Chef’s Trip to France 2007- A Review
Sat 26/05/07
Spent day in Dubai visiting the spice markets and shopping.
Dubai has an interesting take on alcohol consumption where by alcohol is illegal to the
locals due to religion. Tourists are only allowed to consume in hotels. People on work
permits can buy alcohol from specialty outlets but they have a swipe card that has an
allocation on it per month which is worked out via their annual salary. In an attempt to
prevent alcohol related problems!
Mon 28/05/07
Picked up our rental car (Peugeot 307 S/W)
Travel out of Paris on route to Bayuex in Normandy, stopped at a fantastic
road side produce market, marvelled at the huge celeriac and artichokes.
Stopped in the town of Pont L’Eveque for lunch which is the centre of
Normandy cheese production very famous for its Camembert style cheese and
washed rind cheeses….fantastic steak and haricot vert lunch followed by
stinky cheese then fantastic pastries.
Tue 29/05/07
Travelled from Bayuex down to Le Mont st Michael, via the D day landing sights of
Omaha beach.
Sampled the regions specialities of Crepe’s, salt marsh feed baby lamb,
white bait, white veal and calvados!
Wed 30/05/07
Travelled the length of the Loire Valley to Vatan to meet Marc and Annie Dufond
(friends of Stuart) who kindly put us up for 3 fabulous nights in their rural hide away.
This night we enjoyed a great dinner by Annie of a simple dish of beautiful melon and
Bayonne ham then roasted turkey and potatoes, cheese’s and fruit very enjoyable
particularly with Marcs great wines such as Paul Buisse’s 1998 Chinon “Exceptional”
and a Banylus Grand Cru Demi sec 1997!
Thu 31/05/07
After visiting the amazing weekly market in Annie’s home town we returned for a lunch
of Ham terrine and pickles and seared beef heart with vegetable ratatouille washed down with a rose which Marc distributes from the south of France (I found to be quiet spicy, dry and utterly delicious, very different)
We travelled to Visit Mr Claude Lafond (www.claudelafond.com) who produces
predominately Sauvignon Blanc and red wine blends in Reuilly, after a tour of there
winery we sampled some of his wines and our Free Fall and Rock Ferry Sauvignon’s.
Unfortunately language was a barrier for us but through Marc’s interpretation I managed
to get an over view of their thoughts and tried to explain our philosophy to wine.
Claude’s senior wine maker, marketing manager and himself with Marc and me all tried
the wines, there’s were heavily oaked example of Sauvy with the thought of drinking
them around 2-3yrs after production and not as vibrant as ours on the nose but with a
great palate and depth of flavour.
We started with the FreeFall in the tasting which they made comment on the nose and
aroma, they did seem to have a smug look on their face after tasting this though, but they inquired about our retail pricing and seemed surprised by what I think they perceived as a high price point as their top end Sauvy goes for 8.5 euro or near enough to 16-17 dollars.
I must admit that I was very nervous during this and particularly before they tasted the
R.F Sauvy as this is my favourite wine and wanted them to like it, to my delight all
smugness was totally removed from their faces upon sampling this wine_
Suddenly there interest was piqued. The head wine maker and Claude became very
animated in there discussion and began to ask very serious wine making questions, such as soil types, brix, clones etc…. of course my knowledge on such things is very limited so I repeated my statement about being the cook, but did provide them with our brand map sheets and pointed them to the web site. They were particularly impressed to discover that Rock Ferry is in the process of converting to organics and were very
intrigued by the flowers growing between rows.
That evening I cooked for Marc and Annie. As you would expect I cooked to a New
Zealand style (or my style if you will)
I completely neglected the French way of eating out of necessity and did 2 courses only
and forgot to warn my host’s when they could partake in aperitifs (which the French love
and we began to totally appreciate) I cooked food that we bought at the market that day. I roasted a saddle of spring lamb pink, blanched haricot vert until crunchy (baby green
beans) and coated them in a sauce of super sweet plum cherry tomatoes, I sautéed with garlic and herbs some Blue burlot mushrooms, boiled with mint the best baby potatoes I have tasted and coated them in butter and chives and made a pan jus from the roasting tray with the VA 2001 pinot which we enjoyed with the meal, this was all served on platters as one course. We also consumed a 1982 Saint Joseph wine during this meal.
We followed this with a fruit salad of wild strawberries, raspberries and cherries
marinated in the left over Banylus.
