Three 3 stars in France day 8: from one island to another

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It's my last day on Noirmoutier, in fact it's my last day in France, and we got an early start as the sun was just coming up. Alexandre and Emma Couillon are taking us to see his suppliers at the fish market just here at Port de l'Herbaudière, which is just a few minutes' walk from the restaurant.

Three 3 stars in France day 7: simpler, lighter, better

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We're back at La Marine tonight. When I first thought about joining this excursion, I didn't quite understand when I was told that Geruhage was coming for 2 dinners. Well, Alexandre Couillon promised to cook him (and us) a different menu for the second night, so I was very curious what would be in store for us tonight.

Our table tonight was all the way in the back of the restaurant facing the garden, which afforded us some natural light while the sun was still out.

The starters we had were mostly the same as last night:

"Eau de tomate", infusion aux feuilles de tagète - once again, we start with this refreshing drink that combines acidity, umami, and sweetness.

Ventrèche de thon - cured with salt and sugar, then lightly seared on the outside. So... basically like Japanese tataki (たたき)... where it's still raw inside. Very nice.

Three 3 stars in France day 7: a look around the island

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Nights are certainly quiet here on Noirmoutier, and while I would have loved to spend an idyllic morning enjoying the island breeze, there was work to be done... so I stayed in my AirB and B room this morning and hit the keyboard. I still had some strawberries leftover from the box I bought in Paris, plus some Roscoff onion-flavored potato chips, so that was kind of my breakfast. I do need some caffeine to kickstart the day, and thankfully I had brought along Ta Vie 旅's coffee from Simple Kaffa. So I sat on the deck outside my room and enjoyed the breeze for a little bit...

Three 3 stars in France day 6: the pearl of Noirmoutier

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A few hours after stuffing our faces next door, I showed up at the front door to La Marine - the destination restaurant with 3 macarons run by the Couillon family on the site of the former establishment operated by Alexandre's parents. Apparently this place has seen a major revamp, where the kitchen now faces the harbor and anyone passing by outside can get a peek into the action through the windows. The dining area has been relocated to the rear of the restaurant with a view of the gardens. And visitors are now asked to wait in the foyer, where they get to watch a beautiful introductory video that would have cost a pretty penny to produce.

Céline greeted us at the door and led us to our table. We were also looked after by Vincent, who had actually spent time in Hong Kong at a bistro I never had to pleasure of patronizing. Thirsty from the 80-meter walk from his hotel room around the corner, Geruhage immediately asked Vincent for a glass of Champagne...

We began our meal with a handful of starters, prepping our stomachs for the bigger things coming our way:

"Eau de tomate", infusion aux feuilles de tagète - no surprise here that there's plenty of umami, but we've also got sweetness. This was so refreshing!

Three 3 stars in France day 6: a trip to the island

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I'm taking an early morning train ride again. I checked out of Novotel Paris Centre Gare Montparnasse and rolled my suitcase downhill to Gare Montparnasse. I don't have the leftover bread for Frédéric Lalos, and I got to the station a little too late to grab some kouign amann from Yann Couvreur, so... no brekkie for me this morning.

I met up with Geruhage and Tomo-chan after getting off the train at Gare de Nantes, and after a quick stop at Paul for coffee, we ran into Monsieur Croissant while on the way to collect the rental van. We're so lucky to have a chauffeur for our road trip to Noirmoutier...

As it's just before noon, the high was still too high for us to make the crossing on the Passage du Gois... so we had to get on the island by driving across the Pont de Noirmoutier - making our journey slightly longer. Eventually, though, we arrived at the northwestern tip of the island and parked the van right in front of the Port de l'Herbaudière.

Lunch today is at Élise, Poisson et Braise - the casual eatery run by Alexandre Couillon and family right next to their famed 3-macaron restaurant. We were warmly welcomed by Alexandre's wife Céline and their daughter Emma. We were seated in the middle of the long counter, and food just started arriving in quick succession...

Gazpacho - made with tomatoes from the garden.

Three 3 stars in France day 5: dinner at granny's

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Tonight's dinner was at Geoélia, the (relatively) new restaurant opened last summer by Chef Camille Saint-M'leux - replacing the Parisien institution that was the Chinese restaurant Tang. The restaurant is, apparently, named after the boat owned by the chef's grandparents. Geruhage was already familiar with the chef, and I was just happy to tag along, once again.

Chef Camille very kindly offered us a glass of bubbly to start.

JM Sélèque Solessence, dégorgée en Decembre 2024 - as expected with this winemaker, the acidity was on the high side.

Gougéres - always happy to see these. Great to nibble on when you're hungry, and they go so well with Champagne.

Three 3 stars in France day 5: Asian flavors in Paris

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I didn't manage a lot of sleep on account of a late night last night, and I had to get up and do some work while I had the spare time. Seeing that I have a big lunch planned today, I skipped breakfast. One thing I liked about Novotel Paris Centre Gare Montparnasse is that they have a dispenser for filtered water out in the hall, so I don't have to go out and buy myself drinking water.

The Hairy Chevalier had recommended I try Plénitude at the Cheval Blanc Paris, but this happened to be the week that 50 Best Hotels was doing their annual shindig in town, and it became even more impossible than usual to get a seat. Thankfully he managed to get me a seat at Le Gabriel, Jérôme Banctel's restaurant in La Réserve. So that's where I was headed for lunch today.

I arrived much too early.

As one of the restaurants holding 3 macarons, it's natural that it would be a tourist destination. It became pretty obvious that half of the patrons today were visitors, with the majority of them being Asian. I was the only solo diner.

I needed to get back to my hotel room to join a board meeting, so I asked the staff to inform the kitchen so that I could finish the longer menu entitled Virée, which is Chef Jerome's expression of his Bretagne background. It also meant I couldn't really drink much, so I was looking for wine or Champagne by the glass. As luck would have it, they had exactly the Champagne I was looking for. It's a shame I couldn't open a whole bottle...

Romain Henin Le Gamin du Ter-Terre, dégorgée le 23 Fevrier 2024 - more than 2 years after dégorgement the nose has developed some maturity, definitely showing more oxidation with marmalade, and a little bit of metallic notes.

Three 3 stars in France day 4: dinner and a show

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I was fortunate to be in Paris around the same time as Geruhage and Tomo-chan, because I really didn't have much planned for the days after Bordeaux. I thought I would take things easy and just meet up with a friend for a meal, but a month ago this friend told me that our mutual friends were in town, so I immediately asked to piggyback on whatever their program is. For our first meal together, we would check out the new location of restaurant they already know.

Maison Ruggieri Palais Royale has already gotten back a star after moving to the current premises, and given Chef Martino Ruggieri's pedigree and the fact that the old location had two macarons, we definitely had expectations. But truth be told, I should have gone to buy myself aome short-sleeve T-shirts from Uniqlo before coming to dinner. I was still wearing the long-sleeve tee I'd been wearing since this morning, and Paris was still well in the 20s even at night. The folding glass walls were open so that we had direct access to the garden inside Palais Royale, but this meant we were left without much air conditioning...

There are poems to match the dishes and menus, and the long tasting menu is named Letter from a Correspondent. I doubt Geruhage ever entertained the idea of taking A Short letter from a Correspondent... The menu lists dishes by their main ingredient, followed by a short poem from the chef's wife.

Zucchini with flower and watermelon "ham" - the zucchini came with a tarragon sauce, the flower was covered in a sauce made with cumin and tomato. The strips of dehydrated watermelon "jambon" were chewy and sweet.

Three 3 stars in France day 4: Bordeaux to Paris

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It's my last morning in Bordeaux, and thankfully I've chosen a train that doesn't depart too early. That meant I could still sit and enjoy breakfast on the patio at La Maison d'Estournel.

As usual, I picked up the viennoiserie...

Today I also grabbed a crêpe from the stack on the table, and spread some caramel and chocolate on top.

My driver from yesterday came to drive me to Gare Bordeaux Saint-Jean, and we had a good conversation along the way. But before we get into the city, I asked him to make a couple of stops so I could take better pictures in the warm, morning light. First stop was, of course, where I had dinner last night - Château Lafite-Rothschild.

Three 3 stars in France day 3: 100 years of Lafite-Rothschild

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Enfin, la pièce de résistance!

The main reason I flew all the way to France and planned this trip was tonight's dinner, which came at the joint invitation of Château Lafite-Rothschild and Caprice. Three years ago the Hairy Chevalier invited me to dinner at Château d'Yquem, and that was an amazing experience. Tonight we are back in Bordeaux, but a little further north in Pauillac.

Upon arriving at the château, we were received jointly by Antoine Granger and Victor Petiot. We got to chill on the lawn just outside with Champagne and canapés while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Three 3 stars in France day 3: les forts de Vauban

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It's Sunday morning in Bordeaux, and I'm up early because I have a long day ahead of me. After admiring the sun rising over the vineyards from my room at La Maison d'Estournel, I went downstairs to grab some breakfast before my journey this morning.

