Ruchotte – Introduction La Ferme de la Ruchotte is a gourmet paradise in the hills behind the city of Beaune in Burgundy. The farm is a source of much of their produce which is cooked with skill and flair. Their vegetables are picked fresh from the garden and there are […]
Deep in Marseille – Introduction In our story about coffee called The Fascinating Story of Coffee we wrote about how France has been very slow to embrace premium coffee. We proposed a couple of reasons that included their colonial history where many of the countries they occupied grew the less […]
Le Canon – Introduction Le Canon in Nice is a great place to find expertly cooked food of great provenance and a stellar list of natural wines from throughout France chosen by owner Sébastien Perinetti. But it is more than a restaurant, you can also drop in here at any […]
Dreamin’ Man : Introduction Dreamin’ Man is a tiny venue with only a few tables and stools, but it serves some of the best pour-over coffee and espresso cups in the city. It is only a few minutes walk from the Place de la République in the rue Amelot which […]
Carpentras Chez Serge is a restaurant in Carpentras, a town that takes a while to fully understand due to its age and recent expansion. There is a central old part of the town with its narrow streets and ancient buildings. This is a very old town as it was mentioned […]
La Merenda, the restaurant of chef Dominique Le Stanc serves authentic Cuisine Nicoise (the cuisine of Nice) in his tiny restaurant in Nice.
Jacques Médecin, the former mayor of Nice wrote an important cookbook about Cuisine Nicoise (the cuisine of Nice) because he was concerned that the recipes were being forgotten.
Introduction to Septime Septime is a lovely restaurant in a relaxing space in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Here produce is king and the chef, Bertrand Grebaut, has the confidence not to contort the food to be what it isn’t. Rather he adds touches and twists that help the produce […]
La Bonne Cuisine – Introduction La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange is a beloved classic of the French cooking literature. We are lucky that Chez Panisse chef and lover of all things French, Paul Aratow, decided to take on the mammoth and exacting task of translating her extraordinary work […]
Pure & V – A natural wine restaurant in Nice Pure & V is a small, yet perfectly formed restaurant in Nice. Here, Vanessa Massé oversees the front of house while Mads Thomsen brings his experience gained in Copenhagen to the kitchen. As well as ensuring that guests are greeted […]
Introducing the most challenging test of our warehouse business processes yet. All these wonderful wines made by @octavin.alice.bouvot are different but the labels are almost identical. Some Jura producers use the colour of the wax at the top of the bottle to provide a clue from a distance about what grape variety the wine is made from. Alice uses a similar approach but the clue is the colour of the gnome’s pants. There are also tiny hints with slightly different colours in other parts of the label. The only thing easily separating them is the lot number on the back label (the contre-étiquette in French, although technically because they have all the information about the wines and who made them, these back labels are étiquettes not contre-étiquettes).
And while the colour denotes the variety or blend it doesn’t necessarily denote the colour. The two wines with red pants are made with poulsard but one is white (direct pressed) and the other is red.
When fulfilling the offers we will be sending out soon we promise never to pick the orders with even the hint of a hangover.
If you are interested; over the next couple of weeks we will be putting the details for each wine on our website. Some are already there.
Some things are so glorious they need a permanent post. @kobi_ruz’s strawberry crepe cake is one of them. @lucindawinebar / @analiesegregory Friday lunches (the only place we know where you need to reserve ahead what you eat but can’t reserve your seat – a unique form of walk-in) is one of the very good things to have emerged from the last 20 months of upheaval.
Strawberries from @littlewoodberryfarm and elderflowers from @arundel_farm (because in this town we like knowing and sharing who grew what we eat!)
And another chance for a little public lobbying for a patisserie add-on to Lucinda.
The @agrariankitcheneatery is one of Tasmania’s must visit dining experiences. It’s essential for anyone truly interested in a local eating experience and because of that it is quite different depending on the season. That’s our excuse for trying to eat here several times a year, over and above our weekly visits to its kiosk for bread, butter and other provisions.
This meal is peak spring – so many delicious green things. Artichokes, broad beans, and asparagus were highlights, all served with sauces rich in umami from previously fermented garums, misos and other preserves. Cotechino from an aged Agrarian Kitchen pig (8 years old?) served with polenta made with corn from the same place was extraordinary. (Yes we know – if you follow this account we rave about the polenta each time we visit here but it is a benchmark. If you enjoy the glory of great polenta you need this in your life. It is its cornness that blows you away every time.) Three quite different cheeses, all made in house with tiny biscuits made with The Grain Family’s oats. Three sweet things – meyer lemon tart, blackcurrant leaf infused cream with blackcurrant granita and hazelnut and coffee biscuits.
There is a menu at the end of this sequence of photos to help describe most of what we missed but few photos to capture @__keene’s truly inspiring non alcoholic drinks we matched with this meal. One veered into something sake-like, one almost had the texture and colour that channelled Alice Bouvot’s Potion Magique (except it had bubbles) and others to blow your mind in different ways.
As always thanks to the entire team for a completely satisfying afternoon.
How good are greens?
Very good at @tmchugos.
Rocky Top Growers’ Collective (under the stewardship of @heirloomtony) with smoked pork
Lambs’ tongue in broth with laksa leaf, chives, radishes and erba stella.
Thank you to the growers and the cooks.
Despite all these photos it feels like we only captured about half of the dishes and condiments at @roughrice and @lukeburgess77’s collaboration at @the_seven_and_a_half_floor last night. The calamari and guanciale is missing, the nutty aged rice is not given due prominence, there’s nothing to document the sake and wines. But hopefully there’s enough to tempt you to try to get a seat if they do it again. That’s not easy but truly an extraordinary night if you get the chance. Thanks Luke and Adam (for the food, drinks and your insights) and our dining companions at our shared table for 10 for a unique and delicious evening.
Photos from a visit just after it opened a couple of weeks ago, @poolishandco is yet another addition to the reasons why Cygnet may be the best small town in Tasmania for the availability of good food. With Cygnet Garden Larder a few steps away, a local butcher, and @theearlybirdmarketgarden just up the road, before you even start looking further afield, it’s easy to buy good ingredients and eat well. If you’re thinking of holidaying in #Tasmania and have a romantic vision of shopping for local produce and cooking each day in this area the romance can be matched by reality.
