Eat Like Ushi

There was a wedding to attend in the French countryside in a chateau. It doesn't get too much more exciting for an Australian location wedding than that. Close to the small town of Fougeres, Chateau du Bois Guy is a beautifully set venue with a vast expanse of grass, animals (including a very very large rooster), a cadillac, and some art pieces adorning the front lawn.

The food is set menu and it seemed appropriate to have some nice meals there rather than drive away each time.

There was minimal explanation of the food by wait staff sadly.

The first dinner (€35) comprised of a fish tartare (cod I think) with mayonnaise and crisp grains, a delicious tender roasted chicken leg with vegetables, and a excessive all white chocolate and pastry extravaganza. The highlight for me was probably the stick fingers of beautifully crisp, soft, seasoned fried bread that was served warm.

The dinner served during the wedding did up the ante slightly with lovely raw salmon, a main of beef filet (unfortunately mine was one of the end pieces so smaller and much more medium than the rare I like; although a thought for the person who received the well done part) with some exceptional cherry tomatoes and crunchy peas, and a chocolate crispy dessert with more white chocolate.

Breakfast (€15) was a wide selection of multiple cereals (including muesli and granola), yoghurts, croissants, lots of conserves, and baguettes with cheese and cured meat and soft boiled eggs.

Whilst staying at Chateau Bois-Guy, the close little town of Fougeres had their Saturday market. It was a convenient place to get some brunch/lunch prior to the afternoon wedding.

I had feared it may be only produce and wares but this was allayed by the first smells and sights of the market. After driving around for 20 mins to find parking, the classic sausage sizzle could not be passed by. I had heard that sausages wrapped in galette was a local thing and sure enough it was available here. It did seem a little strange but I suppose it's just a bread replacement. The sausage and mustard were good too.

The only other food to eat I liked was a large rotisserie place that served a delicious large roasted duck leg, rotisserie chicken (that I didn't try) and hot potatoes that sat under the chickens as they turned and dripped their juices. They were served burning hot and coated in fat drippings.

Some French cheese (Brittany isn't known for cheese), local dried and cured sausages, and bread was taken away for lunch. There was also lots of mussels and fruit/vegetables.

There isn't many food review sites online (perhaps just not in English) for many of the little towns in Brittany. That means Tripadvisor really comes into prominence in the region. I was surprised to see #1 in Rochefort-en-Terre was a gaufre (or waffle) place.

In the morning after a walk around and purchasing some local Breton cider for the road, the wait was successful until 12pm when Voyage Gaufre opened. The building and exterior is absolutely cute and gorgeous and so typical of what made Rochefort-en-Terre the best voted village in France for 2016.

The menu has savoury and sweet gaufres. How could I go past La Bretonne (noix de St. Jacques cuisinees, fondue de poireaux) €12 whilst in Brittany? Beautifully plump scallops sauteed in butter came on top of leeks cooked in butter and served on a waffle with crisp outside and soft and very buttery inside. It was butter in extremes and delicious as a result. The watercress on the side also had melted butter drizzled on it just to be compatible.

For the less buttery, there are also sweet gaufres and some reasonable sounding salads too.

I can see why this is #1. I didn't have another gaufre but I'm happy I had it once here.

After flying into Rennes and hiring a car to leave straight for Rochefort-en-Terre, this return stopover enroute to Parigne was the closest I would come to visiting Rennes. It wasn't that I was against it, just that it seemed there were many other smaller and more boutique towns and villages to go to instead.

This bakery was coincidental as we stopped mainly for a Carrefour, of which the carpark also had a free public toilet (with no light switch).

Kouign Amman was less sweet and buttery than the first one in Rochefort-en-Terre but still tasty nonetheless. The various breads with sausage and cheese or cheeses and herbs baked in were great savoury lunches and reinforced the quality of bread in France.

Surprisingly on a Thursday night in early summer, many of the town restaurants and cafes were closed in the evening. It seemed a bit strange. Given this and the only place I had marked was a creperie Cafe Breton that was also closed, the options came down to what was open at the east entrance to town - Les Adoisieres or L'Ancolie. L'Ancolie was a bit more expensive and Les Adoisieres seemed busier so the decision was easy in the end.

I had some difficulty reading the menu even with the help of my phone translator. The wait staff did speak some English but I didn't want to burden them.

