and left Paris for Lyon for the weekend. We had almost two hours to kill at Gare du Lyon so it was lucky there is a beautiful bar/restaurant there called Le Train Bleu. It’s a lovely example of architecture from the Belle Epoch and a […]
On our last family day in Paris we are celebrating Mia’s birthday at an Alain Ducasse restaurant in the Eifflel Tower. Le Jules Verne is on the highest platform before the summit with its own private elevator going up 123 metres! The 3 course menu was delicious. Here is the Petit Pois starter, followed by […]
Off to Parfum Caron, the famous perfume house that was in the movie Scent of a Woman, to let Mia check out a French perfume house. Then caught up with Ryu for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant – Le Bambou. I had beef Pho – similar to what we get in Melbourne but a much […]
A relatively early start to meet up with Hal and Sally-Anne. Firstly to Laduree for breaky: Then a stroll through to the Louvre where there’s always interesting street activity: Through the gardens of the Palais Royal for some shopping at Galeries Layfaette: and then a late lunch of some fantastic Spanish, Italian and Portuguese hams […]
Headed over to Saint-German-des-Prés today: And had excellent coffee made by Thomas and “eggs” type dishes at Egg & Co:
So many things to do in Paris. First task on a Monday is to get a Metro pass for the week. The locals get a Navigo Semaine pass which is good for all travel in zone 1 and 2 for a week. Armed with the pass the first stop is to Fauchon for a spot […]
Steak and french fries! At the Relais de l’Entrecôte chain of restaurants. with a red:
Big day today. Collect girls from their camp, check in at our hotel in Avignon and drop the bags, then off to see Janine in Issirac, then dinner and then back to Avignon. Google map reckons its 343km and 6+ hours on the road. It felt like it: To get through this gruelling day required […]
If you lust for truffle, then Chez Bruno in Lorgues can give you your fix. This place does 130 covers for lunch and then again at dinner, every day, every week. It’s singular role is to serve truffles in a set menu where the only variation is the type of truffle that’s grated onto the […]
We were recommended to go to a place called Auberge des épis in Saint Martin de Crau. But after arriving and waiting 30 minutes for a menu, drink and order with no service we packed up and left. We checked the trusty Tripadvisor app and saw the closest restaurant with decent reviews was a place […]
1 August is the day for a big drive. Over 400 km: We headed to Montpellier and made it in one stint and found a bakery for lunch: Then it was onto Arles and a bed and breakfast called Mas du Petit Grava owned and run by Jim and Ike. Enroute we saw traffic jams […]
We had no plans for dinner and as the restaurant next door was closed on Sunday nights, Marc suggested a place in nearby Cahuzac-sur-Vère. So off we went to Château des Salettes. What a great place and food – a 1 hat Michelin place no less! (click on the photo to see description)
The dining room has a great view but on our first night it was raining. However, on this evening we had a great sunset to accompany our meal: Kim had the Aubrac menu and I had a main course of Aubrac beef. But we both started with amuse buche: The black cod from the Aubrac […]
Our first serious meal this trip is at Michel Bras. He’s a legend in cooking having invented much of what is done today in haute cuisine. In a quote attributed to Wiley Dufresne “he has been copied by every chef in the world. We’ve all taken a page out of the Bras book – the […]
27 July. Travel day from Avignon to Laguiole, about 300kms, where we’ve got some serious eating to do at Michel Bras. Our route takes us south west to Montpellier and then north west on the A75 to Lagioule passing through the beautiful Millau Viaduct. Enroute was “eat in the car” lunch of baguette, serrano ham […]
Go at least once: (numbers are my ratings) Le Bernadin: 9 Sasabune: 9 Corton: 11 Per Se: 10 Megu: 9 Balthazar’s (for dinner, lunch is patchy): 10 Pylos: 9 Kajitsu: 8 Go as often as you can (afford to!): Sasabune: 9 Toloache: 9 Corton: 11 Per Se: 10 Katz’s: 8 Balthazar’s (for dinner): 10 Pylos: […]
This is the recipe for Crayfish Thermidor from a TV series called Surfing the Menu. It’s from Season 3 and is shot in Esperance. The episode features the Southern Rock Lobster which is why they cooked one the Thermidor way! I finally found it for download on iTunes. If you’re a lover of crayfish/lobster, it’s […]
From The Age today. A list of places to try.
Duck, pavlova and dark chocolates…
Staying on the food theme, I’ve now got the two rices Heston Blumenthal uses in his perfect risotto. Gli Aironi and Acquarello. Both have local distributors so you two can recreate your own perfect risotto!
Inspired by the TV show Willie’s Chocolate Revolution which is about Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s crusade to educate the population about real chocolate, I tracked down a source of Amedei Chuao, regarded as the world’s best chocolate. When the Amedei arrived we did a little taste test with some other 70%+ chocolate bars. Guess which one blew […]
Here’s a good list good list of places to try if you’re in Melbourne CBD for lunch from Melbourne Gastronome.
Worth trying. It’s not blow your socks off but it’s one of the few places that I’ll make a return trip to. Recommended! We sat here: http://www.momorestaurant.com.au/ The special for the night was his Duck Bisteya. This is a photo of the pidgeon version. Basically confit duck baked in puff pastry. Very good:
