Losing individualism.

The more I eat, the more I feel lost.

See, I just have a problem with the terminology foodie. WTF is a foodie?! Today being a foodie is just synonymous to anyone who flashes their camera at the food or just go to ‘places’ - hyped up ones.

I’m a victim, we all are. Part of me wished that all of this never reached the social media world. Rating meals is one of the most ridiculous things I have seen (hello food bloggers J).  I understand that this has been around for a long time (and acclaimed critics rightly deserve their place) but how can anyone take their experience of a meal and critique it so much that someone else reading ‘the texture of the beetroot was melt in the mouth bla bla bla’ (sorry, I’m not very good at describing stuff) would just feel like they have had the meal themselves. Through YOU. Maybe it’s something that other people appreciate.  It feels like blogs are a way for generalising – generalising our palates, taste buds, way of thinking and feeling about food. Ain’t this new generation about not producing clones? Am I missing something?

So many times now I have gone somewhere and then compared it to reviews and these are meant to be the restaurants that happen to be praised over and over again (not only talking about starred places here) and I’m shocked at how people can love these. And it’s nearly as if you have to feel embarrassed to say you didn’t like the food at the best Number X restaurant in the world. You need to fit in to be part of the whole food circus. Ditch that, I’m checking out.  Or taking a dive and drowning with it.

Whenever there is this really exciting place that I want to go to, even just seeing one of the pictures accidentally makes me cringe. I want to save it all to make it MY experience. My palate is selfish like that.  Don’t get me wrong, I usually like asking for advice but in the end, the decision should be yours. But then you could also look at the pictures and go based on someone else’s judgement and hate it and end up broke. Bigger CRINGE.

I usually try not to give my opinion outright about a meal because kitchens run every single day (pretty much!) but then menus and consistency tends not to. Sometimes, if it’s really good or really bad (that’s when I feel like a bank note slapped me in the face #moneymatters), then I do say it. When people ask me for restaurant advice, I always struggle. Not because I don’t know what I like but I understand the fact that what I think is amazing would not necessarily conform to the more generalised foodie world’s likes.

Back to the start.. The more I eat, the more I want to know what is really on my plate - not only focus on the eating part but the process before the realisation of the dish. Sure, takes some cooking action but not what I’m after. #chasingsomeotherkindofaction

I need to learn. Somehow.

 

 

Lyon-blues.

Lyon.

#Instaquote: ‘Are you on a foodie holiday in Lyon?’

Me: ‘No but my life is a foodie holiday’.

Right now, I’m at the LYS airport and I reminisce.

Not only about the food, but everything.

There’s something about beautiful Lyon… To me, Lyon feels like a second home. It’s petite, cute and unpredictable (reminds me of someone…. HMMM! ;)) During my second visit, I was bombarded with nice and charming people. It changes from the coldness of London and I’m not talking about the weather only!

Timeline:

1^st day: Bought some Paul patisseries at the station as a snack.

K.O-ed, sleep, wake up and decided to go for dinner. It was a no brainer really, the place to go was ‘Bleu de Toi’ on rue mercière. I fell in love with the place back in January. Though its online reviews aren’t great, to me it has this comforting appeal. It heals the loneliness of eating alone. First visit back in Jan, the waitress brought me a salad, I thought: OMG I hate salads how am I even going to finish half of the plate?! BAM! It was so delicious with the little croutons and a seafood pate yum! This time I had the salmon with curry sauce and 'frites'.

On the way back to the hotel, a very nice stranger bought me a Coke and we had a long chat in ‘Place Bellecour’. I will not forget :)

2^nd day: Lunch at Charbonnières Les Bains, two words: Awesome bakeries. I went for my favourite: tuna in a brioche bun. Dessert was ‘le mango coco’ – what a sumptuous dessert with a little tang from the fresh mango and crunch from the coconut.

It was such a lovely night so I walked along the bridge and went to ‘Rue des Maronniers’. It’s the cutest little road filled with restaurants and on that day it was an alfresco feast! Oh well, I’ll go solo alfresco too and have some galettes at Escale a Belle-Ile (again previously tried and tested). Picture this: me sitting outside a restaurant with the other tables unoccupied for the first 15mins. Once I never thought I would feel comfortable enough to eat alone, but WRONG it felt perfectly fine! I had the egg and spinach galette (oeuf mirroir) – I have to say not my favourite, I prefer the one with smoked salmon and cream (plus greedy me usually asks for some emmental added :D)

For dessert, there’s a long list of toppings for the crepes – I chose the salted caramel, chocolate, crème de marrons and vanilla ice cream (once again, I asked for extra toppings). Agreed, I should probably go hide myself :p

3^rd day: ESCAPE(s)!!!!!!!!!  It was raining heavily and I did not have appropriate shoes or an umbrella, so the closest option it was and I was craving meat (I AM A MEAT-LOVER hah!). Went to ‘Le Caveau’ and looking around (I mean staring at people’s plates, you knowwwwww), the lamb was tempting so “Souris d’agneau, s’il vous plait monsieur”. It looks magnificent, doesn’t it?

First bite, very dry and not to my liking at all. 2^nd bite, can I really keep eating? I felt like puking! Think, think, think, little birdie.. I call the waiter (all of them looked so dodgy) and I say: Oh no I have a really big emergency at home and I need to leave NOW. My traumatised face from the traumatising lamb was enough to give some credibility to my story and I made my way to Le Tunis, a small little North African place which was empty. But the food is SO nice J I was the only customer, not really a problem when you are alone anyway. Had the couscous with vegetables, merguez (big fan!) and harissa sauce. YUM.

Then awkwardness sets in because of the TV. There was only me and the chef and there was a documentary about a girl being raped and she was literally going through the whole thing in detail. BIG CRINGE and the chef didn’t seem to be bothered. So I left shortly after and had the ‘Monte Carlo’ dessert I bought earlier.

Oops not to forget lunch: had the best quiche ever with goats cheese and courgette and dessert was as good, a raspberry moelleux!

4^th day: Solo fine-dining. I had to try the place my French colleague recommended to me: le Potiquet.

Perfect weather for a 20mins walk along the river. Got there, the chef was at the front of house and took me to my table. It was full of older people (mostly couples) and err me.. lol Chef Adrien asked me if I wanted ‘un apero’ (aperitif) I said yes please so he made a very fruity raspberry non-alc drink for me and I had my amuse bouche : croutons with an aubergine hmm.. chutney.

The menu is quite fun to read, there’s a little (maybe little is an understatement here…) intro about the chef and how you are expected to order. They had 3 set menus and I chose the prestige one. My starter was lobster, crab and mango ravioli (Homards et Crabes en Ravioles de Mangue) over a tomato tartar – I don’t like raw tomatoes but the plate was fresh with a good balance of sweetness and acidity.. and beautiful right?

Next, the dish I was very excited about: Pavé de Filet de Bœuf "Herdshire" Bocuse d'Or, Fricassé de Champignons d’Été Cèpes, Mousserons. Such a good cut, so tender pairing so well with the mushrooms. A point! :)

For the dessert, I wanted to try something different: a mojito crème brulee. Surprise! It was a trio. One was mint flavoured, the middle one lemon J It was ok, just the consistency of each one was so different! Anyway, bonus points for originality!

End of the meal, the chef came around to have a foodie chat. He explained, in English s’il vous plait, that he stayed at the Manoir and worked for Raymond for 6 months until Paul Bocuse called him to work in Lyon. The End J

5^th day: Only highlight of the day was the cake. See below. THE CAKE.

6^th day: A superb lunch at Cote Couleurs in Charbonnieres with the nicest French people ever. I had le magret de canard avec miel, figue et pommes de terres (duck with honey, fig and potatoes). Delish – love these potatoes and the perfectly cooked canard. Parfait!

Dessert was the café gourmand pour moi (a selection of mini desserts with a coffee). On that day, it was a yummy pistachio crème brulee and a fruit salad.

Dinner was shisha overdose at l’Orienthe [Lyon has the best shisha spot, indoors and so cosy] and a much, much awaited chicken kebab with samurai and tartar sauce :D Oh and if you were wondering (no? whatever, I want to share) which shisha flavours I tried: Vanilla, Blueberry+Cherry, Watermelon+Mint and Pomegrate, all very nice J Yes this means  4 shishas, 2 charcoals each you do the maths.

Last day: Breakfast was at Pignol Patisserie in Bellecour: a nougatine with raspberry and pistachio macaroons. Such a shame they didn’t have my all-time favourite rose-litchi macaroon L   

It’s quite an experience (probably not to you) to sit there at one of the few tables where locals keep coming to get huge boxes (yes, not only one) of amazing desserts to go. Maybe it's a Saturday morning ritual or something? Half an hour, a lot of bell rings heard, a lot of beautiful cakes seen. I learnt about the ‘macafraise’: a fraisier topped with a huge macaroon! Looks amazing :x

After walking around for 2 hours, I went back to Bleu de Toi for lunch for their speciality, mussels and chips. Poor girl who worked there brought me the wrong one and I had no idea. After a few minutes she brought me the one I ordered so in the end I tried 2 :) She was mortified and I felt so bad for her :(

I love Lyon, it’s small and pretty.. again, sounds familiar? Haha! I love wandering around, getting lost in the small roads. The Rhone river is so beautiful I could just sit by the quay for ages. There’s something about exploring a city alone and embracing the freedom that comes with it.  A few pics: 

One more hour left in Lyon, I want to cry.

I refuse to say goodbye but what I will say is: ‘A bientôt!’

P.S. Trop paresseuse pour mettre les accents.

Foovies! 1.

Huh?!

Wondering what I’m on about? Food + Movies = Foovies!

After showing off my maths skills to the world (HAH!), quick googling to check whether it’s already out there. Shocker: it is! It can relate to a dinner and movie night but here, it’s just about movies having as main star… food :)

Food plays one of the biggest parts in our daily lives so it’s always nice to see movies live up to reality :) There are not that many movies about food sadly - I so wish they had more! Below is a list of ‘foovies’ that I like (in no particular order and with NO spoilers):

Woman on top

Love, motion sickness and art of cooking.

