Category Archives: Restaurants

Bistro Papillon – Sydney CBD

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 2 Comments

Back in December, like every year, my girlfriends and I had a meal at a nice Franchouillard restaurant for our pre-Christmas-madness catch-up. This year we decided to try Bistro Papillon, in the heart of Sydney CBD, near Wynyard Station.

Like last year at the same period, the weather was miserable, so it was comforting to step into a warmer and friendlier environment!

Bistro Papillon is a relatively recent addition in the CBD, run by two Frenchmen: Xavier, the front of house and Ludovic in the kitchen.

The décor and ambiance are traditionally French, as is the menu, which comprises many classics like Duck Confit, Snails, Coq au Vin, as well as their signature “Tartines“, a kind of open sandwiches, which must be perfect for a quick lunch.

Escargots de Bourgogne served in a “caquelon”

We had all our time to enjoy our dinner, but I love my Snails so much that I could hardly wait to tuck in once they were brought to me… big mistake: those things were scalding hot and burnt my palate alright (ouch!)

Apart from that they were nice, garlicky and buttery, I could easily have eaten a dozen more. More slowly though :-)

Pâté de Foie de Volaille

My friend chose some smooth and tasty Chicken liver pâté, served with plenty of fresh baguette slices, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Tartine Norvégienne

My other friend chose the Tartine Norvégienne as an entrée: a generous slice of organic sourdough bread garnished with smoked salmon, crème fleurette and avocado: she loved it.

I saw that they also offered “Tarte Flambée” or “Flammekueche” (= tart baked in the flames), a specialty from Alsace and Germany, which consists in a very thin crusted tart, very flat and cooked in a wood-fire oven like a pizza, with cream, lardons (speck) and onions… and let me tell you, that’s what I will get next time I visit, because from what I remember from the one I had in Colmar years ago, they are simply delicious!


Moules façon Poulette: Black Mussels, Steamed with White Wine, Thyme, Garlic, Parsley and Cream

For my main, I chose Moules Poulette and ordered a side of Frites. With mayonnaise of course. They came in a lovely pot, with plenty of white wine and cream sauce to be soaked with bread.

I looove mussels. When I lived in Lyon we used to go regularly to “Bleu de Toi“, a tiny restaurant set up like a fisherman’s boat cabin, serving exclusively Mussels, with all kinds of sauces and combinations imaginable. The restaurant was so cramped, that the waitresses had to show real ingenuousness and stacking skills to fit all the dishes on the table, which I found very impressive (I worked at a restaurant once and was probably the clumsiest waitress you’ve ever seen!). I’ve found it hard since to resist ordering mussels whenever I see them on a menu!

Fresh Egg Linguine, Green Prawns, Tomatoes, Baby Spinach,
Garlic, Chilli and Olive Oil

My friend thought her main of Prawn Linguine was delicious.

Oven Roasted Confit of Duck Leg with a Green Lentils & Vegetable Ragout

My other friend declared the Duck Confit lovely, with a very tender meat, crispy skin and nice accompanying sauce and lentils.

Crème Brûlée

For dessert, I couldn’t go past the Crème Brûlée, which was very nice and ticked all the boxes: nice caramelised crust on top, creamy vanilla goodness under… Miam!

Caramelized Apple Tarte Tatin with Walnut Ice Cream

My friend enjoyed the generous portion of Tarte Tatin, if only would have preferred it more moist, but it went well with the cream and walnut ice-cream.

Cheese - Le Dauphin

The menu explains that the Dauphin cheese is “made from local cow’s milk in the scenic hills of the Rhone Valley” and that “the silky texture  soft and deliciously creamy”: my friend couldn’t agree more.

On the whole a pleasant experience, despite a pretty loud room, with good food, a friendly and efficient service, which makes Bistro Papillon a good option at reasonable prices in the CBD.

Bistro Papillon
98 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9262 2402
E-mail: bonjour@bistropapillon.com.au

Bistro Papillon on Urbanspoon

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Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh – January 2011

Posted on January 10, 2012 | 4 Comments

Here we are, almost landing in Ho Chi Minh City (still widely called Saigon by most of the population). We have to go through a thick cloud of pollution to start seeing the city from above, it’s quite impressive!

We get a taxi to our hotel, the An An I Hotel, ideally located at the heart of the backpacking district on Bui Vien, and which was perfectly pleasant, with a huge air-conditioned room and an unbeatable view on the all the action down below. The staff were also very friendly and helpful.

We took a first walk in the crazy traffic to get ourselves a nice Banh Mi, a great sandwich roll made using a pretty soft and airy, but still a bit crunchy baguette, pork sausage, pork liver pâté, or cheese (the “Laughing Cow” type), lots of fresh herbs like coriander, and julienned cucumber, carrots… it really hit the spot!

Banh Mi vendor

Another one of our great pleasures was to drink Vietnamese iced coffee whenever we could, it was so refreshing, strong and sweet, yum! I loved the ritual of having to wait for the thick coffee liquid to slowly go through the filter placed on top of a cup. Once that was done, we poured the coffee into a glass filled with ice cubes and condensed milk, stirred it and enjoyed. We bought two of these coffee filtering devices to make our own at home, but alas, didn’t taste anything like the real thing!

Vietnamese coffee ritual

I also was on my great Pho mission, and one morning I thought I had found it in an dark and run down alley near our hotel, where a lonely stall was minded by a gruff man. I couldn’t see any tourists… nor could I see many locals for that matter, which should have given me a hint. But noooo! Despite his misgivings, I dragged the boyfriend in the alley for him to sit and wait while I was finally having my real Pho experience.

It didn’t look bad, but now I understand why the man added so much pepper on the soup. The broth was really tasteless, and the beef strips were not too inspiring either. It actually put me off and I couldn’t eat half of it! Maybe I wasn’t quite ready for some Pho first thing in the morning either…

That meant the quest for Pho was still on!

We continued our walk on Pham Ngu Lao towards the Thai Binh markets, a labyrinth of stalls packed together with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, animals dead or alive… it was pretty hectic!

Frogs available…

… in all kinds of state

Huge slabs of tofu

After all that market fun, we decided to have a more relaxing activity and made our way to the Vietnamese Institute for Traditional Massage, run by HCMC Blind Association. I’ve often heard of how blind people give better massages as they are more attuned to their sense of touch and could find more easily the sore spots of the patient.

Once our very cheap tickets were paid at the school reception, the boyfriend got invited by a man to follow him into a room, while I was led to another room by a young woman, who instructed me to lie on the massage table. She then proceeded to pummel me with a rhythmic precision! To this day I still have the “massage” pattern in my head: seven pummels, three times in a row, punctuated by three harder hits “Bam Bam Bam!”. It went on like this for the whole hour, with a particular insistence on my cranium (that girl clearly didn’t like me!), all the while she was talking and laughing with her friend on the other side of the partition. It hurt… not relaxing at all! M. was luckier and was pretty happy with his masseur.

Ho Chi Minh Blind Association
185 Cong Quynh St. D. 1

We then walked around in the Cathedral area and had lunch at a quite well-known place, the Ngon Restaurant, which was recreating a street food vending market, with lots of stalls selling different kinds of dishes inside the restaurant.

Bánh Xèo

M. chose a yummy vegetarian Banh Xeo, the renowned savoury crêpe filled with fresh herbs, tofu, carrots, bean sprouts (and usually pork and prawns).

Sugar cane prawns sticks to roll 

I chose the Sugarcane prawns sticks, which you then roll in wetted rice paper with herbs and rice noodles. They were pretty nice, but I was deceived as I thought I ordered whole prawns! I make the same mistake all the time! I always forget that sugarcane prawns are a kind of prawn paste, tss tss…

Ngon Restaurant
138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street
District 1

We spent the rest of the day walking around the Cathedral, the Post Office and drinking more iced-coffee…

The Post Office

The following day we found it!!! That’s right, we found the Perfect Pho!
We were walking around Pasteur Street and decided to try a Pho shop recommended by our guide book: Pho Hoa Pasteur.

We were comforted to see many locals eating there and the house was full! We were led to a room at the back and the efficient waiter handed us a menu with all the Pho combinations. M. was prepared for the possibility that once again he would have to wait and watch me eat, but they did have a vegetarian soup, which was a relief for both of us!

I ordered a simple Pho Tai (same as Pho Bo?), with raw beef slices (no tendons or tripes for me… I’m not that adventurous), and soon after, the soups arrived with a basket of Chinese fried bread sticks (“Youtiao”), which, after watching how the other customers used it, we broke into pieces in the soup.

Youtiao – Chinese fried bread sticks

It was simply the best Pho I’ve had in my short Pho experience. The broth was delicious, flavoursome and light, the beef strips tender, the rice noodles not too cooked, the herbs garnish fresh, and that bread! Looooooved the fried bread!!

M. loved his soup too, so much so that he managed to squeeze another one just before his flight… without me!!! Very jealous….

We were in a state of Pho bliss after that, and so full… we just dragged ourselves to walk a bit more in the area, managed to fit in another iced-coffee and made it back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest before dinner.

Pho Hoa Pasteur
260C Pasteur Street
Ho Chi Minh City

In hindsight, we should have just gone back there for our last dinner. But instead, still basking in the memory of my superb dinner at Hanoi’s Green Tangerine, I decided to try a French bistro located in the Institute for French Cultural Studies, “Le Jardin”, hidden in the side of the building, not visible from the street and not easy to find.

We had Goats cheese salad, Pasta with a creamy cheesy sauce, Veal schnitzel with mushrooms and potatoes, and of course for dessert, Chocolate Profiterolles! It wasn’t the final cherry on my holiday cake I was hoping for: the food was alright, but nothing to write home about… We left not that impressed and took a taxi back to our hotel… or so we thought!

Our taxi driver had decided to take us for a ride, figuratively, choosing on purpose longer routes and making big loops… we aren’t the confronting type, so we didn’t say anything until the driver clearly turned right instead of left to our hotel, and then we protested! The driver, caught in act, stopped the car and just giggled at us. We didn’t give him any tip… so there!

This average evening didn’t end there for me: I woke up in the middle of the night completely sick from both ends, and it didn’t seem to want to stop! I had to go to the airport a couple of hours after and I’m still not sure how I made it, maybe the sheer willpower not to inflict anything bad on this poor taxi driver, who hadn’t done anything to me, him!

And on this charming note my Vietnam holiday came to an end… I certainly do want to go back there and visit all the beautiful areas I missed out on: more of Hanoi and HCM, the old royal citadel in Hue, the eery and beautiful Halong Bay, visit the Mekong Delta… So this is only an “Au revoir Vietnam!”

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Vietnam Part 1 – Hanoi – Jan 2011

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 3 Comments

St. Joseph’s Cathedral

I know I know, it’s been almost a year since my trip to France and Vietnam, but I only just got around to start looking through and sorting out all my Vietnam pictures!

Every time I plan for a holiday, I am torn between visiting my family and friends in the homeland, and travelling to new exotic places, where I can just sit on my “derrière” and drink cocktails on the beach.

That is why last year I decided to do both! Two weeks in France and two weeks in Vietnam: perfect! Yeees, not that perfect in the end, both were too short! Tough life…

So the plan was to spend a few days in Hanoi, then fly to Phu Quoc Island, stay there for a week and fly back to Ho Chi Minh City to visit for a couple more days.

My boyfriend, who had been travelling in the country for a few weeks already, picked me up at the airport from my Paris flight and showed me around the main sights, like the French Quarter and the Saint Joseph Cathedral, reminiscent of the city’s now distant French colonial past.

I was a bit annoyed I had to carry around all my winter clothes I had packed for France, but in the end I was very grateful for my coat, it was pretty cold in Hanoi!


Ly Thai To (founder of Hanoi) monument, near Hồ Hoàn Kiếm Lake

I had read about how crossing the streets could be a real mission in Vietnam, as there are basically no rules, no lights, no pedestrian crossings… it’s every man for himself! You just have to go for it like a blind person and pray for the thousands of scooters coming right at you to know what they’re doing! (There are even a few videos on YouTube that will give you an idea)

I was a bit nervous about it at first, but later on in Ho Chi Minh I even crossed the street by myself without getting killed: for a distracted and clumsy person like myself, it’s quite a feat!

We then walked around the Hồ Hoàn Kiếm Lake, in the cultural and historical area, which has a very romantic atmosphere, with its littles bridges, flowers and old trees.


For our only evening in Hanoi, M. decided to take me to a nice restaurant he had spotted earlier in the Old Quarter, Green Tangerine, which had also been strongly recommended by a fellow blogger Noodlies. The restaurant was set in a most charming old building, and offered a French cuisine with a Vietnamese twist, which makes sense as French Chef Stéphane Yvin runs the kitchen together with his Vietnamese wife Tin.

Green Tangerine courtyard (Photo Credit: Green Tangerine’s website)

As soon as we stepped in the cute courtyard and entrance, we were transported into another era. I almost felt like Catherine Deneuve in “Indochine“, a movie set in French colonial Indochina in the 1930′s.

Inside, the decorations, lamps, pictures on the walls reinforced the colonial feel, and the peaceful atmosphere offered a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the Hanoi streets.

Fig tempura stuffed with goat cheese, bacon, nuts and grape presented on Vietnamese spices bread.

Some of the dishes I don’t remember quite well, such as this Fig Tempura stuffed with Goat’s cheese…

Profiterolles stuffed with iced parmesan yoghurt on a layer of onion mixed with galangal root cooked in red wine

…. as well as those savoury Profiterolles….

Duck breast crusted with Vietnamese herbs, slices of fried lotus roots stuffed with mashed water spinach and bruschetta, “Ca Bung” sauce (aubergine in saffron and 5 Vietnamese spices)

However I do remember the Duck dish very well: it was delicious!!! It was superbly cooked and had such interesting and new flavour combinations, with the Vietnamese herbs and the “Ca Bung” sauce… pretty unusual and very pleasant!

Nem vegetarian raviolis served with a pistou and parmesan mousse

M. was equally impressed with his vegetarian ravioli and the whole meal in general. All the dishes were very nicely plated and decorated, and the food was fantastic, probably very expensive by Vietnamese standards, but quite cheap compared to Sydney’s French restaurants in Sydney.

Unfortunately, that’s all we had time to do in Hanoi, we had to get up the next day at stupid o’clock to go to the airport and take a plane to Phu Quoc, an postcard-like island located in the far South-Western side of the country (off the Cambodian coast), where hopefully warmer temperatures would welcome us!

Green Tangerine
Address: 48 Hang Be Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Tel: (04) 3825 1286 – Fax: (04) 38289167.

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My Sydney Top 10 Favourites – French Entree

Posted on November 15, 2011 | 8 Comments

I was asked last week by Eleanor from French Entrée, a website aimed at lovers of all things French, to compile my Top 10 favourites French foods in Sydney.

It was a difficult to narrow it down to 10, but I’m pretty happy with my list. See below and let me know if you agree!

“Finding French food in Sydney

Sandra Beeston is a French-Australian expat who has been living in Sydney for six years. In that time, she has researched all the best places to find her French home comforts. From baguettes and croissants to cheese and steak frites, Sandra shares her top 10 French foods and where to find them in Sydney.


Baguettes 
It is easier and easier to get decent, even excellent bread in Sydney. Brasserie Bread has been at the forefront of the new breed of artisan bakers and are renowned for their high standards and the passion they put into all their breads and pastries. Their baguette à l’ancienne is no exception. Put it in the oven for a few minutes for even more crunch and enjoy!

It would be impossible not to mention the very popular Bourke Street Bakery in Surry Hills, which offers a semi-sour baguette that is just perfect for me, soft and not too dense, neither too airy inside, with a lovely crunchy crust. Get there early and nab one of their ginger crème brûlée tarts – they are to die for!

Croissants Taste BakeryCroissants
Ex-IT worker Hieu, nostalgic for the fresh baguettes he used to find in his natal Vietnam, decided to open his own bakery, Taste Bakery, which has become so popular that it has since spawned many offshoots all over town.
Their viennoiserie is amongst the best in Sydney: try a simple croissant, flaky and buttery as it should be, or if you feel like something more substantial, one of their enormous raisin snails!

Croque-Madames
In sunny Cronulla, Alley Break Café, a relatively newcomer, has shaken things up, with owner Nick Tabet and Chef Darren de Boer working hard to offer locals tasty dishes with the best produce and quality ingredients available. Grab a table with an unbeatable view on the beach and savour their croque-madame, oozing with egg yolk and yummy raclette cheese, with ham on a generous slice of sourdough bread, made on the premises.

Oysters
Felix oystersFelix Bistro is a beautiful New-York style French brasserie (if that makes sense) and one of the few restaurants in Sydney shucking oysters to order. You can choose from a variety of Sydney Rock oysters and seasoning, lemon wedges, shallots and vinegar, but I say just enjoy them ‘au natural’!

