Restaurant Review: Big Red, Deptford

On the top deck of the Big Red

A couple of Saturday's ago I visited the Big Red Pizza Bus in Deptford. I was hearing good things about this place even before I came back to the UK, but it has taken me eighteen months to finally get there.

The Big Red is a deceptive venue. Tucked behind the Birds Nest pub it doesn't look like the most promising location in Deptford and, being frank, the bus looks a little shabby too. However, stepping into the venue it opens up into a large covered courtyard which has been done out with chunky wooden furniture. It was larger and quirkier than the outside would have you believe.

We were offered seats in the courtyard, but it had to be the bus for our first visit and we took a table on the top deck.

Pizza of the day: goats cheese, beetroot and rocket

I ordered the goats cheese, beetroot and rocket pizza of the day. It was a good pizza with a thin base and just a touch of char. I would have preferred a bit more goats cheese in the topping, but otherwise was pretty impressed.

The Italiano had the same thin base and was draped with parma ham.

Italiano

On the way home we swung by the Lai Loi Vietnamese supermarket on Deptford High St. I haven't explored all of the Asian grocers on the high street, but it is my favourite of the one I've stumbled in so far.

The two girls who run the place were telling me about their plans to set up cookery classes next year. I was doing my best to encourage them.


30 Deptford Church St
Deptford
London
SE8 4RZ

Mordon Hall Park: When all you can do is laugh

There are some days which just done seem to go for you. Being woken at 3am by the neighbours having an argument leaves you tired for the rest of the day and doesn't get the ball rolling too well. A mild headache, mouth ulcer and a few ongoing issues from my stomach ulcer put me off colour.

I was meeting Becks for lunch and we decided to use our National Trust passes and visit Mordon Hall Park that we passed on the way to my last cross country race. The NT does pretty solid cafés in a homespun kind of way and we thought it would be a good lunch spot.

The tram from Wimbledon drops you at the far side of the park.  We walked past autumn leaves that are now falling in earnest on our way to the property. The large rose garden looked like it would be impressive in summer, but there were only flowers still clinging on in the middle of November.

We followed signs to the café and entered a restored courtyard containing the visitors centre and second hand book shop. We were both hungry so headed straight into the café.

It was a little underwhelming. I was looking forward to something hot, but they only had a selection of sandwiches. We made a couple of selections and it was perfectly pleasant, but not really what I was looking for.

After lunch we walked across to the snuff mill (closed) and had a quick walk round the outside Morden Hall which lies outside of the part looked after by the NT (we assume) and was falling in a pretty decrepit state.

Having exhausted what seemed to be open (not much) we headed back to the tram stop. It hadn't been a particularly entertaining visit.

Back at the tram stop we had a quick look at the map before departing and noticed that there was another café and shop on the site. Presumably the main café, it would have served me the homemade hot food I was hoping for.

Some days just really aren't your days.

Image from the National Trust website.

Paris: Days 5, 6 & 7

Jardin du Luxembourg

Here's the final post from my recent trip to Paris, wrapping up our last three days in the city.

We had a lazy start to Thursday with a quick trip to a local supermarket that Kathryn told us had a good wine cave. We both picked up a few gifts for the office and a couple of bottles of wine each. We couldn't carry much and I don't know how to select wine even if I could!

After the supermarket we walked through the back streets of Bastille towards lunch at Bistro Paul Bert. I enjoyed walking through another new district; flooring, fashion and student dive bars seemed to predominate in the area. The hottest lunch spot in town seemed to be the Vietnamese Paris Hanoi restaurant which had a queue coming out of the door and down the street.

After lunch we caught the metro up to Montparnasse and walked across to the Jardin du Luxembourg for a look around the gardens and to enjoy some of the late October sunshine.

After the park we visited the Musée Maillol to see the Etruscan exhibition, a period in history that I know virtually nothing about. Some of the exhibits were incredibly intricate and well preserved considering they were nearly 3,000 years old.

National Archives

On Friday we decided to do a walking tour with Paris Walks. The only walk they were offering was the sombre sounding Paris during the occupation and Liberation. It was a pleasant way to pass a two / three hours and walk down streets that I hadn't been down before. I picked up some interesting facts, but didn't think it was a cohesive as the walking tour I took in Berlin last year. Facts felt like they were randomly strung together rather than offering an cohesive story.

In the evening we had our best dinner of the week at Au Passage.

On Saturday morning we decided to stay in our local area before heading back to the Gare du Nord for our train home. We started off by checking out a store we'd seen on Friday but was closed for a stock take; Merci. Our landlady is obviously a fan as we spotted a few items from the flat in the shop. Some shocking prices kept my wallet firmly in my pocket.

After Merci we had a drift round the northern back streets in the  district of Marais. The northern part of Marais is filled with lots of interesting independent small shops and is a lot more pleasant than the bustling tourist streets in the southern area of Marais.

We popped into a supermarket chain called Picard. They are the M&S of the frozen food world and it was quite incredible to look round. You could easily cater a diner party from there as well as pick up a posh TV diner. With the right marketing I think the chain could do well in the UK. I want to buy the franchise.

On the way back to our flat we stumbled across the National Archives which had some small but lovely gardens and a more classical courtyard (above).

Back in the flat we had a bit of a shock when we realised that our train was an hour earlier than we thought. Clothes were thrown into bags and we were off to the Gare du Nord!

Restaurant Review: Au Passage, Bastille, Paris

Terrine at Au Passage in Paris

There's a bit of pressure organising a birthday dinner in a foreign city when you are unfamiliar with the local dining scene. Not for the first time in researching foodie tips for our trip to Paris I turned to Trina and decided to book a table at her top dining tip of Au Passage. Conveniently it was located a short walk from where we were staying in the Bastille area.

I knew the restaurant was located down an unpromising looking street. I liked the idea of lowering expectations and then arriving at a buzzing restaurant with a wow factor.

The first part of the evening went to plan as we walked past a couple of uninviting looking bars and into the nondescript Passage Saint-Sébastien. After the low, there wasn't the immediate high I had envisaged. We were the first first customers of the evening to arrive and the empty restaurant had more akin with an unheated concrete box than one of Paris' hottest tables.

I had a nervous half hour waiting for the restaurant to fill up and wondering where I'd brought Becks on her birthday. However, once other diners had arrived and the food began to roll I knew we were in for something a bit special.

Too much time has passed and wine consumed during the evening for me to remember everything in detail, but it was easily the best meal of the holiday.

The chalk board menu mentioned just the key ingredient of the dish rather than any fancy descriptions. From the savoury dishes the burrata was a highlight, as was the terrine with pickled chillies.

The desserts were pretty special too with a heavenly chocolate mousse and lovely pear crumble. When the crumble arrived I thought "oh no a deconstructed dish" but it was excellent. The yoghurt had been sweetened and lightened in texture. I suspect it had been fired through a foam / espuma gun.

Burrata

Pearl Barley Salad

Smoked egg with chard

Quail with labne

Chocolate mousse

Pear crumble with yoghurt

We shared seven dishes (five savoury and two sweet) and left stuffed. The food was great value at €49. We also had a very nice bottle of Anjou Pompois 2012 (€29).

Au Passage
1bis Passage Saint-Sébastien
75011
Paris
France

Ghost Stories at the Chapel, Earlsfield Cemetery

Alex Preston reading his story

On Friday night I went to Ghost Stories at the Chapel in Earlsfield Cemetery. The event was hosted by local theatre company Tara Arts in association with The Word Factory.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the evening as I'd booked tickets on Beck's suggestion rather than knowing anything about the night. It turned out to be different and enjoyable.

The small chapel was filled with people and lit by candle light it was quite atmospheric. Fireworks going off in the distance added to the atmosphere.

We were treated to four readings by different authors of short stories that they had written. I got the impression (which could be wrong) that the two male authors had written stories especially for the event while the two female authors were recycling material they already had.

The evening started with Tania Hershman reading a story about a recently bereaved women. I didn't pick up the fully background on all of the character in the story and Becks had to explain it to me at the interview. Not knowing what was going on slightly limited my enjoyment of the first storey.

The second reading by Alex Preston was much longer. He'd written a storey set just after WWII where four friends reunite after the war at their former school. Although I didn't fully get where the ghosts came into the story (where the characters ghosts or was it just the spectre of the war hanging over them?) it was on the reading I enjoyed the most. Becks picked up some clever references where a war poem had been woven into the story.

After the interval (advertised as 15mins, but ended up closer to 30mins) Adam Marek read the funniest reading of the evening. The story was focused around a couple who created ghosts by making love. I'm not sure what the CoE would have to say about swearing and sex scenes in a consecrated building, but it was very good none the less. My second favourite story of the evening.

The final reading was Stella Duffy. All of the authors were new to me, but I think Stella had been saved until last as she was the 'big name' of the evening. The story she read,  From the River's Mouth, had recently been aired on Radio 4. Stella probably put the most energy into any of the readings on the night, but I didn't find the story as engaging as the others and it was probably my least favourite reading of the night.

It was something totally different to do on a Friday night. I haven't found a theatre in London to rival Sydney's Belvoir, but I enjoyed my night of culture and hope it isn't so long before the next one.

Surrey League Cross Country at Mitcham

Runners streaming away at the start

On Saturday I took part in the second Surrey League Cross Country fixture of the season at Mitcham.

It rained all morning and the weather wasn't looking to promising for an afternoon jog in the park, but thankfully the rain eased as I took my first trip on London's tram route out to Mitcham for the race.

The league is taken pretty seriously. Most of the team had got there close to an hour before the race and had been out on the course to do a recce and warm up.

However, I was taking a pretty relaxed approach. My legs are still feeling heavy from the marathon three weeks ago and I'm not doing much training at the moment. It is also only the ten fastest runners from each club who score points and I reasoned I'd be comfortably outside the quickest ten. With five minutes to do I decided I probably should do a quick warm up and then it was off to the start.

The course was pretty narrow which led to a funnelling of runners and I got a couple of shoves from a guy on my left. I don't enjoy the pushing and shoving and resisted the rude man to my left on principle but lost a few places to others as I got boxed in.

At the finish

I was trying to keep up with good running friend Rich who is a similar standard to me. He made a better fist of the start and was five to ten places ahead. My legs weren't feeling too bad, but I was wishing I'd taken my pre-race lunch a bit more seriously as I could feel it sitting heavily sitting in my stomach.

I was managing to keep Rich in sight and managed to close up a few places as we progressed through the first part of the lap. It was a pretty technical course and a recce would have been a good idea. There was an unsighted ditch, a few really large divots which made me stumble and some steep hills and descents.

Towards the end of the first lap I managed to catch Rich and was sitting on his shoulder. As we started the second lap Rich seemed to slow and I was feeling ok and decided to try and keep my pace and overtook him. Just up the road was another club member Luke, who I have never beaten in a race before. During the second lap I managed to draw level and then also pass Luke. Further up the course was Lawrence, another club member, who is never normally in sight but there he was.

Was I in a lot better nick than I thought? Or were they just having bad days? As we started the last lap I was beginning to feel tired, although my legs were still feeling ok. I resisted looking at my watch and tried to keep pushing. My form was dreadful up the hills, but I kept going at a decent pace and managed to overtake a couple of people.

As we entered the last kilometer I was overtaken by five people in quick succession, but they were all finishing a lot stronger than I was and there was no way that I could have kicked that far from home. With a couple of hundred meters to go I decided the time was right to kick and managed to pick up a couple of places on the run into the line. I almost got a third runner on the line, but he managed to stay ahead of me.

I was pretty pleased with my run. My legs felt a lot better than I expected and I managed to beat a couple of people from the club that usually have the edge on me.

John, who came second in the London Marathon this year, congratulated me on my run after the finish and shook my hand. Proud times.

I'm very grateful to Becks who came to support me on the day. I was the only club member with a fan club which I was very appreciative of.

I came 74th out of 193 finishers in 32mins and 50seconds. An average pace of 3min 46sec per km.