Three 3 stars in France day 2: a day in Saint-Estephe

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I'm off to Bordeaux today for the highlight of this trip, and this is the reason I chose to stay next to Gare de Montparnasse. I checked out early in the morning, rolled my suitcase downhill, and got inside the station looking for breakfast. My first choice was actually McDonald's, as I love to try local offerings everywhere I travel. But I didn't see anything interesting that was "French" on their menu, and that was a little strange.

I spotted a Yann Couvreur Cafe and knew this would be my breakfast spot. It's a no-brainer. I got myself a couple of viennoiseries and a chocolat chaud.

Croissant - absolutely nothing to complain about here.

Kouign amann - very crunchy from the sugar coating. Love it.

Three 3-stars in France day 1: a painful arrival in Paris

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One of the details I missed while booking my flight on Qatar Airways was that my flight would be arriving in Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle. This is the oldest terminal, and as we were parking at our gate, I could see that the other airlines using this terminal were the likes of Turkish Airways, Saudia, Egyptair... ALL from Muslim countries. This was a sign of things to come.

I had heard about the long lines at EU border checkpoints for months, ever since the new EU Entry/Exit System was introduced. As I exited the plane quickly on account of being in Business Class, I would have been ahead of many passengers from my flight.  I passed by the automatic kiosks set up for registration for EES, but saw that all of them - somewhere about 16, I would guess - were "out of order". So we would do the biometric registration manually, then...

Thanks to the delay on the tarmac in Doha, we landed close to 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Add to this that we were in the oldest terminal, with passengers flying mostly on Middle Eastern airlines, you can see that once you strip out the EU nationals and ones carrying passports from 4 special countries - U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Japan - who would have easy entry, I was surrounded by mostly brown people. It's Friday afternoon, the French immigration officers couldn't really care less about what happens to us, and I found myself standing in line with at least 150 people in front of me, and only 3 immigration counters open.

Those three counters subsequently became divided into two separate queues, with two counters serving families with children, and the rest of us - I'm guessing 100 people in front of me - waiting in line for ONE officer. As the afternoon went on, three working counters became two, and just before it was my turn to get processed, the single counter processing people without kids went dark. ONE counter left. By the time I cleared immigration, I had stood in line for TWO HOURS. My luggage had been waiting to be collected for a long, long time...

I had originally thought 4½ hours would be sufficient for me to clear immigration, get to my hotel for check-in, then walk to dinner. Now I wasn't sure. I grabbed a taxi and hoped for the best, but it was close to 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon when I left the airport. Traffic. The quickest way, apparently, was to loop over to the west side and come in through Porte Maillot, pass the Arc de Triomphe, cross the Pont de l'Alma to the left bank, and eventually arrive at Hotel Mercure Paris Gare Montparnasse TGV.

Check-in was quick, and I called the restaurant from my room to tell them - in my very broken French - that I was gonna be about 30 minutes late for my booking. I quickly changed out of the clothes I had been wearing, then walked as quickly as I could to my destination over 1 km away.

I know I looked very flustered when I arrived at Joséphine Chez Dumonet, but the staff recognized me instantly and led me to my table. How many single Asian diners were they expecting? Anyway, it was obvious that the majority of their patrons were tourists...

I munched on some bread and breakfast radishes while waiting for my food to arrive.

The Olympics we sorely needed

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So the Olympic Games are finally over. Paris 2024 has provided us with more than 2 weeks' of excitement as well as a fair share of controversy. I think the overwhelming sense from many people is that Paris put on a really good show, and the athletes were genuinely excited about being in Paris and competing at many of the venues with iconic backdrops.

This time around the TV rights in Hong Kong were bought by the government, who granted the four broadcasters rights to show whatever they wanted. So we had, at times, up to 7 different channels with live coverage of the games. However, the channels prioritized events where Hong Kong or Chinese athletes were participating, and since each broadcaster wanted to attract viewers, there were many instances where I would see 4 different channels - one from each broadcaster - showing the exact same event. Yes, there were times when I could only watch two different events out of 6 channels broadcasting the games.