Crêpes
Not something you would expect in a small inner-city bar… Pocket Bar is unique in that it offers delicious cocktails, as well as a great selection of sweet and savoury crêpes. A great little place in trendy Darlinghurst, run by a French team.

Growers markets
Celebrity chefs, farmers, families, doggies and babies all converge every Saturday at the Eveleigh Markets, hosted in this great picturesque space that is Carriage Works, an old railway workshop building. You can finish waking up with good coffee and a croque-madame made by Bird Cow Fish’s chef Alex Herbert herself, buy seasonal fruit and veggies, heritage tomatoes, beautiful exotic and locally grown mushrooms, goats cheese (bliss!), delicious walnut bread from Monsieur Tartine and go straight home to make yourself the best sandwich with your newly acquired produce.

Baroque macaronsMacarons
Baroque Bistro was a long-held dream of late Pastry Chef Pierre Charkos, from The Rocks institution La Renaissance. Thanks to his family, it has now come true. Baroque offers a modern twist on classic French fare, as well as a great view of the Harbour Bridge. Given their pastry credentials, expectations are high for their macarons, but they never disappoint. Don’t leave without trying the salted caramel flavour, you won’t regret it!

Eclairs
The team at Black Star Pastry work tirelessly to offer us clever and original creations, such as strawberry and watermelon with rose cream, ginger ninjas and classics such as their chocolate eclairs filled with intense dark chocolate crème pâtissière and covered with dark chocolate icing… sigh.

Steak-frites
Tastevin steakThe Tastevin bistro was recently voted second for People’s Choice in Time Out Sydney’s food awards. It is run by a friendly couple, Natasha and Alex. It is very popular with the night crowd as it is one of the rare restaurants staying open until very late in Sydney. They offer unpretentious, classic French fare, such as duck confit, roquefort soufflé and a very satisfying beef eye fillet withpommes frites and peppercorn sauce. One of their signature dishes is gnocchi à la Parisienne: poached choux pastry dumplings with mushrooms in a white truffle mornay sauce… need I say more?

Cheese
We should be very grateful to all the cheese importers, as it is not an easy task dealing with the Australian quarantine to be able to introduce beautiful European cheeses to consumers. Lucky they are here, so I can have my fix of Chabichou du Poitou and my favourite cheese in the world, Comté.

As for local cheese, the whole of the Old Telegraph Road range is simply the best thing to happen to Australia! I’m getting a bit too excited here, but the camemberts, bries and washed-rind cheeses created by French expat cheesemaker Franck Beaurain and made in Gippsland Victoria are worth writing home about. To me they are the best European-style cheese in Australia. Try their Vacherin-style cheese, Jackson’s Track.

That concludes my ‘Top 10′. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you don’t agree or want to tell me which are your favourites!” 

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Felix Bistro – Sydney CBD

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 14 Comments

A few weeks ago, my friend Vanity Fare and I decided to try the recent addition to the Merivale empire in Ash Street laneway, Felix Bistro, run by Lauren Murdoch, who used to operate the kitchen of Ash Street Cellar just across the road. I kept hearing good reports about it, and the few times I had walked past it, I’d thought the place looked beautiful and quite like an authentic brasserie.

We were lured by the thought of freshly shucked oysters, as they are not often found in Australian restaurants. Even in fine dining establishments, I’d found that the oysters had been shucked in advance and just popped again in the shell at serving time… No wonder that until now, no oyster had passed the test of the lemon juice drizzle, where you can see the oyster’s edges retract at the contact of the juice, the ultimate proof of freshness!

We had chosen the 7pm sitting and when we arrive, the place was already buzzing and quite loud, which is a good sign, but at the same time not great for me, as I am very soft spoken as well as a bit deaf! Oh well, we’ll talk the universal language of food.

We chose our entrees, a Steak Tartare for VF and a Cod Brandade for me, asked for the specials, as we saw that Wednesdays “Plats du jour” were dedicated to game dishes. The waitress told us the Chef had prepared a dish of Partridge on mushy peas with artichokes and jus… That sounded good… so good in fact, that we both ended up choosing it!

The Oyster Bar

I also really wanted to taste at least a couple of oysters beforehand. We were offered three different varieties of Sydney Rock Oysters: Merimbula, Pambula and Culburra (thank you Vanity Fare for remembering all these names!)

Assortment of Sydney Rock Oysters

I couldn’t decide, so VF suggested we tried all three, like a mini degustation, which was a great idea! I would just forgo the dessert if I had to…

We also had the choice between a red wine vinegar with shallots dressing or just fresh lemon, but we didn’t use either, as we wanted to fully enjoy the taste of the oysters. Each had its own characteristics: one was more plump, more creamy, the other more sweet, the last one more salty… it was interesting!

Steak Tartare

The entrees followed and VF’s Steak Tartare passed the test. She found the beef tender, and liked the traditional accompaniments to season to taste (Worcestershire sauce, mustards…); very rustic and authentic and fun to play with: “I love playing with my food!”, were her words.

Cod Brandade

The Cod Brandade was very creamy, nicely seasoned, not too salty and there was a generous amount of it, I was happy.

A sneak peak in the kitchen

I decided to order a glass of red wine to go with my game dish and called the sommelier, told him I wanted a glass of Bourgogne (I had spotted earlier 2 varieties at $9-10 on the wine list) and that’s when he offered to get me a glass of blablablabla (couldn’t quite hear what he said) and I said “Sounds fine to me!”. He did well, the wine he brought me was superb!

Partridge, artichokes, mushy peas

We both thought the Partridge confit legs were lovely, they were cooked perfectly. VF’s only little criticism was that the mushy peas brought maybe too much sweetness and that the dish might have needed something more to cut through it… maybe more artichokes? But overall, it was just a beautiful dish!

