Joel Robuchon's Monaco Fast Food Eaterie

Ever wonder what happens when a three star, chef luminary wants to try his hand to interpret fast food? Go to the MetCafe in the mall under the Metropole Hotel in Monaco and taste the answer.

I started with some Cauliflower soup:

Here I'm at the bar, killer croutons crisp and buttery. The soup probably a veloute was not overpassed or too creamy,  simple but brilliant. Robuchon fans will know first hand about his love of cauliflower.

Then his take on a cheeseburger on a panini, with grilled onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce, ketchup, mayo into melted cheese. I was so impressed with this sandwich I took three closeups so you can see it up close and personal like!

This is the good stuff to eat on the run,  I cut mine into three pieces and still got my finger sticky!

My neighbour had Vitello Tonnato, a veritable artist palate of colours and pastels.

 

I tasted this too it was  sensational, the veal almost salmon pink with a perfect combo of capers lifting the dish to a textbook tang. I'll definitely order it next time!!

Dessert is difficult to pass up as the wares are temptingly on display...... I choose a lime and blueberry cheesecake.

 

Here you can see that the blueberries are more than just a topping but rather run through this delectable morsel and lime zest runs all the way through...

Fast food done beyond the genre!

Style and substance Le Train Bleu

You've heard it said - "Eat in Style" I guess they were talking about the LE TRAIN BLEU!

In the Gare de Lyon; tgv central is also high on le Belle Epoque, built a 100+  years ago for the 1900 expo period this eatery is a paradox to its surroundings. On one side the trains on the other Paris. The artwork of the period is filled with landscapes of the various destinations served by the station. Scenes of the last Mr Bean (Goes on Vacation) were filmed here too.

 

 

You are left speechless that a train station can also cradle such a foody destination. Only in New York's Grand Central Station has the train been so well fed! The menu is a veritable trip in the past, silver trollies wheel leg's of this and that about the cavernous dining room.  Carving is table side and the service is simply white glove impeccable. I tried breast of veal, slow roasted at 64 degrees for 8 hours with shallot and cep (Porcini) sauce and mashed potatoes, this was serious yum!

 

Steak Tartare, also prepared tableside is a stonker. Handcut fries (see the uneven chips) and a wonderfully seasoned salad go the mile with the beef. Cornichons, mustard, oil, capers, parsley, salt, tabasco, pepper and shallots complete this meaty amalgam.

The menu is long and inviting and they even do a cool sunday brunch. So if you happen to be coming or going with a little time on your hands, connect to your tgv via the Train Bleu, a choo-choo that has not pulled out of the station since it got there!!!

One thing - The Petit Marche

In a corner of the Marais behind the magnificent Place  des Vosges is a side street leading off one axis called Rue Bearne, there you will find Le Petit Marche, damn pleased you will be too. This is a neighbourhood joint, a safe pair of hands, preparing plat de jours, and some regular mainstays. I go there for one thing only, the Chicken Salad. Here is a picture of it...look closely, the sesames black and white, the crunchy chinese and red cabbages the crispy wontons, the dressing and the roast chicken dark and white meats and the duo of chervil and chive snipped on top.

They make a splendid char-grilled skewers of monk fish and tiger prawns, and fab mash potatoes too. Every corner needs its own Petit Marche but only one can give you this killer salad.

Bouchon et L'Assiette

I had heard rumblings of a rather good address in the 17th quarter of Paris. Personally I have always considered this a rather boring lackluster part of the city, very residential to be sure and buzzless but the reports kept coming and I wondered whether like Hier and Aujourdui (a superb 17th restaurant) Bouchon et L'Assiette was worthy of a cross town jaunt. It is a miniscule restaurant I guess 30 covers in two adjoining rooms. The food was quite modern and delicious with menus that change daily.

I started with a lovely fois gras special served over a hot pineapple and ginger chutney! This was a wonderful combo, the snipped spring onions add a raw freshness to the dish and the chutney was made bolder with corse cracked black peppercorns which were remarkably appropriate in the melange.

I was rather pleased with my main course too, Crispy belly of pork with cabbage

 

This is true modern bistro fare, just scrumptious food well done.

For dessert and mascarpone Mont Blanc with whipped chestnut puree all good and worthy of the detour to be sure. 

 

Final notes the owners are hands on, as it should be, the prices are very, very reasonable around 30 / 40 Euro a head without wine.

Bouchon et L'Assiette

127 Rue Cardinet

Paris 17

Steak Frites.... the best I know!

Ok before the debate begins, L'entrecote (Rue Marbeuf Paris 8e) rocks, it's my second favorite steak frites in Paris. A close second, almost equal first; but first is first and for me that can only be....

Les Gourmet des Ternes!

