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In the heart of Paris’ Left Bank, a British-owned and run Restaurant is one of only 5 new recipients of this prestigious award. “Le Restaurant” is part of “L’Hotel” which was voted Best City Hotel in the World by Harper’s Bazaar. Admittedly Le Restaurant does have a French Chef
Star chef Philippe Bélissent is the rising star of French cuisine. Formerly sous-chef at the three-star Michelin restaurant, Ledoyen in Paris, the precociously talented Bélissent quickly made Le Restaurant the hottest table in town confirmed by rapturous reviews in the French press.
The Michelin Red guide to France is published in French and English on 6 March 2008 and not only features those top restautants with Michelin stars but also offers 510 listings for restaurants where you can eat well for a more reasonable price i.e €28 or less in the provinces and €35 in Paris. I’ve always found the red Guide invaluable for finding my way around towns (lot of town maps) and for finding somewhere good to eat - and so often in France you cannot always tell the quality of a place by its location or external appearance. There are 435 one-star restaurants in France, 68 with two-star and 26 with three stars.
| March 9, 2008 | to | March 16, 2008 |
The start of the cycling season in France is marked by the somewhat mis-named Paris-Nice race which runs from 9th - 16th March 2008. Mis-named because although it does indeed finish in Nice it does not start anywhere near Paris. This year is pushes off from Amilly (45 Loiret, Centre) about 75 miles south of Paris near Montargis.
It is also known as the “Race to the Sun” and extends over 1200 km in the week.
After a time trial (prologue) on Sunday 9 March, the route heads south through Nevers (58 Nievre, Burgundy) via Sancerre, then across to Beaujolais (Belleville, 69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) and Fleurie and on to Saint Etienne (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes).
After a transfer down to Montelimar (26 Drome, Rhone-Alpes) the race then heads for the Alps via Mont Ventoux, Althen-les-Paluds (84 Vaucluse, Provence) and onto the Mediterranean coast via Sisteron to Cannes and Nice where the race finishes on 16 March on the Promenade des Anglais.
Even if you are not a cycling fan, the race and its paraphernalia is quite a spectacle and will pass through some glorious countryside.
For more info on the route see www.letour.fr
BBC2’s final of MasterChef 2008 (Thursday 28 Feb 2008) takes the finalists to work in some of France’s best restaurants.
The other challenges for the 3 finalists have included cooking at the London Hilton for a group of Professional Chefs with 17 Michelin stars between them, and cooking for the Army in the heat and humidity of Belize with very basic army equipment. Working in a French Michelin-starred restaurant will be the final challenge!
The restaurants and chefs chosen are recognised as amongst the best in the world, with exacting standards and extraordinary quality food:-
Interesting that 2 of these top restaurants are not in Paris but deep in the French countryside - very provincial and some distance from major centres of population - the French will travel long distances for a good meal!
If you are interested in French cuisine, have a read of Michael Booth’s entertaining book Sacre Cordon Bleu
Booth shares with us the secrets of his training at Le Cordon Bleu and of French cooking itself, explaining how to make the perfect sauce; the secret of great stocks; how to win a fight with a lobster; and how to avoid maiming yourself while cleaning your knives. He explores how France rose to culinary pre-eminence and asks if Paris still deserves its reputation as the culinary capital of the world. Following both traumas and unexpected triumphs at school, Booth embarks on the ultimate chef’s challenge, he goes to work at the Michelin-starred Paris restaurant of the most famous chef in France, Joel Robuchon.
You’ll learn a lot about the French and their approach to food.
The predominant image of Picardy tends to be the poppy and images of the FIrst World War. Yet this region has so much more to offer, not least its stunning coastal scenery and wildlife.
There is also a rich cultural dimension, which now includes a museum dedicated to the artist Matisse. Opening in February 2008 Matisse’s house in Bohain en Vermandois (02 Aisne, Picardie) Maison Matisse, was where Matisse grew up and lived until he was in his twenties. “The Town hall decided to buy the house and convert it into a museum dedicated to the artist. Exhibitions, pictures, drawings, testimonies, videos tell us more about Matisse’s young life. Audio guides and guided tours are available in English (4 euros). Free entrance”. - see www.bohainenvermandois.fr
Further west is Jules Verne’s House in Amiens (80 Somme, Picardie). After major refurbishment, the house where Jules Verne lived from 1882 to 1900 reopened to the public last March.
The visitor can discover through the 700 objects on display the personality of the famous writer and what inspired him, through a ‘clin d’oeil’ to his imaginary world and his day to day life in Amiens.
From the winter garden to the attic, you can relive the adventures of his heroes, Phileas Fogg, Michel Strogoff, Captain Nemo and many more.
For more info see www.amiens.fr
Then in Noyon (60 Oise, Picardie) there is the John Calvin museum. John Calvin, the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, was born in Noyon in 1509.
Located on the site of his birth house, the John Calvin Museum is a modern museum dedicated to the French reformer. The Museum was founded by the History of French Protestantism Society during the period of post-war reconstruction after 1918. The museum’s collections include history of protestantism, through a magnificent collection of books, prints, etchings, paintings and furniture such as “Placard contre la messe” (Poster against Mass) and The Olivetan Bible.
For more info see www.ville-noyon.fr
www.picardietourisme.com has lots more information on visiting the region.
One of the joys of renting a property in some parts of rural France was always the prospect of a little welcoming glass of the patron’s home brew - often something so unfamiliar and powerful if was bound to encourage good Franco-Brittanique entente cordiale. For me it was a homemade Pineau des Charentes near Saintes (Charente, Poitou-Charentes) - a blend of unfermented grape juice and neat Cognac made in the Cognac region, The first glass of this totally unknown beverage was drunk with a mixture of trepidation and politeness - served from an unlabelled bottle straight out of the fridge. The second glass was miraculously welcomed as an old friend, and the third was drunk merely to prove to the host that we were not merely being polite. Unfortunately we then discovered that the property we were staying in was still a few kilometres drive away along what roads that seemed anything but straight at the time - although the following morning the curves seemed to have been an illusion,
Hence a certain dismay at another piece of French life under threat as the Guardian (10 Dec 07) reports that this tradition is under threat.
Eau-de-vie, the fiery homemade fruit brandy which has been a staple of French rural hospitality for centuries, could be under threat by a new law to be enforced on January 1.
In France, making homemade alcohol is a tightly regulated - and taxed - process. But nearly 300,000 fruit growers and their offspring, thanks to a law dating back to the 1920s, can make up to 10 litres of pure eau-de-vie, or 20 litres of 50% alcohol, tax-free.
I do somehow have my doubts that this ruling will be strictly adhered to in the backwaters of rural France, although you should never underestimate the French customs authorities (les douaniers) who are regarded with grudging respect in France - so the bottle may stay in the fridge in future!
Charles Bremner in the Times (10 Dec 07) reports that another romantic icon of France with echoes of the 1930s is also disappearing - the Wagon-Lits sleeping cars which ran overnight from Paris to the Riviera are no more! The advent of the TGV and the ticket prices have rendered this serene and elegant mode of travel obsolete - Le Train Bleu as it was known was gleaming, polished and luxurious - a far cry from today’s preference for speed and utility. It does seem to me that modern travel termini such as all airports and many railway stations (with the exception of the new St Pancras International in London) are designed to rob travellers of any sense of anticipation or excitement for the thrill of the journey and turn it into an ordeal to be endured.
Now you’ll have to eat at the Train Bleu Restaurant in Paris to get an impression of the stylish decor and style (see image above) or really blow the budget with a trip on the Orient Express from Paris to Venice!
Vicki Archer’s “My French Life” is just the thing to brighten up cold, dark winter days with evocative images of life in France (mainly Provence and Paris).
In 1999 Vicki Archer, with her husband and three children, made a lifelong dream a reality (don’t we all have this dream?) when she bought a seventeenth-century property in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. She spent three years lovingly restoring the farmhouse, bringing back to life the abandoned apple and pear orchards and planting an olive grove of more than 2000 trees. In MY FRENCH LIFE, Vicki shares an insider’s view of life in France, telling her personal tale of taking risks, facing challenges and falling in love with all things French.
With gorgeous 4-color photography by Carla Coulson, it is the perfect holiday gift for armchair travelers and Francophiles alike.
For details and to enter the prize draw (closing date 14 December 2007) go to www.frenchduck.co.uk
Buy your own copy from Amazon.co.uk
Eurostar launches services from St Pancras International from 14 November 2007 - and all services will start and terminate at St Pancras rather than Waterloo, which has been the terminal since the service was launched in 1994.
Close to Kings Cross and Euston mainline stations, this will make life much easier for travellers from the Midlands and the North who will no longer need to cross from one side of London to the other. Furthermore you will be able to buy through tickets from many stations in the UK.
The new St Pancras International station looks stunning, retaining key characteristics of the original Victorian edifice whilst bringing some modern touches. There is an excellent series of photos on the Guardian website.
There is also a website about the station at www.stpancras.com - but this tends to emphasise the function of the station as somewhere to visit, to shop and eat/drink!
The new intermediate station at Ebbsfleet in Kent, just off the M25 orbital motorway near Dartford opens on 19th November 2007 and will be ideal for car drivers to connect with the high speed links to Paris, Lille and Brussels - the new line will cut 20 minutes off the travel time. - London to Paris - 2 hours 15 mins; London to Brussels - 1hr 51 mins; London to Lille - 1hr 20 mins
Passengers should be aware that there may be some restriction in the timetable over this switchover period.
A new record-breaking trip this week as a fully-loaded test run was made using the new but uncompleted Eurostar terminal at London St Pancras and the new line under the East of London to the Channel Tunnel and down to Paris - just 2hours and 4 minutes. (actually it ran from Paris to London, but I assume similar speeds are possible heading south). The current run from Waterloo is two hours and 35 minutes - and scheduled services from St Pancras should be 2 hours 15 minutes city centre to city centre, with similar time improvements to Lille and Brussels.
The new route is due to open on November 14th 2007 with a new station just off the M25 at Ebbsfleet near Dartford opening on 19 November 2007. Eventually there will also be a new International Station at Stratford in East London.
The new service and timings will make rail travel to Paris and much of France a more attractive option - and the move to St Pancras will make life much easier for rail connections from the north and midlands - St Pancras being within 5 minutes walk of both Kings Cross and Euston, and not much further from Marylebone.
Ebbsfleet will also suit car travellers from the North and East in particular.
There is a lot of background and useful information on the Eurostar website.with maps of the route etc.
2007 is the three hundredth anniversary of his death, and hence numerous events are planned to celebrate this master of military invention. His physical legacy is of course the list of imitimidating fortresses to defend le Hexagone - the defensible boundaries of France from the northern border with Belgium down to the Alps, along the Mediterranean and up the Atlantic Coast. However, his military reputation initially was more concerned with planning and implementing sieges - so in many ways he was a poacher-turned-gamekeeper - if you are good as breaking sieges, then who better to design defenses to repel them? The hallmark of Vauban is his impressive use of massive angular pentagonal walls which prevented attackers targetting one section of wall without being at risk of counter-attack from an adjacent section. The classic examples are the Citadel at Lille, Briancon and Besancon, although many other examples exist.
My favourite is on the island of Belle-Ile off the coast of Brittany, where the fortifications adjacent to the small harbout of Le Palais are most impressive. More familiar to visitors to France will be the fortifications at St Malo and la Rochelle. Vauban left his mark on most of the land and sea frontiers of France, although he was born in Burgundy which hosts only one of his constructiona. On the Côte d’Azur, Antibes, Villefranche, Cannes and St.Tropez. Toulon, Marseille, Collioure on the Mediterranean;
other sites are at Arras, Auxonne, Barraux, Bayonne, Belfort, Bergues, Bitche, Blaye, Bouillon, Calais, Cambrai, Colmars-les-Alpes, Douai, Entrevaux, Givet, Gravelines, Huningue, Joux, Kehl, Landau, La Rochelle, Le Quesnoy, Lusignan, Le Perthus (Fort de Bellegarde), Luxembourg, Maastricht, Maubeuge, Metz, Mont-Dauphin, Mont-Louis, Montmédy, Namur, Neuf-Brisach, Perpignan, Plouezoc’h (Château du Taureau), Rocroi, Saarlouis, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Saint-Omer, Sedan, Toul, Valenciennes, Verdun, Villefranche-de-Conflent. For more info see www.vauban2007-bourgogne.org and www.sites-vauban.org
France prides itself on its seafood - and a Plateau des Fruits de Mer is a visual as well as a gastronomic tour-de-force. Moules Frites - or mussels and chips - is a more common feature on many menus - there is even a fast food chain “Leon de Bruxelles” which majors on Mussels!
A recent trip to the Baie de la Somme just west of Abbeville (80 Somme, Picardie) seems to offer the most extraordinary range of choice for your mussels - beyond the usual Moules Marinieres and Moules a la Creme.
The Hotel Les Pilotes at St Valery-sur-Somme offers an extraordinary selection of more than 40 different recipes - from Moules Anadalousie (from Andalucia); Moules au Champagne (in Champagne);Mussels in Ginger and Moules Lucifer to name but a few.
Personally I go for the Mariniere - poached in a light broth, which you eat messily with the fingers, dunking the french bread in the juices and served with a crisp dry white such as a Picpoul de Pinet from the Languedoc.
St Valery-sur-Somme is a pretty little port on the southern side of the Bay, more tidal riverside than seaside. On first acquaintance the view can seem just a muddy expanse when the tide is out, but it is a haven for birds and can afford some wonderful vistas and sunsets. There is a long broad boardwalk along the riverside for some gentle excercise, people- and bird- watching.