Dessert Station

We decided not to forgo the dessert in the end, but took a long time to choose the dessert to share. Everything sounded good, but we couldn’t face anything chocolatey or too creamy. I was sorry to see that they didn’t have any Tarte Tatin or any Crème Brûlée… what kind of Bistro is that?? Lol. We finally decided on the Pear Tart with Red Wine Ice-cream and we didn’t regret it, it was very nice, especially the red wine ice-cream, surprisingly good, as I wasn’t too sure what to expect.

Pear clafoutis tart with Red wine ice-cream and Strawberry reduction

Then we got the bill… VF told me: “That wine must have been a very nice wine…”
Me, worried: “How much?”
VF: “$25″
Me: “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!”

What an idiot, I should have just stuck to my initial choice! The wine was delicious, but had I known, I would have drunk it very, very….. very slowly!

On the whole, I thought the food was lovely, and if I was a wealthy businessman working in the CBD, I would for sure have lunch at Felix 2-3 times a week! It’s however not the case, and Felix is definitely not your every day bistro: not the same prices, but also not the same quality!

I guess if you don’t go crazy on the wines like some people (hum), the prices are not that unusual, but I’ll still keep it on the “Special Occasion” list.

Felix Bistro
2 Ash Street
Sydney NSW 2000 

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Garden Court Restaurant – Sofitel Sydney

Posted on May 20, 2011 | 14 Comments

Last week I was invited to a French-themed dinner hosted by Cenk, creator of Social Dinner Club, at Garden Court Restaurant, on the 5th floor of Sofitel in the CBD. Sofitel is a 5-star hotel owned by Accor, the famous French multinational corporation.

The Garden Court’s website describes the restaurant serving “modern contemporary cuisine with a French influence”. I was quite impressed when I made my way inside the grand entrance hall, the decor was simple but classy, you could see guests and patrons enjoying a relaxing drink in the lounge on the ground floor and staff members were most polite and friendly when I asked my way to the restaurant.


Once we were all seated, Alex, the sous-chef at Garden Court Restaurant, talked to us about the dishes that were going to be served, and how they use a lot of French techniques and recipes, but add their own Australian twist to them.

Mushroom Consommé

We were first served a Mushroom Consommé, a warm and clear broth with herbs and mushrooms, which was nice and full of flavour.

Yamba Prawns with Spanish jambon cru

The entrée consisted of Yamba prawns wrapped in jamon on a bed of iceberg lettuce, with kipfler potatoes, green beans, kalamata olives, hard-boiled quail egg, with pesto, tapenade and a preserved lemon, not an especially French-sounding entree, but pleasant nonetheless. The Yamba prawns (Yamba is halfway between Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay) were huge and tasty, apparently they are Matt Moran‘s favourites, which is a good sign. The ham in which they were wrapped was a bit too cooked for my liking, I usually prefer the jamon/prosciutto type of ham as is, raw, but that’s personal taste. They were served with a delightful glass of 2009 Aurum Pinot Gris, from the renowned Otago region in New Zealand, where the climate is very similar to the one we can find in Burgundy.

The vegetarian option consisted in Baked and caramelised fresh figs with Goat’s cheese mousse, crumbled parmesan, micro herbs, which proved almost more popular than its meaty counterpart, from what I could hear from the other guests!

Coq au Vin

The main dish was the very anticipated Coq-au-Vin, the famous dish of chicken cooked in wine with vegetables, lardons… a bit the equivalent of Boeuf Bourguignon but with chicken! The sauce was very dark and rich, which I liked and the pieces of chicken nicely cooked. The accompanying potato mash was not too creamy and went well with the carrots and caramelised onions, the “lardons” (speck) bringing a nice salty flavour and the whole little onions a nice caramelised taste… probably my favourite dish of the night. We were served a glass of 2008 Silverwood Pinot Noir from the Mornington Peninsula, which went down quite well.

The vegetarian option for the main was Sweet potato gnocchi with zucchini flowers, peas, tomato, basil butter cream, which seemed to be appreciated too.

Social Dinner Club guests

French Pastries: Millefeuille, Raspberry Opera Slices,
Wentworth Cheesecake, Chocolate Éclair

An assortment of traditional French pastries was then served, including a Mille-feuille, which consisted in superimposed layers of puff pastry and pastry cream, and a Raspberry Opéra Slice, which was to me a bit too dry. The Wentworth Cheese Cake is Sofitel’s signature dessert, hence the name, which they also serve at Sofitel’s renowned High Teas: I was pleasantly surprised at how light it was, it was almost similar to a mousse, which was good because I was really starting to be quite full! However my favourite of the four desserts was the Chocolate Éclair: the choux pastry was light and soft and the filling of chocolate cream was delicious.

We were given pretty little raspberry and chocolate macarons after coffee, which was a nice attention.

All in all, a pleasant evening spent meeting other foodies around a nice dinner… a good concept I think!

The French Wench dined at Garden Court Restaurant as a guest of Social Dinner Club.

Level 5 – Sofitel
61-101 Phillip Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph:  (02) 9228 9179

PS: Next Social Dinner Club dinner on the 9th June is focussed on Turkish food and will be held at Efendy in Balmain: I think it might very well be a good one!

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Le 7, par Anne-Sophie Pic – Valence

Posted on April 29, 2011 | 6 Comments

My French holiday back in December was the occasion to catch up with some very good friends from my uni years, who were also in town to see their families. We decided to have lunch at “Le 7″, the bistro version of the world renowned 3-star restaurant La Maison Pic, Valence, in the Rhône-Alpes region.

The number “7″ refers to the famous Route Nationale 7, also named  ”La Route bleue” (The Blue Road) or “La Route des vacances” (The Holiday Road).

