Marseille, France

My sister L's last post on her honeymoon to France. This is about her and her husband D's stay in Marseille.

*************************************************************************************

Our stay in Marseille was very short. D’s cousin took us on a "best of" tour. I have to say that swimming in the aqua waters around Marseille was one of the highlights of our trip to France. There are no sand beaches; instead, residents perched atop the rocky coast dive in the water to cool off. Swimming amongst bathing capped ladies doing vigorous breaststrokes at 10 am felt very authentic and the water was perfectly refreshing.

Swimming in the water.

On the way we stopped at Four des navettes, a Marseille institution. Navettes are cookies shaped and named after a legendary canoe that was to bring Saints to the Provençal coast. The cookies are flavoured with orange blossom.


Four des navettes.

We returned to my husband's cousin J for a barbecue à la Marseillaise. The barbecue offered a great selection of sausage including merguez from a halal butcher. Due to its geography, Marseille has attracted many immigrants from Morocco, Tunis and Algeria, who have made the city their home and represent a large population of the city. These Northern African immigrants have influenced the cuisine there. We also had delicious chicken poached and then grilled with fresh rosemary from cousin J’s lovely wild garden. This perfect rustic meal ended with a bowl fresh cherries and strawberries. We were encouraged the toss the pits over our shoulder into the garden.



Barbecue in the Marseille fashion, including merguez and chicken.

For L's other posts about French food:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel
* Best croissants in Paris at Pierre Hermé
* La Crêperie Bretonne
* Bistrot Paul Bert
* Island of Corsica

Corsica, France

My sister L's post on Corsica, where she and her husband D spent a few days on their honeymoon.

***************************************************************************************

The island of Corsica, while belonging to France, was colonized by Genoans as proved by its many Genoan watchtowers all over the island; therefore the food is highly influenced by Italian cuisine.

They produce a cheese called brocciu that is very close to a ricotta. It can therefore be as easily used for savoury dishes such as manicotti, or for sweet dishes like these breakfast fritters resembling donut holes.


Fritters filled with brocciu.

Corsica is also well known for its cured meats. Corsican cured meats include prizuttu, a cousin of prociutto, though a bit dryer and served sliced thicker, lonzu, a cured filet of pork loin that is very lean, and of course the saucisson corse. You can see the meats hung up everywhere, they are usually covered in a certain amount of mold which is not washed before serving. But don’t be put off they were very delicious.



Corsican charcuterie.

Another specialty found in Corsica is chestnuts. They are found as preserves as well as in the form of chestnut flour for cakes. We had the chance during one of our stops on our cruise tour to find a young lady selling cakes made with chestnut flour. The ingredient is gluten free and makes a very fragrant cake. Although not quite nutty, the cake was perfectly moist and delicious.


Cake made with chestnut flour.

Other highlights include our meal by the marina in Calvi where I had the most delicious tartare de St-Jacques (scallops) , forwhich I really developed a taste when I had the salad in Paris. The scallops were served with lemon juice and was delicious and luscious. This was followed by a mixed fish brochette that had some lovely spices, I would say Moroccan or Middle Eastern, that are rarely paired with fish but was very delicious.


Tartare de St-Jacques and fish brochettes.

For dessert, I actually chose the cheese platter hoping to have some Corsican cheeses. Unfortunately, I was informed that they were French cheeses. I still greatly enjoyed the Comté and searched for it on our return trip to Paris.


The French way to end a meal: with cheese!

For L's other posts about French food:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel
* Best croissants in Paris at Pierre Hermé
* La Crêperie Bretonne
* Bistrot Paul Bert

Bistrot Paul Bert (Paris, France)

My sister L still has a couple more posts about her food experiences in France! This is the last in Paris.

*************************************************************************************

18 Rue Paul Bert
75011, Paris (11e arr.)

On our search for this much talked about bistrot, we ended up in the 18e arrondissement, where at 18 rue Paul Bert stands Café Paul Bert. We thought it must be the place and after sitting down and looking at the menu which did not have a steak frites in sight (neither the much lauded dessert Paris-Brest), we got up and left! It was pretty embarrassing but the place was crowded and the service was awful.



We ended up finding the restaurant in the 11e arrondissement. Unfortunately, it was fully booked for the evening (though in no way did it look full) so we made a reservation on our return to Paris. This was by far the meal I looked forward to the most. This bistro has no menu only an ardoise (blackboard) and the waiter will bring it to your table and prop it up on chair for you to read. This allows the chef to work with the best ingredients available and limits waste entailed by extensive menus. Unfortunately that means that all the lovely dishes that I had read about were not being served!

When we asked the waiter, he explained that only côte de boeuf (beef rib) for two was being served tonight, not the entrecôte, and the Paris Brest is too heavy for summer. We went ahead an ordered the côte de boeuf. I was really looking forward to the French bistro classic of snails smothered in garlic butter, but was persuaded to try a ceviche.


Ceviche.

The menu explains that steaks are cooked bleu (blue), saignant (bleeding) or mal cuit (badly cooked), proclaiming that anything but rare is inedible and they won’t serve it. On another board, a more forgiving statement reads bleu, saignant and jamais mal cuit (never badly cooked). Upon request with the waiter, it was actually fine for the chef to do à point, which means perfectly done or medium… but as you can see I can’t imagine what saignant or bleu would look like!