 

One of the quirky and eccentric things about this restaurant is they have a sign permanently in the window at night saying the joint is full! (COMPLET) it always is. However, this is one place that can and will always squeeze you in if you show up without a reservation. Anglo/US friendly owner Jean Francois Marie is made for this business, host, food salesman and a supreme restauranteur, my kinda people. His ego wall is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly of who's who, yes they all eat here! Kinda impossible not to rub up with a celeb or two!! The entrees are served family style, and the food is simply done to perfection. The list of superlatives are, best:

non mayonnaise potato salad, beef salad, lentil salad and braised endive....but I come here for two other very special dishes which are best in class!

  

The Piece de Boeuf or steak this is a portion for one and half for those that like it rare!

Here  for one for those that like medium rare!

Served with bone marrow, pepper sauce Steak au Poivre and hand cut and made french friest "Frites" do you see the extra dusting of pepper in the sauce boat?

Now as I had mine plain, I took the liberty to snap my neighbour who happened to be mid plate, the tables are elbow tight, but that is the charm of the place. I have had some wonderful chats with tables on the left and right over the years too.

You can see my neighbour in mid flow, turned out his name was Andre! 

Here Is a shot of my steak close up so you can see the flavor of this meat which grazes on salted marsh land!

The final treat, and in fact it is a life changing taste you must order the BABA, a syrup soaked brioche which is served with a pot of creme fraiche so thick you need two hands to use the serving spoon, crushed strawberries and a rum bottle. 

This dessert is quite simply one of the reasons people travel to the Gourmet des Ternes. Try googling BABA Gourmet des Ternes and you get 6730 references just to this one dessert... HELLO !!! In fact I know vegetarians who eat the lentils and potato salad, the braised endive and then jump to double portions of the BABA. If you don't live in Paris this will be the restaurant that you will visit everytime you hit the city of lights!!

87 Bvd De Courcelles Paris

Tristan my favorite Swiss Chocolate Shop!

First some good news, usually when you read about some new foody place it's spot that you really have no chance to get to! Well not this time; today I write about a place that you may well have driven by without even knowing that it exists. If you ever find yourself driving from Geneva to anywhere you are not far, if your drive takes you from Geneva to Lausanne, you have passed by. Our subject today is located between the villages of Rolle and Aubonne about 5 minutes from these motorway exits. The village (actually smaller than a village) is Bougy-Villars, this is blink and you'll miss it territory. A place that has become famous for being the home of the most perfect confectioner I know. Mr Tristan Carbonatto - the shops proper title is - Tristan Artisan Chocolatier. To give you some perspective, this tiny weeny hamlet has had to build a six car parking lot to ease the traffic that can and often does bring this place to a choco saturday standstill. Folks from all over Switzerland and I surmise beyond seek him out and for good reason. I am convinced that the size of the operation (Miniscule) is a contributing factor to the shear artistry, innovation and taste of this bounty.

Tristan is a wonderful happy cheery man, who generously offers samples of all his wears willingly as if he wants you to enjoy and take you on his chocolate trip.

His crown jewel is The Pave, little cubes of chocolate, 74%, 53%, Milk 32% and white about size of a sugar lump, a perfect cube of chocolate mastery. As the pave hits your palate things start to happen as the cube melts onto your tongue, the black 74% strikes the perfect balance of chocolate and acid, the slight bitterness is offset by the restrained use of sugar which allows the cocoa bean to star. As you try the 53%, certainly still dark and a long way still from Milk Chocolate the blackish bitters give way to rich unctuous flower or berry like tones. It's quite extraordinary to me how the melting aspect of these chocolates, the mouth feel; contributes greatly to the overall soaring satisfaction one gets from popping one of these beauties. The white Pave, tastes like chocolate butter, your tongue is coated much in the same way as a raw lip feels relived once the chapstick is finally applied;  soothing, calming, coating with stratospheric, unctuous lingering... Are you getting my drift? The Paves have no cream which delineate them from Truffles also on offer.

Close up of Pistachios and White Chocolate Paves (Click for to see even closer)

No you can't have any of mine!!

His caramel truffle is explosive, a touch of sea salt kisses the almost burnt darkness of the dusky caramel, for almost two minutes after I had swallowed this truffle I was still getting secondary and tertiary flavor memories, not dissimilar to watching dying embers languishing in the fireplace giving off a smoky memory of the fire it once was.

 

The PAVE's resting comfortably!

Everything is beyond what you know! I have particular hankering for candied sicilian pistachios, they are dipped in the darkest of dark chocolate enrobing this green jewel with a handsome robe of coco. These dusky babies are not made for sharing at all, they make you completely selfish. You'll  prefer to save what you can't finish to eat alone later. I bought chocolate for some business acquaintances and about three miles past the shop I decided I would not give any away. It's hard even to imagine sharing chocolate this good with your own children!