At the height of its glory, the RN7 ran over 1004km, starting from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the “Zero point” for all French roads, down to Menton near the Italian border, via Lyon, Nice and Cannes. Even though it has now been replaced with much more efficient highways and motorways, RN7 still evokes a certain nostalgia: the first paid holidays (1936), the first individual cars (50′s), visions of endless traffic jams as the whole French population seemed to be driving down to the Côte d’Azur every summer… happy times!

Many RN7 nostalgics have created associations and clubs to keep intact its memory by organising memorabilia fairs, vintage cars events, even re-enactments of the traffic jams in the fifties and sixties! There are also board games, touristic tours, photography books, all dedicated to the Route nationale.

“Nationale 7″ by Charles Trenet – 1959

“Le 7″ Bistrot was opened in 2006 as an homage to the famous restaurants that could be found along the RN7, such as “La Côte d’Or” in Bourgogne, “Les Trois Gros” in Roanne, “La Mère Brazier” and “Bocuse” in Lyon and “La Pyramide” in Vienne and among them of course “La Maison Pic” in Valence.

“Le 7″ and “La Maison Pic” are both run by Anne-Sophie Pic, recently named the World’s Best Female Chef by San Pellegrino in its 2011 World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards. She is also the first female chef to obtain the coveted 3 Michelin stars in 2007, thus perpetuating the family tradition, as the accolade was won by her father and her grandfather before her.

“La Maison Pic” was founded in 1936 by André Pic, but the restaurant already existed as “L’Auberge du Pin” as far back as 1891,when it was run by his mother Sophie. He got the restaurant its first 3 Michelin stars in 1934, and his son Jacques repeated the exploit in 1973.

Anne-Sophie, Jacques’ daughter, first chose to study business management, then travelled the world and worked for luxury brands like Cartier and Moët & Chandon. At age 22, she decided her life was in the restaurant kitchen and started an apprenticeship with her father. Unfortunately he died of an aneurysm shortly after, in 1992. She soon left the kitchen for the administrative side of the business, not feeling at ease in the awkward position of “boss/apprentice”. Her brother Alain moved on to another venture a few years later, leaving Anne-Sophie the sole manager. In 1995 she married David Sinapian and together, David at the management and Anne-Sophie back in the kitchen, they worked tirelessly to infuse a new life into the restaurant and bring its 3rd Michelin star lost in 1995.

In 2007, she finally regained the 3rd Michelin star, thus becoming the 4th woman in France to obtain 3 stars.

The Bistrot 7 adds yet another stone to the Pic empire, comprising of the Pic hotel & restaurant, Pic consulting, the e-store, the cookbook, Pic cooking classes, seminars and the Pic foundation..!

Le 7, Bistrot chic

We arrived at “Le 7″ for lunch in a reasonably packed dining room, after walking past the original restaurant next door and marvelling at the 8-course 330€ (AU$450) degustation menu, including a Sea Bass covered in caviar (Jacques Pic’s signature dish, kept on the menu ever since its creation in 1971).

After considering our options, my friend and her partner both chose the set lunch menu at 29€ and my other friend and I chose from the A-la-Carte menu, as we both found the Confit Rabbit Ravioli entree and the Duck main too appealing to refuse. We were then offered complimentary Beetroot dips with bread, which were pretty pleasant.

We all agreed on ordering a 2008 Saint-Joseph, made out of shiraz (“syrah”) grapes and produced a bit further north in the Rhône Valley.  On the Gault & Millau‘s website, it is described as powerful, tannic, fruity, spicy, tasting of blackcurrant, blueberry and violet… which sounds about right!

Game “Caillette” with quince poached in red wine and onion pickle

My friends seemed to enjoy the game terrine from the set menu very much (pictured above).

Ravioles of Rabbit confit with tarragon carrots and mustard jus

The Rabbit Ravioles didn’t taste quite as I had fantasized when I read the menu description, but they were nonetheless very good, the raviole dough was nice and ferm and… there was enough butter!

Fine farce of fish and squid with melted leek and lemongrass emulsion

The above dish was also part of the set menu and my friend enjoyed it immensely, saying it was fresh, light and subtil… I was a bit jealous.

Free-range chicken leg, buttered in cabbage, chestnut & lardon and jus court

Her man seemed also pretty happy with his chicken dish.

Duck breast with home-made tagliatelle and apples

Duck breast with home-made tagliatelle and apples

Both my friend and I were impressed with the generous portion of Duck breast on our plate, it was going to be a mouthful! Not surprisingly I did struggle a bit to finish, but it was very good, the duck breast was cooked to perfection, although I would have appreciated a bit more “jus”, or sauce, to go with it. The caramelised apple quarters brought a nice sweet touch, but I think I still prefer the classic duck and orange combination… (yep, I have very conservative tastes!)

Paris-Brest, with caramelised apple puree and green apple sorbet

I know I said I could barely finish my plate, but I still decided I would have some dessert… so there! I didn’t choose the lightest dessert either, the Paris-Brest being a choux pastry filled with a praline flavoured pastry cream, it’s pretty heavy! But that one went down a treat, the choux pastry was light and airy and the apple puree cream was just delicious… I didn’t regret this little indulgence.

Caraïbes chocolate & praline with orange sorbet

My friend’s partner decides to accompany me so that I don’t feel too lonely eating my dessert… looks like it wasn’t such a sacrifice for him, that chocolate and praline dessert also looked pretty good!

Little gourmandises to eat with the coffee

On the whole, a very pleasant meal and an affordable way to discover Anne-Sophie Pic’s world. Well worth straying from the motorway for a gastronomic drive along the RN7!


