simon says french food blog

Sheekey : London institution

London,

By François Simon

You'll find this London institution in an impasse off Leicester Square. At first, you hesitate, verify the address. Nope, this is it! Excellent fish with pearly white flesh (grilled eel, scallops), as well as meat (confit duck leg) and a vegetarian menu. The clientele and décor were unexpectedly chic. This is one of those addresses that you hold onto forever. So few tourists. Figure on 50£ (63 €).

J. Sheekey, 28, St.Martin's court, London WC2N (020.7420.2565) Map

French version  (Photo F.Simon)

Auberge Normande : the ideal gourmet pub

Normandy,

By François Simon

All it takes is a mist moving slowly over the superb countryside, and you feel as though you’re in a fairy tale. At Pierrefitte-en-Auge, a few kilometers from Lisieux, the auberge des Deux Tonneaux (02 31 64 09 31) is managed by Hervé Amiard, photographer.

The ambience is that of a gourmet pub, with Scottish plaid, Gaelic music, darts (the board hangs on the bathroom door), and a fireplace.  On the blackboard, straightforward and generous cuisine, including tripe, boudin noir with apples, pork knuckle cooked in cider, camembert soup, and sometimes haggis (February 23, 36 €), as well as free-range chicken made to order (69 €, serving for four). 

A short wine list, a lovely selection of ciders (Édouard MacLean), and to prolong your pleasure there are bed and breakfasts close by, among which is the wonderful Ferme de l'Eglise (02 31 65 68 00). Map Web

French celebrity chef Marc Veyrat quitting kitchen

Lyon,

(AFP)

Veyrat, 58, known for roaming the countryside seeking wild herbs for his top-of-the-range dishes, said he was closing "La Maison de Marc Veyrat", better known as "L'Auberge de l'Eridan" near Annecy, rated in the top three-star category by France's gastronomic bible, the Michelin Guide.

"I am stopping work in Annecy because physically, I have to, following a serious ski accident three years ago," Veyrat said. The restaurant, he added, would be put on "stand-by" for the next few months and perhaps transformed.

The restaurant offers traditional dishes, lots of wild herbs and a little "molecular gastronomy", chemistry-inspired recipes that produce new textures such as emulsions in cuisine.

Veyrat opened the establishment in 1992 and won his third prestigious Michelin star in 1995.

A farmer's son, he has increasingly focussed on organic products and for several months has been working on setting up an ecological farmstead in Manigod, his native village in the French Alps.

Honfleur: at SaQuaNa a great chef plies his trade

Honfleur,

By François Simon

It's enough to make you dizzy – choosing somewhere to eat in this region awash in restaurants and that all the guides have been over with a fine-toothed comb.  There are a lot of places to choose from.  Too many, in fact, and as is often the case, you just don't know where to settle in for a meal. 
It's as though you were in a market in the south of France where "the apples, pears and scoubidous"* all seem equally appetizing (as well as virtually indistinguishable).  You enter a creperie in the port of Honfleur, and the chef is in the dining room scarfing down a crude meal.  You realize immediately what sort of crepe you'll be getting – dry, slapdash, just plain bad. 
It's the same old mistake.  Better to go well-equipped with, for example, these two little places that are sure things.  If you're dissatisfied, the coffee's on me.  The first, SaQuaNa, is in Honfleur, place Hamelin (02 31 89 40 80).  It's among the new generation of restaurants here, straightforward, without embellishment and boldly inventive.  It's funny – one has the impression that nothing can stop the kitchen of Alexandre Bourdas (formerly of Michel Bras, in Japan).  On the incredible 40-euro menu you'll find the following savory line-up : kephir with coriander, pralines, mint, chickpeas and preserved lemon, followed by lightly braised filet of sea bream (with baby clams and almond-infused warm milk), free-range roast chicken (the juices thickened with shellfish broth), a selection of cheeses, an "autumn" cappuccino with chilled pumpkin, cocoa powder, and hazelnuts with whipped cream and grilled chestnuts.  
The restaurant of the year: it's exquisite. 
My other suggestion isn't in the same league.  To be delivered tomorrow morning in order to give you a little time to check out Sa.Qua.Na's website…

*Translator's note: "Des pommes, des poires et des scoubidous" is the title of a song by Sacha Distel that was a hit in France in 1958. Scoubidou is a plaiting and knotting craft popular among children.

