France trip, Jul 2007 - Chez Bru

There were some misunderstanding at the one Michelin starred 'La Petite France' earlier in the day and the restaurant was closed when we arrived. As such, we missed out on trying this new Michelin-starred restaurant. As a result, we had high hopes for this two Micheline-starred restaurant.

The establishment is actually a bistro. It is located next to the intersection of two main streets of a small town and the tables spill out onto the pavement. We had a table indoor, which we preferred anyway. I have never been a fan of eating with my body facing the traffic.

Our aperatives arrived promptly. However, the waiter diluted SP's Pastis so much that it has became almost tasteless. SP wasn't a happy bunny to start off with. On the other hand, I was enjoying the appetisers of jambon and cheese cream with bread sticks. (There were also some aubergine cream, but I am not a fan of that family of vegetables)

We went for the degustation menu, hoping that it would give us some variety. Sadly, the restaurant doesn't do matching wine by glass so we were forced to order by the bottle. This turned out to be one of its main weaknesses! The wine recommended by the sommelier was terrible and the wine connoisseur (i.e. SP) on the table was rather upset even before the food arrives!

Leek soup (cold) and tomatoes and shrimp & crustacean butter on toast. It is not that special.

Tuna with foie gras and wasabi sorbet. It is a little fishy and we suspect that the fish is not perfectly fresh. I couldn't taste the foie gras at all. Neither can I taste the wasabi. I guess the olive oil is a bit too strong.

Ravioli of some sort with summer truffles. Summer truffles are not aromatic as their winter cousins. The flavour is also somewhat weaker. The soup/sauce tastes very delicious nevertheless. I wish there were one more ravioli with more sauce!

Roasted lobster, beans sauce and morelles & very very little of soba noodles. I love this sauce. It is thick but not too rich. The lobster was also quite nice. The portion is tiny though.

Pigeon with foie gras-tasting sauce. This is not bad. SP likes this because it is deboned and the meat is not overcooked. The sauce is very rich, but the mash potato is a bit ordinary.

Cheese for SP: Banon, Pepper and Corsica. I don't understand why he ordered the soft cheese, because he never like it. Anyway, the Corsica cheese is the best out of the three.

Cheese for me: x, y, and Rocherfort. I focused purely on the Rochefort. This is the proper stuff, not the kind made with pasteurised milk

Creme brulee with forest berries. It is so-so. It is not creamy enough and the sweetness was not consistent. It is kinda weird.

Post dessert petit fours type nibbles.

We were most upset by the price of the bottled water @ 10 euros each. It must be the designer bottle.

Overall, the food was only so-so. There are only a couple of dishes which I really like. The rest is kinda ordinary. The dessert was a disaster!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. Unless someone else is paying, of course! hahaha

France trip, Jul 2007 - Small towns and villages in Provence

I love the small towns and villages in Provence. The fact that we decide to return to Provence rather than going to a new place says it all.

I find the towns and villages to be traditional, beautiful and peaceful. It is very relaxing just to take a stroll around town, or sit at a cafe to watch the world (slowly) go by.

I love the fact that there is a fountain in almost all villages and town.

The water usually comes from a local spring. The water is very cold yet tasty! Spot the peach in the pool? SP put it so that it would become cold. He also put a watermelon in at some stage and it worked!

There are not excessive numbers of pigeons around the town. So instead of being a pest, the are kinda lovely,.

Some bigger towns will have monuments of their own. This octagonal chapel sits on the top of the hill at Forcalquie. The platform offers fabulous view to all directions.

Don't you think this photo looks like a painting almost? It is so beautiful!

Sisteron is another one of those amazing town! It is sometimes called the 'Porte de la Provence' (The Gateway to Provence) because it is in a narrow gap between two long mountain ridges. The almost vertical rock faces (in the photos) are great for rock climbing.

Random shot of an uphill path. It was so quiet.

Walking around at St Remy. It is an artist's town and there are many art galleries here.

What do you think this is used for? (answers below)

Flassan, with has less than 400 inhabitants. It has a great square and fountain. It is so picturesque!

French people love their bread. And they get their fresh bread everyday (Sometimes, twice a day!) And look at the moustache on the men's face! That's so French! :)

The village and town people grow all sort of things. This house has vines over their front door. Can you see the healthy bunches of grapes?

Some town has preserved their windmill, which is always a pleasant sight. We spotted this from afar and decided to drive into the town (Saint Saturnin-les-Apt). It turned out to be a very beautiful town with wonderful food. I bought a good amount of tinned foie gras from here (I cleared their geese foie gras stock!!)

Some towns just have a nice 'shape', such as the one in the photo (Gordes). Gordes is a rather touristy town. We spent more time here this time round because we wanted to walk through all the paths! We found that all paths eventually leads back to the town centre! Perhaps it is a good thing.

Here I am, looking through the real estate brochure to find a home for our retirement! Keep dreaming, JK! hahaha

Answer to the question above:

The area is the washing area for the village. This comes way before washing machine though!

France trip, Jul 2007 - Local markets

In the Provence region, there are a number markets everyday. There is usually a market within the distance of a 20 minutes drive.

SP and I visited a couple of the markets. I love the small town markets and we also stocked up on a number of French produce.

The Sault market, which has a history all the way back to 1515.

Lavender bouquets. Great for hanging.

Lavender sold by weight

Fresh veg


Sausages. We love the French sausages.


Cheese. This is not the supermarket stuff!

Roast birds. The French birds taste better than the English and Australia ones.

"Security guard" at one of the store


Summer truffles.



Ham. I love cured ham. It was too big to bring back to the UK though.