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Nevertheless, I got to see plenty of action in beautiful Paris. Shots of fencing competition in Grand Palais, where Hong Kong's Vivian Kong Man Wai (江旻憓) took the gold in the Women's Individual Épée under that gorgeous glass ceiling on the first day of competition after the Opening Ceremony. Triathlon athletes bicycling and running, as marathoners did, on Pont Alexandre III and past the Tour Eiffel, and shots of them on Champs-Élysées with the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. Skateboarders jumping over obstacles with the Obelisk of Luxor as the backdrop. All memories I will cherish.

The French triangle day 8: from Ministers to McDo

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I woke up to clearer skies this morning, which put me in a good mood. It's my third and last day in Paris, and I really wanted to see some blue skies before I left France. Once again I stuck around in my hotel room and didn't get myself any breakfast, because I had been sternly warned that the portions at lunch today would be humongous.

And blue sky it was! I didn't have a ton of time before lunch to walk around, but I did stroll to the river bank to catch a glimpse of the Assemblée Nationale as well as the Pont de la Concorde.

Café des Ministères came highly recommended by two friends, one of whom would join me today. The name is appropriate, I suppose, as it's located right smack in the middle of a number of government ministries. Jean and Roxane Sevegnes run the well-regarded restaurant, and I'm lucky to be able to visit on such short notice.

The French triangle day 7: a Table in Paris

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As I was planning this trip, arguably the first meal I actually booked was tonight's dinner. The name of Bruno Verjus has been known to me for quite a few years as we have a number of mutual friends, and I've heard praise of his cooking for the last few years. Then two of my close chef friends put on four-hands dinners with him this year, and that put Table at the top of my list for Paris. The added bonus was that, unlike another restaurant which has been on top of my hit list, they accept bookings from single diners.

The restaurant is a short walk from my hotel, passing the viaduct along the way. I arrived a few minutes before the restaurant officially opened at 7:30 p.m. so I waited patiently to be seated. Once through the door, I was surprised to find Bruno seated just inside, greeting all the guests as they came in. He inquired where I came from, and we had a short but friendly exchange.

From what I could see, most of the seats in the restaurant consisted of counter seating, and I was led to my seat in front of the open kitchen. From there I could see all the ingredients before and during the cooking process. While I'm normally nonplussed about getting a view of the kitchen, this turned out to be very nice when one is dining alone.

I was asked whether I had any interest in taking the white truffle menu in lieu of the "regular", and some of the dishes would have white truffle shaved on top. As it's in season and I am much closer to the source than I normally would be, I agreed to the premium and wondered what the extra 300 Euros on top of the 400 I have already paid would get me.

The French triangle day 7: miserable rain

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It's raining in Paris today. After the blue skies yesterday, it's now miserable. So much so that I didn't want to leave my hotel room this morning to even get some breakfast.

I met up with a pair of Parisien foodies for lunch today, and they suggested I try Tanguy, a crèperie in their neighborhood. While we do have some decent places in Hong Kong for galettes and crèpes Breton, it's been more than 10 years since I actually tasted them in France.

I don't normally drink much at lunch, but decided to have a glass of cidre from Coat-Albret.

The French triangle day 6: le plus beau restaurant de Paris

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Years ago after during my second trip to Paris, my friend Cathy - whose apartment I was staying in during the trip - gave me a present for Christmas. It was a book entitled Les Plus Beaux Restaurants de Paris, and on the cover was a picture of Le Train Bleu - the historical brasserie inside Gare de Lyon. That was the moment I found out the location of the famous scene in Nikita - the Luc Besson film I had loved so much. I did manage to visit the restaurant for dinner some years ago, but while I was stunned by the beauty of the decor, the food was not enticing enough for a return visit.

As I was planning this trip a few weeks ago, I discovered that there was a 6-hands dinner at the restaurant tonight. Since my visit years ago, the famed restaurant has been under the care of the legendary Michel Rostang, with Samir Balia running the kitchen day-to-day. For tonight only, Jean Sulpice of Auberge du Père Bise has been invited to present some of his dishes along with the host chefs. I quickly moved my original plans to accommodate for this special event.

The French triangle day 6: Champagne on the island

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It's time to bid farewell to Strasbourg, but not before one last breakfast! I went back to Boulangerie Woerlé for more goodies and brought them back to the apartment to enjoy with this view one last time.

The French triangle day 5: Petite France

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I'm exploring Strasbourg on my own today, and I figured I could just check out the sights within walking distance from the apartment where I'm staying. After all, that's the whole reason why I chose to stay here - for its location and convenience.

I wanted a better breakfast than the one I had yesterday, so I stopped by Boulangerie Woerlé nearby. Their goodies looked much better than the ones at Café Stein so I grabbed a couple.