 SaQuaNa : 22, Place Hamelin 14600 Honfleur, France Tel : 02 31 89 40 80

Map Vidéo

SNAIL’S GRACE

Paris,

by Joe Ray 

An old standby is a new favorite.

I’d been to L’Escargot, tucked away in the far reaches of Belleville, years ago when Canadian singer Sarah Slean and her entourage were in town and they turned to me for a place to go.

It’s been a bit too long to remember what we ate, but my favorite moment was when the diva’s dad turned to me and said, “That was the best meal we’ve had in France.”

Recently, I ate at L’Escargot a couple times in a two-week span – enough to notice that chef Frederic Valade had the guts to propose gizzards as a bar snack. Earning more points, I also learned he runs a triperie (hard-core butcher shop) down the street. … but I’m putting the cart in front of the horse.

Like Mehdi As-Siyad, what Valade is doing is some of my favorite stuff in Paris right now – young chefs, making some seriously good food and having fun.

One night, Valade walked out into the open kitchen in a pink wig, then giant sunglasses, then a cabaret-style sequined hat, all of which would have made him look really dumb if the food wasn’t good. Instead, his duck confît is among the best in town – crunchy on the outside, melting on the inside and packed with flavor. Add to the plate a little tower of mashed potatoes with truffle oil and a salad with a vinaigrette that keeps your taste buds awake and - Petit Fer A Cheval take note - you’ve got something comforting, luxurious and well-priced.

Almost every dish at L’Escargot is this good – a venison steak with winter vegetables, braised lamb shank that bursts with flavor, incredibly tender kangaroo (!) filet and ‘beef bo bun’ – a bowl of bite-sized seared flank steak in a lemongrass sauce. Dessert? The only problem with the crispy crepe (think: thin cousin of a sugar cone, broken up, and shaped into a little puck of goodness nestled under a dense cloud of whipped cream) was that I got a little aggressive with my spoon and launched half of the dish onto the table and my lap. I ate it anyway.

L’Escargot 50, rue de La Villette 75019 Paris Tel +33 1 42 06 03 96  Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherlandand contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

Hotels in London

Ah, I almost forgot some hotels where you can settle down for the evening. 

Brown’s Hotel, the Ritz, Claridge’s, and the Connaught – but if you find the prices violent, my oh-so-British alternative is called the Durrants Hotel; from 125 £ (158 €) for a single room.

George Street, London W1H 5BJ. Tél. : 00.44.20.7935.8131. Web Map

Something for everyone in London

London

By François Simon

Just imagine if London’s veritable exoticism was reflected in the astonishing diversity of its cuisines….
First, some old standbys.  They’re simply irresistible for their old-fashioned bluster, and it’s worth crossing swords for a beef Wellington, oysters Rockefeller, some stilton accompanied by a glass of port, butter pudding, Dover sole. Try Rules, Simpson’s, Green’s, Wiltons….

There’s also the guilty pleasure of fish and chips. Distinguished fare of the rabble, splendidly proletarian-chic, fish and chips have the nasty tendency to make gastronomes recoil and shudder with horror.  But with a cold beer, you’re in for a treat.

Among the best places, Canteen, and for our readers, in Portobello, George.  You’re going to be blown away.  Also in terms of quality-price, Kiasu, for its Asian cuisine with Singaporean influences.

The Indians are still acclaimed in London.  Unlike in Paris where we mistreat foreign cuisine (we belittle it), here there are no half-measures.  London’s Indian restaurants are a real pleasure: Amaya remains my favorite for its enchanting dishes (excellent biryanis). 