Our côte de boeuf à point.

Everything was very delicious but be warned, there is no ketchup or even mayonnaise in the house for your frites. The table next to us did get a bowl of gray salt. It was hard to manage our disappointment though the meal was far from poor. We decided to skip dessert and walked a bit to get a never disappointing glace Berthillon.


I had to include this pic for the final Parisian post!

La Crêperie Bretonne (Paris, France)

Another Paris post by my sister L, from her honeymoon in Paris.

*************************************************************************************
La Crêperie Bretonne
56 Rue du Montparnasse
Paris, France

Another favourite restaurant of mine that a Parisian friend took me to the first time I visited is a little restaurant specializing in food from the Britanny region. The menu includes savoury crêpes or galettes (crêpes made out of buckwheat) as well as dessert crêpes all served with sparkling cider.


The crêperie and our cider.

Montparnasse is riddled with crêperie, and unlike L’As du Fallafel, it is impossible to know which one began this trend, but I am so happy with my little crêperie that I wouldn’t try another.

Our galette and our dessert crêpe.

D and I both chose the savoury galette with stuffed with merguez and ratatouille. It came served oozing with a pat of melted butter. We had a lovely light cider which suited me fine and shared a specialty of the house for dessert: a chocolate and pear crêpe, flambée with Grand Marnier and served with vanilly ice cream. A great consistent casual meal!

Pierre Hermé (Paris, France)

various locations
website

(Another Paris post by my sister!)

*****************************************************************************************
After reading that on top of having the best macarons in town, this pâtissier also made some first rate croissants, I knew I had to go. The boutique pâtisserie is tiny; while it's been around for a while its décor is uber modern, and the goods are laid out beautifully. I snapped a few shots and a curt employee informed me that pictures were NOT allowed. So we took our breakfast of champions to a bench by the Seine and I snapped pictures to my heart’s content!


Bag full of goodies!

It was still early so I went straight for the croissants, and a few macarons of course! The buttery croissant was definitely one of the best I’d ever had. Perfectly puffed and flaky so that it was just as light as it was rich. I was also easily seduced by the croissant Ispahan. One look at the description of pâte d’amande, framboises, glaçage à l’eau de rose and I was sold! It did not disappoint. I’ve read a few descriptions online but I don’t remember the description having lychee flavour nor did I imagine a solid filling inside. It was an almond croissant laced with raspberry and with the perfect flaky pastry on the outside.


Croissant Ispahan: almond paste filing, raspberry and lychee compote and rose water icing.

While I would not think I’d enjoy macaron looking at them, I had the chance to try some at a wedding and fell in love with them. Something about the lightness of the meringue cookie and the richness of the filling… I definitely had to try some Parisian ones. They are a totally different experience and are just an explosion of concentrated flavours in your mouth. And with flavours like strawberry-wasabi and vanilla-olive oil, who can resist?


Trois macarons.

For my first tasting I chose a caramel à la fleur de sel, perfect in its complexity of flavour. D chose an apricot-saffron macaron and we shared a chocolate one. They are a real treat to the senses. We brought a lovely selection back for Miss.Adventure and they are waiting for her in the freezer; news to come on how they hold up!

For L's other posts about Paris:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel

L'As du Fallafel (Paris, France)

I asked my sister L to write a few more posts about her eats in France. (She and her husband D got married in June and went to France for their honeymoon.)

****************************************************************************************************
L’As du Fallafel
34, rue des Rosiers (M: St. Paul)
Paris, France

Having been to this fast food counter on previous trips to France, I was totally happy to see it on David Lebovitz's list of must eats in Paris. Being in the Jewish quarters of Paris, I wanted to take my husband with Jewish ancestry there. The second time I went to Paris I took my sister’s vegetarian friend (aka Trapezista) who was having a hard time enjoying food in Europe… it was a hit except (or because?) she found a two euro coin in her falafel! It is easily the best falafel I have ever had.


It's a popular joint!

On the Sunday (note it is closed Friday PM and Saturday for Sabbath) that we went there was a huge line, and the outlet has young men outside taking both orders and payment in line. You then receive a ticket for your meal. Since it has become an institution of sort, wannabes have cropped up all over des Rosiers Street, and hawkers yell out "Great Falafels, no wait!" for you to come to their counter. I can’t vouch for the other counters but L’As has perfected their system and the wait was not long at all.


Falafels being prepped and D double fisting the falafels!

Being quite hungry, we ordered the two falafel special (with fried eggplants) and a serving of fries. The format has changed since I last went; there is only the one special, so you get the fried eggplant whether you want it or not.



Your pita comes stuffed with 7 or more delicious little falafels and a mound of shredded cabbage and cucumber, a tahini-based dressing and hot sauce at your request. How satisfying! The fries were totally forgettable, if you’re hungry, just get another pita!

We enjoyed it so much that we returned for another quick lunch on a later date.

For L's other about Paris:
* Honeymoon in Paris