We ate at Roka for lunch. After no Japanese food for a month, this was a taste sensation. Roka’s a great experience for traditional and new-style Japanese food:
The standout dish was the rice hot pot with king crab and wasabi tobiko – Kani No Kamameshi. It’s served from an iron pot, mixed together at the table. Japanese risotto?
And the deserts are pretty good too!
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Roka – excellent Japanese food in London
Our UK mobile provider and SMS provider
Now that we’re in a new country it’s time to do the choose a mobile carrier shuffle again. And the lucky winner for 4 new prepaid customers is… GiffGaff. 3 UK’s All in one plans came very close but we’re going to give this MVNO that operates on the O2 network a go for a month.
For £10 a month we get unlimited 3G internet, unlimited UK texts, unlimited calling to other GiffGaff numbers and 250 minutes to all other UK numbers. Not a bad deal.
We’ve also signed up with FishText for sending international SMS, mainly to Australia. It costs 2p per text instead of 8p on GiffGaff and 25+p on most other carriers. No UK carrier bundles international SMS into a package.
Farewell Lyon, and France
It was fitting that our last meal in France was in Lyon, the gastronomic HQ of France according to many. And one of our best. We ate at Le Splendid, a Georges Blanc restaurant. I had the chicken from Bresse with a morel sauce. We’ve had this dish several times in France but this was really the best. Better than the excellent one at Comptoir Abel. It’s a great place steeped in Lyonnais history. Just look at how fat and juicy those morels are!
And… for contrast, here’s a Sunday roast we had at our neighbourhood pub in London:
The last days in France
Our trip to France is winding up. We went to the town of Goudargues on Wednesday to check out the weekly market. Goudargues has a canal through the town and is called the Venice of Provence. Well, not quite:
The stalls had the usual stuff, but this van caught my eye:
After battling through the A7 to Lyon Kim picked up the girls from Vichy station and we had a really nice meal at Comptoir Abel in the old town. Probably one of the few places I’d go back to on a regular basis. Great chicken with morilles dish.
Our last lunch was a bit of fish at écailler Cellerier in Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse and then some takeaway bits and pieces for Mia, including some ham from Bellota-Bellota.:
So, au revoir France and hello England!
Rural restaurants
A few photos from meals at small rural restaurants around Issirac. The first one is from Mas Rodières, about 50 minutes from our house:
and then a place recommended by the wine shop in Chateauneuf du Pape, Gerard Alonso in Sorgues, a few miles from Avignon:
