Life in the Feast Lane: La Maison Troisgros
Whether it’s a Turkish pide joint, a family bistro, a pizzeria, or an extravagant fine diner, it’s important to feel good about being there, relaxed, un-stressed. I like it warm, welcoming, attractive,...
View ArticleChocoholic Alert at Hotel Cazaudehore
Hotel Cazaudehore La Forestière in Saint Germain en Laye is rolling out an all-chocolate menu in honour of Easter, kicking off with a foie gras terrine marbled with white chocolate, followed by...
View ArticleFestival de la Gastronomie Provençale
Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, a pretty ochre-tinged village just 12 kilometres from Aix-en-Provence, normally has a population of around 2500. Come Sunday July 7, their ranks swell as 10,000 food lovers...
View ArticleReel Feelings: Normandy
A survey by TCI Research, a tourism marketing agency, estimated that 40 million international tourists chose their travel destination last year mostly because they saw, and liked, a film shot in the...
View ArticleDate with a Plate: La Maison d’à Côté, Loire Valley
Expectations mount when the voice on the other end of the line vows “you won’t be disappointed”. The room – modern, boxy, in need of a lick of TLC – didn’t quite deliver. Happily, the restaurant did....
View ArticleJe t’adorn: Les Boules de Noël de Meisenthal
Alsace might have given us the Christmas tree but we have its less lauded neighbor Lorraine to thank for the pizzazz – the bells, the balls, the baubles. In days long gone by trees were traditionally...
View ArticleIn a Glass of its Own: Les Habits de Lumière
It’s not as if I need much persuading to spend time in Champagne. The name says it all: capital of perfection in a bottle. Yes, it’s often cold and yes, it does seem to rain a lot but let’s not get...
View ArticleOut to Lunch: Déjeuner sur l’herbe
Nothing like sunshine and sizzling spring-almost-summer temperatures to get me out the door and into the nearest grassy space to loll about on a blanket imitating a Manet canvas (with clothes on!). If...
View ArticleDate with a Plate: Claude Colliot
It must be the sub-editor in me. Those English translations and spelling boo-boos on the menu are intentional….no, really? Yes, the smiling young serveuse insisted. Chicorée de foie gras – “duck...
View ArticleDate with a Plate: Le Salon d’Hélène
With a practised flourish Monsieur le chatty-chat-chat waiter revealed tuber melanosporum, a.k.a. the black Périgord truffle, and fluttered the glass box under our noses. It’s been a bad year for...
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