Anne Sophie Pic portrait

Le 7 Bistrot
MAISON PIC
285 avenue Victor Hugo
26000 VALENCE – DRÔME
Ph. +33 4 75 44 15 32 – Fax +33 4 75 40 96 03

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Chez Maurice, Restaurant de Bourgogne – Paris 10è

Posted on February 13, 2011 | 5 Comments


“Close the door, it’s freezing”. Brrrr, ça caille indeed!

Before going to Paris-Gare de Lyon to catch my train, my friends and I still had time to squeeze in a nice lunch in a neighbourhood bistro, the well-liked Chez Maurice, Restaurant de Bourgogne, located in Rue des Vinaigriers, a still quite rough area a few years back (there was even a taxi driver/killer who used to live there!).

I had been craving snails for days now and my friends thought this restaurant would be ideal for me, rather than the overpriced touristic places of Rue Montorgueil I spotted earlier.

The decor was very typical of a French bistro. The tables were covered in red checked cloths, the menus were written with chalk on black boards, the place was still not packed but in a matter of minutes it was buzzing with all types of patrons, workers, families, regulars, old & young.

Everything on the menu looked appetizing and rich enough to get you through a freezing winter day.

But first and foremost, it was time for the sacrosanct “apéro” :-)

I chose my beloved Picon-bière, beer flavoured with Picon, a sort of alcoholic orange bitter, very old-school but utterly delicious!


Fried Camembert

Here are a sample of the dishes that my table companions chose, including the decadent Fried Camembert and the heart warming Fish Soup.


Fish Soup


Escargots de Bourgogne

Of course I had the snails, one of the specialties of this restaurant whose owner came from Burgundy. I was surprised to see them served without their shell, but it didn’t matter one bit. All the essential ingredients were there: garlic, herbs, butter and some bread to mop it all up. The snails themselves were tender and chewy at the same time, very satisfying.

It was then time for the mains:


Hand-cut Steak Tartare with chips


Grilled Andouillette with Mustard sauce and chips


Bread-crumbed chicken breast with chips


Sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce and chips

When I was asked how I wanted my steak (pictured above), I said “à point”, because I didn’t want it totally “saignant” (bloody = rare), but couldn’t quite find the correct term to designate the in-between stage of “medium”. What they brought to me was definitely well done! As a result it was chewy and quite tough. I also had the impression that they used some powder to make the peppercorn sauce… I couldn’t eat more than half unfortunately…

Luckily my companions seemed to fare better with their mains, especially with the steak tartare, very nicely seasoned and the andouillette, a tripe sausage, which had a nice and crispy grilled skin and was accompanied with a grain mustard sauce.

For dessert I ordered the Crème Brûlée, which was more of a flan in fact. The texture was more eggy than creamy, so I was a bit disappointed, even though the caramel crust cracked nicely under my spoon. My companions seemed satisfied with their desserts: fromage blanc with caramel sauce, profiterolles with chocolate sauce and almond & apricot tarte.


Scruffy haired & stubby bearded locals enjoying their escargots.

As a whole, a nice little unpretentious “bistro de quartier”, which serves tasty snails and many other traditional dishes at very reasonable prices, in comfortable settings and a warm atmosphere.

We finished with a little coffee and my friends sent me off to Gare de Lyon!
It was quite an adventure to drag my suitcase in the metro including one line change, lucky my friend was there to help me carry it through the numerous stairs and corridors…

Gare de Lyon was insane, there were people everywhere going back to their families in “province” for Christmas and getting pretty pissed off from not being able to get around, yelling and shoving through the crowds… Not a pretty sight!
But I ended up reaching my carriage a couple of minutes before the train departed, pfeew! I was finally en route to my hometown :-)

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L’Étoile – Paddington

Posted on January 25, 2011 | 4 Comments

Every year with the girls, we organise a pre-Christmas catch-up session before our social schedules become too hectic. Having heard a lot of good things about L’Étoile, besides the fact that French celebrity Chef “Manouuuuuuu!” operates their kitchen, we decided to book a mid-week dinner there.

Flirt sur la plage $17
(vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, pineapple juice)

We were greeted by a lovely waitress, and led to a table almost next to the window, which was fine by us since there was not much to look at in the rainy street. We ordered some cocktails to ease ourselves into a warmer mood.

We knew that Manu wouldn’t be there that night, so we were not too disappointed not to see him. He was probably filming the upcoming 2nd season of My Kitchen Rules at the time.

The waitress brought us some bread to nibble on and soon after our entrees arrived.

First half a dozen Oysters to share, accompanied by a nice vinegar & shallot dressing, which we gobbled in no time.

My choice of Boudin de Saint-Jacques ($20), a “silky sausage of scallop with crustacean bisque”, made famous in the 1st season of Masterchef, didn’t disappoint, it was very light and subtle, well complimented by the smooth sauce and the spinach.

My friend happily dove into her generous Duck Confit Salad ($22) and declared herself very happy with it.

We both chose the Butcher’s steak and fondant potatoes ($35), which were very simply done but good.

However I was engulfed in a bout of food envy when I saw my other friend’s main dish: some very tender and juicy pieces of Lamb rump ($35), with what looked like the smoothest and creamiest potato puree… she let me take a bite and it turned out excellent indeed!

We were offered a palate cleanser, Watermelon & Champagne Granita.

Then it was time for a nice and runny Cheese ($9 each cheese) for my colleague… (I think it was Bûche d’Affinois..!)

… and for a nicely portioned and delicious Crème Brûlée with Almond biscuit ($15) for me.

As we were leaving I went to say hello to a fellow food blogger sitting right next to us and who happened to be none other than Simon from Simon Food Favourites! Just the time for a brief chat and we were back in the grizzly weather, satiated by some lovely food and conversation!

