When I saw pans of exquisitely decapitated egg shells protecting their reloaded yolks from direct contact with the simmering water I immediately reached two conclusions: First, the great Alain Passard was in the house, opening his menu at the Portugal International Gourmet Festival with his signature chaud-froid d’oeuf (“hot-cold egg”), a gently poached yolk topped with a spoonful of crème fraîche and a few drops of maple syrup. Second, here was a golden opportunity to test an eggsistential hypothesis. [Read more...]
Alain Passard’s Secret Luxury: the Chicken Egg
29 January 2012 By Leave a Comment
My 15 Minutes with Macaron Maestro Pierre Hermé
Suspense was the flavour on my tongue as I approached the London Hilton at Park Lane for a short interview with Pierre Hermé. I knew I would have to broach – and therefore answer to – the tongue-in-cheek blog post I’d composed in July as an open letter to the pastry legend.
During my visit by invitation to his London boutique I’d taken issue with his UK area manager dictating what I could and couldn’t photograph. My letter to Hermé concluded with a statement of acquiescence: all content for my website would henceforth be subject to his approval.
Had Hermé read the blog post? If so, had this rendezvous been arranged in response to it? All I knew was that Hermé had travelled to London from Paris for Valrhona Chocolate to help promote its new book, Cooking with Chocolate. Andre Dang, the ace food PR who’d arranged this brief meeting (but not the July visit to the boutique), had said nothing about the letter to me – nor had I, to him. [Read more...]
15 November 2011 By 4 Comments
Review of my Paris local, before bistro was named world’s 11th best restaurant
I wrote this review of Le Chateaubriand for bloomberg in Feb 2007. Back then it was not yet the world’s 11th best restaurant, but merely the local bistro, albeit a magical one, in my Paris neighbourhood. The only thing “11th” about it was the arrondissement. [Read more...]
28 April 2010 By 2 Comments
Tout Paris papered with image of Gainsbourg’s nose
I could never tell if my friend the French actor Eric Elmosnino was amused, annoyed or merely bored when he was ribbed about being born to play Serge Gainsbourg. Although Eric’s scruffy appearance bears a strong likeness to the late singer-songwriter in his early years, it was the prominent bump in his nose that invariably evoked the profile of the eternally hip French legend. [Read more...]
1 January 2010 By 3 Comments
Getting cornered at a Parisian brasserie
Table preference is often determined by features unique to a particular brasserie. At Bofinger, for example, first-time diners and habitués alike feel privileged to land any table under the brasserie’s resplendent stained-glass cupola. Sadly, reserving a table beneath the Belle Époque verrière is not always possible. You do the math: With only 74 or Bofinger’s 270 seats situated in that prized location, the directeurs (“floor managers”) cannot possibly honor all requests. [Read more...]
15 September 2009 By 3 Comments
For chocolate, a matcha made in heaven
Published in The Los Angeles Times – May 13, 2009
At a glance, the cross-cultural dessert pairing of chocolate and matcha, the prized Japanese green tea powder, may not seem the sort of combination to elicit uncontrollable cravings. Among the many terms used to evoke matcha’s elusively complex character — grassy, spinachy, watercress-like, seaweedy, earthy, floral, herbaceous, aquatic, bitter — barely a single one screams dessert.
But still, it’s quite the rage in Paris and Tokyo, where the only really big question is: Which chocolate makes the best matcha match? Read full article
13 May 2009 By Leave a Comment
Bistro steak with Béarnaise sauce
Parisian bistro chefs invariably prefer the sizzling sear of a frypan to that of a charcoal or wood-fired grill for their steaks. They’re after the reddish sheen mastered by chef Thierry Laurent at the marvelous Le Bistrot Paul Bert. To ensure your steaks have that same caramelised lustre without a burned 
or blackened taste, be sure to:
• First warm the steaks to room temperature.
• Use a nonstick skillet so not much oil and butter are required.
• Use an oil with a high smoke point, such as soybean (soya), grapeseed, peanut (groundnut) or canola (rapeseed).
• Add the butter to the pan just before the steaks, not giving it time to brown. [Read more...]
11 February 2009 By Leave a Comment