Restaurant Review: Bistro Paul Bert, Bastille, Paris

Enjoying some mighty fine bread at Bistro Paul Bert

Following another tip from Trina we headed to Bistro Paul Bert in the Bastille district for lunch on Thursday. It was an enjoyable half hour walk from our apartment across to the restaurant. I'm enjoying the fact that spending the week in the suburbs allows us to visit areas of the city most tourist wouldn't reach. On the way we walked through a strip of student bars (which all looked like dives), so interesting boutiques and seemed to pass through a flooring district too.

As we arrived it certain looked like the classic French bistro with red awnings and wicker chairs out front. As we looked at the chalk board menu hanging outside I was pleased to see a few spare tables as I feared with the restaurants reputation it might be full.

Stepping inside I hopefully asked the table for two. The waiter looked worryingly dismissive when I said we didn't have a reservation and then pointed to a small table in the middle of the restaurant near the bar.

Rabbits livers with death mushrooms

The pricing of Paris menus is something I haven't quite got my head round yet. Main courses seem disproportionately expensive compared with starters and desserts. The lunchtime set menu was similarly skewed at €19 for three courses, €18 for two courses and €14 for one. With pricing like that why would anyone only have two courses? We dived right in for the full monty.

There was the choice for two starters, three mains and two different desserts or cheese. We decided to split our choices so that we could order as much of the menu as possible.

Cream split pea soup

I ordered the rabbit's livers with death trumpet mushrooms. The rabbit's livers has quite a mild flavour and the mushrooms were punchier than I expected. Nothing overly exciting, but a pleasant why to start.

Becks ordered the cream split pea soup which came served in an over sized Pyrex bowl. I loved the classic "we don't really care"bistro attitude of using such an absurd bowl. I don't think they were trying to be 'cool' or 'hipster' it's just the way they do things. The soup was was the winning starter. Rich from the cream and subtly flavoured with the split peas.

Duck breast with quince and house puree

We gave the octopus a miss and ordered the two other main courses. I ordered the duck breast with quince and house puree. The duck was served pink, the potato puree was impossibly smooth and quince was the most flavourful part of the dish.

We swapped mains half way through so that we could get try both dishes. I swapped my duck for the rumpsteak, frites and bearnaise sauce. The star was undoubtedly the bearnaise sauce which was one of the best I've had in ages and I proceeded to smother everything in it.The chips were enjoyably crunchy. The beef was slightly on the chewy side.

Steak frites with bearnaise sauce

I made a huge tactical error on the dessert front by ordering the cheese. The hard cheese, blue and two soft cheeses were as ripe and as pongy as you could hope for. The cheese wasn't bad, in fact it was pretty good. My error was in missing out on the Ile flottante that was sitting in a huge puddle of creme Anglais.

Cheese

There was no swapping of desserts half way through, so I had to suffice myself with a couple of tastes of the Ile flottante and the creme Anglais was very good indeed. It gave me food envy.

Ile Flottante

I thought all of the basic sauces (the soup, bearnaise, puree maison and creme angalais) were done very well at Bistro Paul Bert, suggesting that the cooks in the kitchen really know what they are doing. The bread on the table was a bit special too, getting a sourdough geek like myself quite excited.

I wouldn't make any 'best meal ever' calls about our lunch; the beef was a little chewy and the duck bland for that. However, at €19 for three courses you couldn't expect the 'best meal ever' and it was exceptional value for what it was. We got a classic French bistro experience to boot.

Coffee ordered purely for the mini canale

Bistro Paul Bert
18 rue Paul-Bert 
Paris 75011 
Tel : +33 1 43 72 24 01

Restaurant Review: Les Galopins, Bastille, Paris

Whole shoulder of lamb

While we were in Paris we met one of my childhood friends for dinner. Kathryn is currently living in Paris for work, and by total coincidence, we rented an apartment just one street away from her.

On the Tuesday night we met up for dinner and headed to Les Galopins, a venue Kathryn takes all of her visitors. It was good to try somewhere recommended by a local and firmly off the tourist trail of restaurants.

The menu and wine list were on chalkboards (which seems to be a bit of a Paris bistro theme). We didn't really need to look at the mains as Kathryn had already recommended we go for either the whole shoulder of lamb or the côte de boeuf to share. We opted for the lamb. The only thing we therefore needed to decide upon were the starters.

Beef ravioli with fois gras

We decided to share a couple of entres. The first was the beef ravioli with foie gras and spices with a sauce cocotte (€7.50). The pasta was nicely cooked, but I couldn't taste any foie gras or spices and the sauce cocotte tasted like a lukewarm bechamel. It was a shaky start.

The goats cheese, pear and walnut salad (€8) started moving this up. It was a relatively simple salad made with some quality ingredients and brought together by a mustardy salad dressing.

Goats cheese salad with pear

The whole shoulder of lamb (€44) was advertised as serving two, but it comfortably fed the three of us. The lamb was wonderfully tender and just fell of the bone. There were bits of crispy skin too. I found the meat needed a bit of salt and a sauce on the side would potentially have been welcome, but otherwise it was fantastic. The potatoes and girolle mushrooms were the perfect accompaniment.

It was such a simple dish with only three ingredients, but one that would have me returning regularly.

Café tres gourmand

We really didn't need dessert after polishing off the lamb, but couldn't help ourselves. One to share somehow became too, but I learnt some new French along the way which surely must counteract the calories......

Our first dessert was the café tres gourmand (€7.50). I thought this just meant a big coffee, but Kathryn enlightened us that it was a coffee which comes accompanied by a dessert tasting plate. At practically the same price as a regular dessert we just couldn't pass over it. On our tasting place was a tiramisu, nutella flavoured cream, creme brulée and rice pudding.

Our final dessert was the giant raspberry macaron (€8). Macarons were everywhere in Paris and we couldn't leave without trying one. I'm no connoisseur of macarons, but it did come filled with lots of lovely raspberries.

Raspberry macaron

The food came to €75 for the three of us which was excellent value. I'll definitely return next time I'm in Paris for more of the lamb shoulder. Or perhaps I'll try the beef next time?

Les Galopins
24 Rue des Taillandiers
75 011 Paris
Tél. : 01.47.00.45.35

Paris Days 1-3: Markets, walks and a spot of shopping

Market goodies

We spent most of our week drifting round Paris. Wanting a holiday where we could recharge and having visited Paris before neither of us wanted to do to much. I had no intention of visiting the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe or the Louvre and we didn't.

We stayed in a beautiful apartment in the Bastille area of Paris and before we went I started a map of markets that I'd like to visit and restaurants to eat at.

We were staying round the corner from the Marché Bastille and headed there on the Sunday morning to check it out and buy a few goodies. I idyllic memories of French markets, but this one was a bit too crowded to be idyllic and I don't think either of us enjoyed it that much as a results. We did manage to buy some beautiful figs, excellent saucisson and a very stinky Langres cheese.

Walking by the Seine

After lunch in our flat we went for a walk. We had plans to drift towards the Jardin des Plantes and Bibliothéque Nationale, but ended up walking north along the Seine instead. After a while we decided to head for home and drifted back to our flat via the district of Les Halles, past the Pompidou centre and through the trendy Marais backstreets to our apartment.

We decided that we wanted to eat dinner in our flat and had quite a bit of trouble finding food shops open on a Sunday. It shouldn't have surprised us really!

On top of Galleries Lafayette. I'm not looking too excited!

We nominated Monday as shopping day and set off to Galleries Lafayette. When we arrived we headed straight to the roof to check out the panoramic views of Paris. Despite dating for a year Becks and I have never been shopping together before.

Lafayette was heaving and I wasn't as enthusiastic as I could have been. I don't think my comments on the clothes Becks tried on were always the most useful!

After Lafayette was bailed from the crowds and headed down to Place de le Madeleine which is known as a foodie area. We recharged for a while sitting on the steps of the church soaking up some warmth from the late October sun.