I think I would go back if I knew Manu was there cooking, but his TV commitments and the fresh-off-the-press news that he and his long-time mate Miguel Maestre are taking over Apéritif in Kings Cross might compromise my chances..! Oh well, there is still the food, worth coming back for alone!

L’Étoile Restaurant & Bar
211 Glenmore Rd
Paddington 2021
Ph: (02) 9332 1577
www.letoilerestaurant.com.au

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Lochiel House – Kurrajong Heights

Posted on November 15, 2010 | 7 Comments

A few months back, as we were reminiscing our most memorable meals, M.’s parents mentioned how much they had enjoyed their visit at Lochiel House, recently named “Best regional restaurant” and awarded Two Hats by the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2011. They had in fact enjoyed it so much that they decided to take us there a few weeks after that… which we accepted without much resistance.

Thus, on a beautiful Saturday morning, we made our way to Kurrajong Heights, a little town about 80km North-West of Sydney in the Hawkesbury. We arrived about an hour and half later to find a lovely old cottage surrounded by a fragrant garden with flowers, plants and herbs. We were warmly greeted by Monique,  who owns the restaurant together with the Chef Tony and were invited to sit at our table, next to an old fireplace. Clumsy as I can be, I succeeded in knocking down a few old fire pokers, resulting in my getting classy sooty hands! All the rooms were decorated with local artists paintings and antique objects.

Home-made bread with Rosemary Salt Butter

We were first served some freshly baked home-made bread, still warm from the oven and delicious with the butter.


Spanner Crab, Marjoram, Chive & Broad bean salad, Chilled Fresh Pea Puree

The entree of Crab salad M’s Dad and I chose was delicious, very fresh and beautiful to look at. I tried to savour it but finished it in no time!


Potato Gnocchi, Sauteed Chestnut Mushrooms, Jerusalem Artichoke Cream, Asparagus

I could just as easily have cleaned off my neighbour’s plate: the little piece of Gnocchi I got to taste was just to die for.


Parsnip, Parmesan & Chive Soufflé, Fresh Goats Curd, Fennel Salad

M’s mum was very pleased with the soufflé, very light and full of flavour.


Slow Cooked True Free Range Pork Neck, Chilli & Palm Sugar Caramel, Green mango, Nam Jhim, Roasted Peanuts, Coconut Rice

The Pork neck dish she chose for main was also very satisfying, Thai inspired, with a shredded mango salad atop the pork piece and a sweet and spicy accompanying sauce.


Pan Roasted Fillet of Bass Grouper, Warm Salad of Spring Asparagus, Broad Beans, Sugar Snaps & Salsify, Fish Roe Emulsion

M’s Dad chose the fish dish, with which he was very happy.


Okonomiyaki – Japanese Vegetable Pancake, Seaweed Salad, Pickled Ginger,
Cuccumber, Rising Sun Sauce

M. also enjoyed his Okonomiyaki, a Japanese vegetable pancake, even though he would have preferred it a bit crispier.


Biodynamic Charcoaled Beef Sirloin, Lightly Smoked, Celeriac Cake,
Bagna Cauda, Warrigal Greens

Meanwhile I was pretty darn ecstatic about my choice of main: a Beef sirloin, cooked perfectly, medium-rare. The Celeriac cake reminded me a bit of a gratin dauphinois except that the layers of celeriac were much, much thinner and regular than a simple potato/celeriac bake, which gave it a great texture!


Mauri Artavaggio, from Lombardy, Italy, Compressed Honey Melon, Zucchini Flowers, Rye Wafer, Young Celery Leaves, Fresh Thyme

The Mauri Artavaggio cheese had to be the highlight of the meal for M.’s Dad. It was a bit similar to Taleggio, very creamy and strong in flavour, highlighted by all the sweet little accompaniments in the shape of flowers and fruity bits.


Coconut Jelly, Fresh mango, Indonesian Palm Sugar, Black Sesame Candy,
Jasmine Rice Milk Sherbet

M.’ mum was happy with her dessert, fresh and fruity, with again an Asian influence.


Soft Meringue Roulade, Vanilla Cream, Rose Jelly, Strawberries, Shortbread Pebbles

My dessert was also very fresh and light: you can’t go wrong with strawberries and vanilla, it’s always a winning combination! I am also a big fan of meringue, so this dessert ticked all the boxes for me. The addition of a few Tarragon leaves gave it a nice little lift too.


Warm Chocolate Pudding, Caraway Caramel Ice Cream, Pop Corn, Cumquots

M. was unlucky again as I found his dessert so good I tasted it several times and had to make a big effort on myself to leave him alone. Yum… that pudding!


The herb garden

We could see Monique through the window picking some fresh herbs to garnish the plates. It is quite comforting to see the ingredients being picked from the garden and find them straight after in your plate.  You can’t go much fresher than that!

Monique, a native from the Hawkesbury, and Tony make a point of sourcing as many as possible of their ingredients locally and seasonally. Both chefs, trained under prestigious names such as Neil Perry and Kylie Kwong, have kept from their round-the-world travels a philosophy that is all about using local produce and being as self-sustainable as possible.

After we finished lingering with a nice little Cognac and an espresso, we went out the back through the outdoor dining area and have a look at the veggie garden, which looks nice and lush with more herbs and veggies, such as cavolo nero, snow peas, lettuces, broad beans.

To sum it up, an inspiring and delightful experience, which I hope to repeat not too far off in the future. Thank you M.’s parents for inviting us there!

2 courses $62, 3 courses $78 THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2 courses $70, 3 courses $86 SUNDAY & PUBLIC HOLIDAY MENU PRICE WITH SURCHARGE INCLUDED

Lochiel House
1259 Bells Line Of Rd
Kurrajong Heights
NSW 2758
Tel: (02) 4567 7754

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