I personally think it’s about the magical combination of food, music, love and voodoo :O

The main character and I share the same dream: (nope you got it wrong!) to travel the world and become a chef. Once again, the main character, a goofy Brazilian ‘wannabe-chef’ (played by the beautiful Penelope) runs away from her husband who cheated on her because of [no spoiler I said]. Oh yes, the excuses men come up with EEK! Extract from a review: ‘Cruz is adorable in the lead, and with food as a metaphor for life she learns that she does not need a man in her life, she needs to cook and be her own woman.’

All girls with a tainted heart, watch it it’s such a feel good movie!! And guys… hmm you might learn a few lessons (depending on how daft you are, OOPS).

Waitress

I remember seeing the perfect line about this movie somewhere: ‘Small film, big heart’.

This is such a ‘sweet with heart-wrenching moments’ movie - none of the typical Hollywood storylines and beautiful acting from the actress, Keri Russell. She’s a waitress who comes up with these delicious pies, with ‘uh-mazing’ names, and hopes that her pies will help escape from… a very unhappy marriage. ‘The pies she bakes are based on her hopes and dreams, as well as the desperation of her life such as the “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” pie.’

Bring on the tears if you are like me :) 

Chocolat (Please leave the ‘t’ out when you say it, thank you!)

The 3 J’s make it: Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche :) I have to add I’m a bit turned off by Depp since the Paradis drama. Back to the movie! I think it represents well all the emotions one could associate with chocolate – never-ending list but especially passion, the dark side of chocolate, temptation and the unexpected. What I love about this movie is that how easy it is for someone to make others happy just with their precious talent of making good food.  People always (ok, more often than not) react not very nicely to outsiders and this is a very good lesson about being more open to others, etc. All of this coupled with a dose of French quirkiness, Je Love! :)

Warning: get a box of chocolates ready for the after-movie treat, you’ll crave for one!

There it is my first list of movies, a few more I need to write about or watch. If ever you have watched or you do watch any of them in the future, let me know your thoughts. :)

P.S. Hope you catch the ‘foovies’ too.

Pied à Terre, Coeur dans les nuages.

Pied à Terre*: My best meal so far.

[14/01/2012]

It all started with the traditional… getting lost :o Once we found the-easy-to-miss-but-should-NOT-miss restaurant, we were asked if we wanted to go to the private area or the main dining area – private it was! It is such a cosy restaurant, nothing extravagant. While checking out the menus, obviously just couldn’t resist the tasting menu – 10 courses!! :D My sister wanted to go there; though we were excited about it, I don’t think we had high expectations. 

Bread picking – I never get it right SIGH. The first course, looking so dainty and fresh, was the perfect start to this meal (my memory fails to remember exactly what it was but I can still go back to the taste :)). Next, the mini selection of amuse bouche had this playfulness with its different textures: the ‘cheesy croquetas’, just sublime!

The truffle-poached duck egg was my favourite - so subtle and simple in its flavours but heavenly to taste (truffle can be my friend in small doses - woop! :)) Only minus point- it leaves you longing for more!

Our guide throughout the meal was the best – a Frenchie who explained the dishes beautifully and had a few chit chats with us without being intrusive (10/10). Somehow, I kept waiting for the downfall dish of this meal but no way had it happened at any point…

But what did happen was that we noticed the Thierry Henry lookalike who worked there and eventually came to say ‘Bonsoir mesdemoiselles’. :) :) The next part of the meal began with the marinated scallops with walnuts which were the best melt-in-the-mouth scallops you could possibly imagine, balanced with the nutty flavour and crunch coming from the walnut – DELICIOUS!

Ohhh come on I had to take a picture of the quirky fork and spoon! ;) We were both a bit hesitant about the seared foie gras but it surpassed our expectations. AMAZING!!! It is my second favourite after the poached egg dish :)

Let’s move on to the more ‘main course type’ dishes. The FISH, I am not a big fish fan, but oh well this must be the dream plate for a fishgasm! Perfectly cooked fish with this strong mushroom sauce which is by far the best sauce I’ve ever tasted. Meat-lover – yes it’s me! The plate not only looks but tastes divine. (Game time: Can you spot the 'escargot'/snail? It was my first time trying it, let’s say not what I would order usually)

Before dessert time, we had this funky little trunk that grew poppy seed crisps accompanied by a brie and a tomme fromage (the Frenchie explained to us that this was a special type of ‘tomme fromage’). Very nice cheese plate :)

The first dessert was a great palette cleanser, a panacotta covered with a fruity gel. The next one is a whole different story honey. Valrhona Caramelia Chocolate Crème, Agen Prune Compote and Tonka Bean Ice Cream, I don’t think I need to say more.

'Coffee' pour elle, 'jasmine tea' pour moi, petit fours pour nous in the bar/coffee room upstairs to end this meal I will never forget.

Pied à terre, je t'aime and I hope to see you again soon.