Quirky café near Place de la Madeleine

When the sun popped behind the clouds we had a quick look inside the church and then headed for the food shops. Against all expectations I wasn't that excited by the food shops. There were a series of Fortnums style shops that sold over priced tea, chocolates, condiments and macarons. I'm sure the brand names are quite famous in France, but they meant nothing to me.

Wanting to leave the hordes ogling the macarons behind we found a cute little café on the nearby Rue Vignon. Run by a very friendly lady she sold us two hot chocolates, up sold us with some cakes too (not that much convincing was required) and then took our photo.
 

Marais backstreets

Recharged by our rest we headed to our second department store of the day Printemps. It was deserted compared with Lafayette earlier and a much more pleasant experience as a results.

We decided to walk all the way home and it was interesting to see districts we'd never have otherwise passed through. We passed a jewellery district, a coffee roaster run by my namesake and more residential areas.

Boite de Poste

On Tuesday we walked up to the covered Marché Les Enfants Rouge. I was hoping for a better market experience after Sunday, but it was completely dead with only half of the stalls open. We really weren't in luck with our market visits during our time in Paris.

After the market we wound our way back home through the northern backstreets of Marais. Full of boutiques and quirky shops northern Marais was an enjoyable district to be staying near. (I was less of a fan of southern Marais which was tourist central.)

Citroen van

In the afternoon we visited Musée Carnavalet which had an eclectic art collection and was a rather confusingly laid out museum. We drifted round it pretty quickly, although the Roman exhibition downstairs was more interesting.

Rainbow over the Place des Voges

Versailles day trip

Potager du Roi

I have childhood recollections of visiting Versailles with my parents. I remember walking from the car to Versailles and standing in the gardens, but very little else.

On Wednesday we took the train from central Paris out to Versailles. In addition to the main palace we wanted to visit the potager du Roi or Royal kitchen garden.

On leaving the station we checked a large map and I confidently walked us down what I thought was the right road. Just as I was thinking the buildings around the garden were remarkably grand I realised that we'd ended up at the palace and not the potager. Not to be deterred we checked another map outside the palace and headed off down a side road.

Versaille

We missed the potager yet again and ended up at the d'Eau des Suisses. A picturesque man made lake, but it wasn't what we are looking for. We were moments from giving up on our search when we spied the back wall of the potager and started to follow the outside wall in search of the entrance.

The entrance we did find was closed. We decided to have lunch sitting in the Park Balbi next to the potager enjoying some of the afternoon sun. On our way back to the palace we walked past the entrance which had finally opened up and we were in!

All of the fruit and vegetables had been harvested and the garden was going into hibernation for winter, but it was nice to have a drift around and have the place virtually to ourselves.

Formal gardens

We arrived at Versailles around 2pm and decided to head straight for the garden to enjoy them while it was still daylight and there was some warmth in the sun.

The gardens close to the house were full or crowds, but as we got further away from the chateau it thankfully thinned out. We started in the Grand Trianon built by Louis XIV to escape the formalities of court in the main palace. The Kings of France must have had some serious cash to build such an opulent place just down the road from the main palace.

The Queen's hamlet

After the Grand Trianon we walked across to the Petit Trianon. Another house built for a mistress!

In the grounds of the Petit Trianon is a beautiful English garden (essentially not formally laid out) and the slightly bizarre Hameau de la Reine. A small model hamlet with a nearby farm built for Mary Antoinette to hang out with her friends.

Autumn colours

We drifted back up to the main palace along the outside of the gardens. It was a masterstroke to save it until last. Not only did we get to enjoy gardens in the daylight with the warmth of the late October sunshine, but all of the tourists had started to leave for the day.

It would be an exaggeration to say that we had the palace to ourselves, but there were probably never more than 15 - 20 other people in a room. No hardship when a palace is built on the scale of Versailles and probably the best you could ever hope for in such a major tourist destination.

Becks outside the front of Versailles

After the palace we caught the train back into central Paris. After a slightly shaky start we had a lovely day. The whole complex had the feeling of getting ready for winter with the garden statues being covered up and some of the rooms in the Trainons already closed. I think we timed our visit just right.

Versailles at night