Japanese, give that a try, too!  The self-confidence of the British enables them to succeed where many others hesitate.  They just plunge in head first.  An example is Roka, in the delightful quarter of Fitzrovia.  It’s impeccable, inspired by a welcome reinterpretation of Japanese cuisine: beautifully done scallops, and desserts that are sickeningly sumptuous.  And there’s always Wagamama with its noodles and soups, or Zuma, with a Sex and the City vibe.

Gastropub, passion put into practice.  Born in 1991 with the Eagle in Farrington, the gastropub movement has helped launch the careers of a generation of young chefs who wanted to make a name for themselves without drowning in debt.  Gastropub took its cues from « bistronomy » in France, and you’ll find the same sort of menu on the blackboard, same blithe spirit, but also the same flaw – the bill can quickly get out of control if you don’t take care. Try Charles Lamb for the quality of its beers, and Rosendale (2008 laureate of the useful Time Out guide, 12 £).

ON THE PROPER USAGE OF LONDON RESTAURANTS

London : CECCONI'S, unwholesome food

London,

By François Simon

A neighborhood favorite that's jammed with people shouting at one another over rather unwholesome food, like a « lobster salad » overloaded with potatoes for 18£ (23€). Arrogance accompanies even an expression of regret – "We're sooooo sorry!" – but it's all somehow appealing.

Tel : +44 (0)20 7434 1500 5-5a Burlington Gardens
London W1X 1LE Map Web

(photo F.Simon)

La Cupole

Paris,

by Joe Ray 

In nearly a decade living in Paris, I had never been to the Montparnasse brasserie La Cupole - it’s the Bostonian’s equivalent of never having been to Legal Sea Foods. Part of the reason for not going was that I snobbishly avoid chains on principle and La Cupole is owned by the Flo group, which owns or bought up more a dozen brasseries in Paris and across Europe including Bofinger, Brasserie Flo and Julien. span>

I’d also be justified in staying away for nothing more than wanting to boycott those cheap-looking sandwich board that each Flo brasserie has out on the sidewalk advertising something like a 19 € prix fixe menu. It looks like they pimped them from the semi-ubiquitous French steakhouse chain called Hippopotamus. I imagine the original owner of each brasserie groaning every time they walk past those things.

But the other afternoon, it was cold and we needed a coffee, went inside and I immediately wondered aloud why I had stayed away so long. Like brasserie Wepler, it’s got that great, big-town feeling that envelops you as soon as you walk through the door. Everything from the big, beautiful cupola that floats over the room to the waiters in their black and whites swooping around with big plates of shellfish to the sense of space the mammoth room affords – it all gives a sort of city comfort.

What I’d really like to applaud is the price of La Cupole’s coffee and hot chocolate. Though 4,10€ for cappuccino makes me groan, particularly considering the poor quality of most French coffee, I’d pay a similar price at my neighborhood café. La Cupole’s hot chocolate, made with high-end  Valrhona chocolate, costs about the same and it beats the pants off the powdered junk with the pony on the label that most cafes use.

La Cupole : 102, bd du Montparnasse 75014 Paris  +33 1 43 20 14 20 Map Web

 Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherlandand contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

London, The Windmill : "everything Ok, my love"...

London,

By François Simon

This is the hideout of the tailors and cutters from Savile Row.  Come here for the excellent steak and kidney pie, 8,95 £ (11 €), which regularly receives awards in competitions, a pint of beer, the threadbare carpet, and the waitress who asks, «Everything OK, my love ? »
6-8 Mill Street, London W1S 2AZ. Tél. : 00.44.20.7491.8050.

Web Map

London : so chic Scott's

London,

By François Simon

Chic, impeccable, and professional, where the seafood is the star of the show, shelled crabs, Dover Sole – it can miss the mark occasionally (a dessert with figs supposedly caramelized), but overall it’s very good.  Definitely noisy, it’s better to sit at the bar (also easier to get a reservation), where you can mutter derisive comments about the inimitable clientele.  Figure on 50£ (63 €).

20 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1. Tél. : 00.44.20.7495.7309. Map Web

( Photo F.Simon )