For the seaside you need to head a little further east to Cayeux-sur-Mer on the Opal coast - but whilst it has a spectacular shingle beach, the town lacks the charm of St Valery-sur-Somme. One option is to take the le Chemin de Fer de la Baie de la Somme steam train which runs round the Bay,from Cayeux to Le Crotoy on the northern banks of the Bay via St Valery-sur-Somme.
The Hotel Les Pilotes offers great views from some bedrooms and from the Restaurant where you can sample from the 40+ mussel dishes (and other seafood). It is a Logis de France, and is comfortable enough for a short stay,but neither the hotel nor restaurant could be regarded as “special” except for those views.
For more on St Valery-sur-Somme and the Baie de la Somme see www.saint-valery-sur-somme.fr” and www.somme-tourisme.com
. The French canal system differs from the British network, as they are wider - hence they do not need to use narrowboats. Wider boats enable the French to offer “hotel” boats which can accommodate up to 12 people in relatively spacious comfort and can cruise up and down the tranquil canals offering a different view of parts of la Belle France.
Down on the Canal du Midi there is a “peniche” (barge) offering B&B (or Chambres d’Hote). Peniche Soleiado is moored on the Canal at Ramonville-Saint-Agne - shaded by plane trees, breakfast (and supper) on deck and en-suite bedrooms.Situated just south of Toulouse (31 Haute Garonne, Midi-Pyrennes) this could be a novel place to stay - even the address sounds interestiing - Bridge of Eat Apples? (see map)
Peniche Soleiado, Pont-de-Mange Pomme. 31250 Ramonville-Saint-Agne T:06 86 27 83 19
Nearer to home, there is another Peniche - Fantasia in Wambrechies (59 Nord, Nord Pas de Calais) on the outskirts of Lille(see map) This one offers wood-panelled rooms and air conditioning, and is moored in the centre of the town for easy access by bus into the heart of Lille in about 30 minutes.
Peniche Fantasia Au Port de Plaisance, 59118 Wambrechies 0 T: 06 82 27 92 61
For more info on French canals see www.vnf.fr (Voies Navigable s de France)
RECOMMENDED READING:-
The cultural treasure chest that is France has a special open evening on Saturday 19 May 2007 - the “Nuit des Musées”. Throughout France a huge number of museums and galleries open until late evening. A random selection includes:-
- a pottery museum in Betschdorf, Alsace (67 Bas-Rhin, Alsace-Lorraine) (www.betschdorf.com);
- the Toulouse- Lautrec museum in Albi(81 Tarn, Midi-Pyrenees) (www.musee-toulouse-lautrec.com);
- the Armagnac Museum in Condom (32 Gers, Midi-Pyrenees) www.condom.org;
- the French Travelling Post Office museum (www.ambulants.fr in Toulouse ()21 Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees)
Particularly interesting is the Chateau de Versailles, (78 Yvelines, Ile de France) where there will be a music and light show against the spectacular backdrop of the marble courtyard of the Chateau - see www.chateauversailles.fr/
Moreover entrance appears to be free and many are putting on other diversions (e.g. music, dancing, a pocket torch tour). Full details can be found at www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr/
The Telegraph (3 April 07) has an article enticing you to visit Lille (59 Nord, Nord Pas-de-Calais)
Lille ticks all the French boxes - arty culture, handsome looks, stylish shopping, fabulous food - but without the country’s icy hauteur. Friendly and welcoming, it has a metropolitan buzz but a small, do-able scale. Unfairly dismissed as industrial, Lille has a charming old town, France’s second most important art collection, frothy Flemish architecture and gutsy cuisine.
For us one of the highlights of the year is a visit to the Lille Wine Fair (Salon des Vins) hosted by the French Independent Winemakers association (www.vigneron-independant.com )which is being held this year between 16-19 November 2007 in the Lille Grand Palais .A great chance to taste and buy wines from all over France - a great pre-Christmas shopping weekend just an hour from the Channel coast. Explore the old Town, great shops and restaurants, Christmas market from late November, and the impressive Citadelle built by Vauban.
The article inevitably recommends L’Huitrière restaurant which is a superb but expensive fish restaurant in the Old Town - a little less stressful on the wallet is another good fish restaurant - L’Ecume de Mers (spume of the sea). Vauban’s Citadelle just outside the city centre is an impressive fortification built by France’s most prolific military architect - and provides an oasis of tranquility just 10 minutes walk away.
See dates for other Independent Winemaker Wine Fairs (Salons)
LINKS:
Lille Tourist Office
www.vigneron-independant.com
More on Lille Wine Fair
RECOMMENDED READING:-
Michelin Green Guide: Nord de la France
Paris Lille Brussels: The Bradt Guide to Eurostar Destinations (Bradt Travel Guide Paris-Lille-Brussels)
The Vauban Fortifications of France (Fortress)