France trip, Jul 2007 - Vineyards

We have done a number of wine tasting during this trip. There are A LOT of bargains if you approach the small vineyards directly. It is a shame that we are leaving France by air. Otherwise, I could imagine SP dragging cases and cases of wine back to UK!

Nevertheless, we had fun tasting wine and speaking to the local producers. The wine region is also very picturesque:

Driveway to a winery.

SP with the vine.

A close-up of the produce.

A well, built in the typical Provencal way. It is no longer in use though.

Can you find me?

France trip, Jul 2007 - Simiane la Rotonde

During our stay in Provence, we stayed at a Hamlet in Simiane la Rotonde. (Technically, it is outside of the village but it falls under the village postal range.)

Simiane la Rotonde is a very quiet village. It is not touristy at all. The most touristy part must be the 12th Century rotunda. It is what remains of a château, which once belonged to the noble Simiane-Agoult family.

The rotunda is beautifully restored and it is the site for the ancient music festival. I am sure it will make an amazing performing venue!

From the outside. The building on the right is the rotunda. As you can tell from the photo, it is not exactly round, but polygon-shaped.

The viewing platform offers a great view to the lavender fields.

The rest of the village is very charming:

The house is a pottery.

If you enjoy painting or drawing, there are many beautiful spots on offer. The best thing is that there are not many visitors in this village. So you can paint/draw in peace and quiet.

Well, that is until a nosy photographer decides to take pictures of your drawings!

For more information:
http://www.simiane-la-rotonde.fr/

France trip, Jul 2007 - Paul Bocuse

(This is a long post!)

Paul Bocuse is my first 3 Michelin-starred restaurant. It has held the 3 stars since 1961, which makes it the longest-running 3 Michelin-starred restaurant.

The man himself was considered to be one of the finest cooks of the 20th century and he is one of the most-respected chef in France.

We made the booking with them weeks before our trip. Now, we have heard mixed review about this restaurant, but being the foodie that I am, I have decided to give it a go.

The building reminds me of the houses from Obermagau in Germany:

The interior of the ground level is equally colourful. There are lots of painting on the wall. We were led to the first floor, which is decorated in a more elegant and classical style.

Menu choices was not easy because the menu was entirely in French and the waiter don't really speak English. Luckily, with the combination of his English and my French, we at least worked out what meat/seafood are on the menu. Both are us went traditional, as Paul Bocuse is famous for their quality of ingredients.

First up, as an appetiser, we had a green pea soup with black truffle cream. It was smooth and surprisingly light in texture. Rather appetising.

As we have more time to observe the surroundings, we noticed that all china, utensils and cutlery are embossed with Paul Bocuse's name and/or trademark 'chef figure'. This guy must be very proud of himself!

For the butter

For the salt and pepper mills

For the bread

For the wine

For the napkin

For our entree, we both went with foie gras de canard poêle in a sweet fruity sauce:

It contains 3 'slabs' of liver. The sauce is rich but it goes well with the foie gras. I don't like the fruit bits though. On the other hand, the potato-like thing goes well with the foie gras.

This is the wine we ordered with the foie gras

The sommelier is very professional and he speaks some English! It's too bad that he appeared after we've ordered our food! hahaha

For main, SP and I went for different dishes:

SP ordered the pigeon entier rôti à la broche. Deboned on the spot!

Served up with vegetables. The pigeon is very juicy and tasty. However, being the Chinese that we are, we accused it being an overpriced version of roasted baby pigeon, served with French sauce and under the disguise of the 3-Michelin stars. To be honest though, the pigeon is more tender and tasty than many baby pigeon that we've had in HK.

I ordered the filet de boeuf (beef) Rossini, the classic French sauce. Cholesterol reaches all time high as I take on my fourth piece of foie gras for the night! It is great. The taste is wonderful. Although the sauce is very rich again, I enjoyed every bite of of it.

We both had a great matching wine to go with the dish. (no photo, sorry) It makes the meal really satisfying when the wine brings out the great quality of the food and its taste.

Then, the floating island for served to cleanse the palate. It tastes like any other floating island. But then, this dessert has never been my favourite anyway.

There were a large selection of cheese. Every time I look at the tray, it reminds me of the trailer from Ratatouille. I was really full at this point though, so as much as I want to eat cheese, I passed.

The waiter was kind enough to offer to take our picture.


There were a lot of dessert choices too.

These looks very very good. But I was just too full to tackle them!

SP ordered sorbet with mixed berries but we didn't manage to take a photo of it. He also ordered an espresso, which was very good. We later found out that the beans are from Costa Rica. This has become his 'beans of choice' when he stocked up at Monmouth Coffee.

After the meal, we went downstairs and took a small tour of its displays.

This one is of particular interest. The 'Last Supper' with Paul Bocuse in the middle. I assume the rest of the 'disciples' are represented by his famous students (Bocuse is the teacher of many Michelin-starred chefs). I just hope that none of them betrayed him.

We also took a photo in the now emptied kitchen. It was really busy when we walked it. Now it is spotless!

The restaurant is surrounded by walls painted with Paul Bocuse-related figures. This one on my right is a painting of Bocuse.

Here is a shot of the rest of the wall.

Overall, I think the meal is great. The food can be a bit rich but I guess it is just how French food is. You solve the problem by drinking more good wine!

We have read some pretty bad reviews before we came, but in the end, I think we may have been lucky and that a good 'chef de cuisine' was on duty when we were in.

This meal is totally different from the contemporary stuff like the Japanese/French-fusion cuisine by Tetsuya. If you ask me which meal I preferred, I would tell you, 'depends on which days you speak to me'. And that's that.

Having tried Bocuse, we have now tried 1, 2, 3 starred restaurant and know how to set the benchmark accordingly.

We have tried a few more Michelin-starred restaurants since then. More review to come.