While our hosts were complementary of the meal at the time I wasn’t sure they really
enjoyed it until the next day Marc proceeded to tell anybody we meet about the food!
Fri 1/06/07
We travelled to Montrichard to meet with Mr Paul Buisse (www.paul-buisse.com) who
took us for a tour of his fantastic wine making facility and lime stone caves. As a family
run company of over 100 years he had an amazing family cellar with Vouvrays dating
back to 1947, he produces a wide range of wines including Bourgiel, Chinon, Crémant,
Saumur, Touraine wines. We had a full tasting of his wines and tasted the Freefall sauvy and the VA 2005 Pinot Noir of which he was very impressed with both.
Paul makes great wine and was by far the best producer that I visited.
He was even kind enough at the end of tasting over 8 wines to bring out an unlabeled
wine that he says is from the family cellar and thinks dates back to the 70’s it was a
Vouvray that ranks as the best wine that I have ever tasted, unfortunaly only 1000 bottles were ever produced and he has no desire to part with any!
Had lunch in a lime stone cave restaurant that grew their own mushrooms in a next door cave and grilled them with escargot butter over open coals, then visited Paul’s vineyard that grows above his caves, amazed at the vine age evident everywhere.
He also has a variety of Pink Sauvy that we tried and which I have a sample bottle to test here.
This evening we took Marc and his family out for dinner at a local restaurant of his
choice and had a great meal, with fantastic flavours, colours and textures, this ranked as my second best restaurant meal in France, although we certainly had to dig deep to fund it.
Sun 3/06/07
Travelled through to Saint Emillon in Bordeaux, lunched next to the cathedral over looking the town and vineyards, drinking Grand cru and eating confit duck.
Explored the town’s cellars and many wine shops. Hugely expensive vintages and a great selection of aged wines. Tasted Pomerols and Saint Emillon grand crus, then made our purchases and enjoyed a bottle of 1998 G.C Saint Emillon sitting on a rock wall over looking the vineyards.
Off to dinner in a under ground cellar, duck confit salad, then roasted beef
enjoyed with yet another 1994 Emillon G.C great but at 79 euro could have
been better.
Tue 5/06/07
Travelled down to Saint Jean de Lus on the French/Spanish border where
we stayed for 2 nights enjoying the coast, ocean, fabulous seafood and sun.
Visited San Sebastian and marvelled at their Tappas.
Thu 7/06/07
Travelled through the Pyrenees Mountains and onto Toulouse, tried my first
Cassoulet.
Fri 8/06/07
Up early to visit the daily Toulouse markets. The biggest and best range of
meats, poultry, seafood, fruit, veg and cheeses a chef could ever wish for. It is no wonder French cuisine is the envy of the rest of the world when you look at the products
available to the average person, with products that good you would struggle not to be a
great chef.
Visit the ancient walled city of Carcassone, marvelled at the skills of the Romans (not for the last time either) on through Perpignan to a small fishing village on the Mediterranean side of the French/Spanish border. Stayed here 2 nights relaxing
Sat 9/06/07
Up early to have a VA rose at 9am with breakfast then off to a local French bar to watch
the All blacks thrash the French in a bar full of French men and me in my AB’s jersey, so nothing for it but to start knocking back the excellent local beer and get boozy, great day!
Sun 10/06/07
Travel to port….. Next to the pink salt marshes of the Camargue famous for salt, red rice and black beef. Dined on the local beef and scallops in a great little restaurant with a lovely local white wine.
Mon 11/06/07
Off to Nimes to sight see all the ancient roman things including the coliseum, gardens
and Pont neuf
Tue 12/06/07
Visit Chateau Neuf du Pape, taste wine and yet again be surprised by the different ways of growing vines and the amazing old gnarled vines. Purchase some great examples for cellaring also. Onto Lyon to dine in a lovely meat orientated brassiere.
Wed 13/06/07
Off to Bourge en Bresse to sample Frances world famous free range chicken, cooked simply with a morel cream sauce and rice, simple expensive yet tasty
Thu 14/06/07
Travel to the Beaune region to stay with Terry and Zena Price who Timbo managed to
get us contacted with via his contact Tom (there son) who is working in Cromwell.
This lovely retired couple put us up for three nights in the fantastic little apartment above their garage.
Fri 15/06/07
Travelled through the wine regions north of Beaune to Nuits saint George, stopping at La Romanee Conti for the photos with all the other wine geek tourists. Went for lunch at a “tasting room” in Alex en Corten.
