a little bite of everything

A café

I’ve tried hard to find a flaw to this place. To me, this cozy, little coffee place has it all. Exceptional location (on the picturesque Stortorget in the Old Town), an oh-so-cool terrace with a stunning view, friendly staff, familiar interior design and a vast choice of hot and cold drinks and exquisite pastries. A good coffee, a view, great company: that's my no-fail recipe for bright moments. That’s what the Italian social commentator Beppe Severgnini calls the “Terrazza Law”. “We may have had a lousy day," says Severgnini. "We may have been told that we are going to have to pay more taxes because someone in government has made off with another few billion lire. But in the evening we can have a meal al fresco with our friends, maybe on a terrazza under a clear sky, and our bitterness evaporates. This is the Terrazza Law”. This law is applicable in Stockholm too –with the evident help of an IKEA blanket in winters.

 

Chokladkoppen

Stortorget 18, Gamla Stan

Stockholm, Sweden

A pan fried foie gras

I can never get enough of my meetings in South-West France. We negotiate, we eat great food, we drink fabulous wines and we negotiate some more. Fairly enough, my colleagues tend to get suspicious when I say that I head to Biarritz for work and that it will be no fun.  This is only partly true. The menu in Val Fleury restaurant is particularly fun: it offers foie gras cooked in… 12 different ways! Picture this: foie gras soup, foie gras and salmon salad, duck magret stuffed with foie gras, lobster and foie gras pastry, homemade foie gras with pepper, and so forth. I had this brilliant escalope of pan fried foie gras on grilled apple and a toasted slice of gingerbread in Banyuls sauce. And this was just my starter! A bit rustic, country-style, pleasant restaurant with top-quality French food.

Val Fleury

Pontonx sur l'Adour, France

A magret de canard from the farm next door

Paris to Brussels to Paris to Le Creusot (Burgundy, France)... One day in the life. We arrived in Le Creusot at 9.15pm, checked in at the hotel, refreshed and arrived at Le Restaurant at 9.45pm. Understandably, it was quite a struggle to book a table at this hour, but the owner wanted to “hear my arguments”. He knows he IS the reason why I systematically bring my customers there but he just wanted to hear my praising one more time. The man is a magician: he’ll turn any ordinary business dinner into the most enjoyable, exciting dining experience. One of the main highlights of the dinner is indeed his sharing stories about the origin of every ingredient and every wine. Le Restaurant provides the highest standard of traceability you could ask for. Whereas the wine list is endless, the menu is rather limited –that’s the price to pay when you want high-quality, local, seasonal, fresh, organic food. Here’s what we had (yes, because we all had the same dishes. That’s what I meant by “limited choice”): salmon rolled in nori on broccolis salad (the salmon is cooked 12 mn in 45°C water, just in case you were wondering) as a starter, accompanied with a “vertical, straight-forward” Meursault 2006. As a main course we had this perfectly cooked magret de canard, served with yellow beetroot, celery and a risotto al parmigiano, accompanied with a sumptuous (“unusually rustic”) Pommard 1er cru Clos des Epeneaux 1996. Simply put, “Le Restaurant” is "ze" restaurant not to miss on a trip to Burgundy.

Le Restaurant

Rue des Abattoirs

Le Creusot, France

A scrambled eggs & mushrooms toast

202 is one of my favorite brunch places in London. It ticks all the boxes: good food, informal atmosphere, friendly service, reasonable prices, nice decor. No wonder the place gets cramped! The wait to get a table can be quite long, but as soon as you're seated, the food will come quickly, without fanfare. Last time I went there, (I am pleased to add "after running the London Hyde Park 10k in 56'10s") I had these (well-deserved!) huge, bright, delightful scrambled eggs with mushrooms on toast (£9), which the waiter assured me they were not coloured. Their coffees and desserts are fine too, although I'd personally prefer those of Ottolenghi (see next post).

 

202

202 Westbourne Grove (no bookings)

Notting Hill, London, UK

A passionfruit meringue tart

So I was saying: head to Ottolenghi for exceptional desserts. Their philosophy “requires that everything is hand-crafted with extreme care and attention, from basic raw ingredients” and I have to say, those guys walk the talk. Their colorful, vibrant Mediterranean dishes and original pastries are made of the best quality ingredients and are wonderfully displayed. The service is outstanding. I am a fan of their passionfruit meringue tart, which I used to think that could only be eaten in dreams. Ottolenghi is the place to go if you want to taste perfection.

 

Ottolenghi

63 Ledbury Road

Notting Hill, London, UK