Tristan's "simple" tablets with almonds or hazelnuts rewrite what you know about this chocolate bar, the perfect nut roasting to marry the chocolate. Today I'm writing about his staples but he is a fantasist and accordingly the shops filled with cocoa whimsy.

PS On Tuesday's they are officially closed but production and mis en place is in full swing so knock on the door next to the shop and they willingly let you in backstage and will willingly sell to you.

Tristan
Grand Rue
CH 1172 Bougy Villars
Closed Sunday - Monday - Tuesday
Opening hours 10h-12h - 13h30-18h30
Saturdays open without interruption NB SATURDAYS IS OFTEN PACKED!!!!


(Closed Mondays and Tuesdays)

Auberge de Soleil a happy mistake

I love happy accidents or rather, accidental discoveries. Today I wanted to stop in Luins for some Malakoffs a swiss ball of breaded molten cheese fondue which is a specialty of this town but they were closed. I drove off unfulfilled but then bumped into The Auberge De Soleil 5 minutes down the same road. That was a good detour.

 

I walked in to the Bistro, gourmet restaurant is also within and discovered a chef with humor and a room filled with cusine laughs. (See Below)

 

You see what I mean! I was worried that the food might also be laughable then I saw or rather my nose saw something at the bar that sung my name and perfumed the eaterie.

 

Are you starting to realise that I was in fact in exactly the right joint for lunch; well I was.

I started with a beautiful cauliflower soup that tasted more like cauliflower cheese than Dubarry but what a brilliant dish.. Hey I photoed the soup. 

Want some? Then came the fois gras with fig compote.

 

This was silken and superb. Lovely presentation for a bistro!!

Then came Tagliatelle with black truffles, but and I want to apologize with a big but, I forgot to snap it. It was my guest who ordered it but I was taken about by the shear generosity of the truffles that I immediately took one huge shaving and buttered my bread with it. Then I tasted the goods and before you know it, it was gone.. and so was my picture. The people I ate with adored my dilemma, they laughed.

Next post the best chocolate shop I know! Watch this blog!

Hokkaido Gyoza and Ramen Shop

There is something quite nurturing to me about certain foods, I feel safe and comforted. I find that Gyoza; well made Gyoza and steaming ramen broth go a long way to insulate from life's sharper edges. In Paris, there is a Japanese quarter near Opera whose median is the Rue St Anne that is packed with grocery shops, travel agents and restaurants.

Higuma (Also spectacular) is the Ramen 200+ seater but it is Hokkaido Ramen that is more delicate, less industrial and more personable. Altogether more Japanese!  The menu is broader and in my book has more finesse than Higuma. The dumplings rely less on garlic and more on fragrant veggies and seasonings to send the taste soaring.  I love making a dipping sauce of sesame, japanese chili oil, white vinegar and soy for the Gyoza. The ramen is filled with freshly julienned ginger and flavor packed pork. The tatsuta age (Fried Chicken) is fried dry crisp and served with an excellent Japanese slaw and homemade tonkatsu sauce. Hokkaido is a yum station if ever there was one.

Chez Vincent "The Institution"

There is a place I have visited in Paris over 20 years and I have followed when it moved. It enshrines the passion I look for when eating in a restaurant, in fact eating at any point. I took my week old children, both of them two years apart to Chez Vincent to make sure they caught the buzz early and clearly it worked. Vincent Cozzoli owns Chez Vincent he now holds court driving his antipasti bus ensconced in the Buttes Chaumont Park. The food is the best of the best, fresh basil is his perfume, Italy his larder. When you enter the restaurant the Vincent throne is before you.

Here you see the salad station. Not mine but I was drawn to capture it.

It all starts with a PIZELLE.  A mini pizza with a matzo crisp base, minute mushroom clippings and fresh buff-moz and finally anointed with a dab of pesto. I loved them so much that I posted two pictures to show you. All my pictures are good resolution so you can click on them to see the close-up goings on. Tonight rather than the steller squid I went light and had the Beef Carpaccio, I would wager it is one of the all time best; made all the better by the time it takes for him to prepare each serving. The Proscuitto platter was so moreish my party hit the plate before I could even take a picture. The pasta, Bolognese is like no other, the meat is veal paillard that is grilled first, then hand chopped into the marinara sauce by order, the Carbonara is punctuated by smoky pancetta as the creams foil. Rounding this meal off is the home made Pistachio ice cream and tiramisu that nestles into the last little stomach crevice I  reserved in its honor. 

Chez Vincent is  my Italian in Paris.

Vincent's hand at the tiller preparing my Carpaccio

The Legendary Pizelle