They had a tasting room concept that I absolutely loved as they believed that their wine was so suited to food that they would generally only let people taste it with food.
What they offered was three different tasting schedules;
Firstly 4 wines all village appellation and the meal for 30 euro
Secondly 6 wines 1 village cru, 4 premier cru and 1 grand cru for 40 euro
Thirdly 8 wines 1 village, 1 premier cru 4 grand cru for 50 euro
The interesting thing about the meal is that it was a three course set menu that has never changed and offers no choice, it was simple yet utterly delicious country fare, starting with a pate en croute and jambon terrine, then coq au vin (chicken and bacon cooked in red wine) with cheese and cream potato bake, then a cheese selection to finish, all where perfect accompaniments to the fantastic wines on offer.
The restaurant was totally booked out and usually is, thankfully our host used his contacts and managed to get us in there, the tables are all shared.
There would have been 45 guests dinning, which they served with 2 waiting staff and
would have used one chef only to produce and serve the food.
Sat 16/06/07
Taken on a tour of southern Burgundy by Terry and Zena then off to explore the history
of Beaune and visit their weekly markets, yet again Jealousy set in, not only could you
purchase hot rotisserie chickens for your Saturday lunch but roasted suckling pigs, legs of hot ham, lambs, ducks the list just goes on!
We visited the wine museum of Beaune and the hospice which has a yearly wine auction which is supposed to be envied world wide.
Dined for lunch at a tiny restaurant called le petite paradise which had great food cooked by a very talented chef, great flavour and intelligent use of fresh produce, and a great wine list, cost $500 NZ dollars though. Oops.
More wine tasting and touring then home for a great sleep.
Sun 17/06/07
Travelled up to Colmar in the Alsace wine region, dined in a local specialty
restaurant on Sauerkraut and fantastic Riesling
Mon 18/06/07
Colmar to Strasburg via the Alsace route de vin which winds through the wine
region taking in the small villages every 3km’s or so that each wine is named after.
Tasted wines at several cellars and marvelled at the fact that an extend family
of 4 employees could generate enough income off 8 hectare of quality vines to
live very comfortably off. They were shocked when they heard how many
hectares in vines our company had which they say would have made us one of
the biggest producers in the region.
Stayed in the great city of Strasbourg for 2 nights and had a great time,
enjoying the food wine history and scenery.
Wed 20/06/07
Travelled through to Epernay in Champagne, stayed two nights and enjoyed tours
and tasting at the champagne houses of Mercier and Moet en Chandon. They both
provided completely different tasting/tours but while being expensive they were
very informative and interesting with some good examples of vintage champagne
to taste at the end.
Our last night in Epernay provided great entertainment as it was the towns once
yearly music festival, which was a great laugh with a few too many bubbles being
consumed.
Fri 22/06/07
Returned to Paris to drop off the trusty car, which only received a couple of
scratches and bumps, plus a few curses and blaring horns from the locals_
Stayed in the Latin quarter of Paris, had some great dining experiences of
particular note was Le Spoon restaurant which we dined at on our last night,
which is a restaurant owned by Alain Ducasse, who is the worlds most
awarded chef, with three restaurants all having three Michelin stars, the
service was average (perhaps due to our lack of French) but the food was
utterly delicious, simple yet spectacular, a fun evening followed by Moulin
rouge.
Final Thoughts;
This has been a trip of a life time for us, it has been for me a trip to discover new things
and gain further insight into French cuisine and products, there passion for food and wine is something to behold, they are all so very knowledgeable and hold such a passion for it.
Their wine is very complex with the majority I drunk being very serious wines that need
a fair amount of cellaring to reveal their true potential.
The food is generally of a very high standard with their raw products being exceptional, I
was disappointed at how little vegetables play a role in the meals and I see that approach being taken by places in NZ.
This has reinforced my beliefs in the style of food we are doing at The Winehouse & Kitchen about how it needs to remain focused on wholesome healthy food, with an abundance of local organic produce. After travelling for 5 weeks and not eating at home often I noticed my health and waist certainly began to suffer from a lack of produce, so we need to re-enforce our clients the health benefits of dining with us.
Lastly both Jo and I want to express our thanks to Tom, Henry and particularly Stuart for
having the foresight to assist us on a trip like this. It has done wonders for my enthusiasm and is the first holiday I have had over 10 days since my chef career began over 11 years ago. It has meant a lot to me.
Chris