- Choucrete de la mer €14 - a wonderfully cooked fillets of white fish, medium sized but very strong flavoured (especially the heads) prawns, potatoes in a buttery creamy sauce;
- Surprise de bouef, sauce poivre, frites et salade €14 - a medium-rare (I ordered rare but it's ok) steak which had reasonable tenderness and flavour, buttery pepper sauce and served with some nice crisp fries.

The staff are friendly and stepping back out into the sunset lighting above the venue is a wonderful time.

Next time I would order the choucrete again and probably try the jarret de porc braise (I think this is the meat casserole dish I saw another person eating that I actually wanted). The beef is decent but not a local specialty and I can get that anywhere.

The quintessential pastry of France may be the croissant, but in Brittany the local specialty is Kouign Amann (still unclear how to pronounce that properly).

The smells wafting from this small bakery in the corner of the plaza in Rochefort-en-Terre leant itself to being the first thing I ate in Brittany. And wow was it special - a honey coated exterior turned crisp housing a layered chewy buttery and sweet pastry centre. There's only so many of these you could eat (before sugar overload or diabetes or heart disease) but it is to be savoured.

The also served Far Breton which is more of a custard tart/flan that was nice too.

I'll never forget my first Franco Manca pizza. I had just eaten Honest Burger at Brixton and after being only semi-whelmed, decided to get a Franco Manca pizza to takeaway home. I didn't expect to enjoy the soft doughy crust, the light ting of sourness in the crust and the overall pleasure of eating the pizza both fresh and at home later in the evening.

After that episode, I'd eaten there once (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/franco-manca-london-10-2013) as it wasn't the most convenient to get to, bought the recipe book and made his version of pizza (with yeast though because sourdough starter is impossible to buy in Australia and longwinded to make) to great success in Canberra.

It was by chance I was able to eat at one of the many many vast expansions of this place that have happened since 2013. This time was in Chiswick. It was nice to see the prices hadn't gone up too much in that time.

I ate 1.5 pizzas comprised of a special sausage/potato/chilli/mozzarella and the old favourite tomato/garlic/oregano/capers/olives/anchovies/mozzarella. The former was overall lighter in flavour with an occasional big hit of hot chilli, whereas the latter remained my favourite with the lovely salty flavours I adore in pizza. The crust was still relatively soft and spongey but didn't have any of the slight tang I recall.

Nonetheless I'll happily try again at the Brixton mothership or elsewhere. And it'll be with anchovies.

After a few drinks, there was a nice dinner booked at this fancy French place. I don't tend to go out for French food generally and it isn't one of my destination countries to eat. However it was booked by a friend to celebrate the return of a Frenchman to London, so why not?

It's a pretty expensive place and menu (not surprisingly) and honestly most of the dishes didn't inspire me too much.

Eventually I went with the Friday night special of Bouillabaisse £22. It reminded me of my trip to Marseille many years ago in 2009 and ate in all the top reputed places within a couple of days.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but ended up with a really delicious seafood broth with fish and shells cooked to a dark flavoursome and saffron colour. The croutons and rouille weren't all that good (they didn't excite me in Marseille either) but the bread served to the table did a much better job of absorbing the soup. Maybe I've been a little harsh on French cooking but it did remind me how my favourite meals in France have been the deep hearty soups and stews like this and cassoulet.

The beverage of choice was the Screaming Viking (Ocho Blanco Tequila, Swedish Punsch, Martini Fiero, Agave & Lime) £10, a delicious tequila-based cocktail reminiscent of a great G&T.

I'm unsure if I would actively go back, but I wouldn't be so hesitant next time someone else suggested it. And that's a compliment from me when it comes to French.

This represented by 3rd visit to the Sri Lankan curry house. Once again, being by myself meant a spot at the counter immediately rather than having to wait outside with the rest.

I was very very disappointed to see the duck heart chukka had disappeared from the menu - when I asked the waitress, I was told it wasn't popular enough. These mainstream eaters with no creativity disappoint me.

Rather than go for a single main, I decided to try a series of entrees for the variety.

- Idli, Sambhar, Podi £4.5 - I was hoping the rice cakes would be similar to Korean types but they ended up being stringy vermicelli to dip in a mild sauce and chewy spices. It wasn't the most exciting and I wouldn't get it again;
- Mutton Rolls £5 - these crisp little rolls contained some chewy strips of mutton. Nice and warming.

After the first two I could probably have stopped but decided to be greedy.

- Goat Roti, Rasa £6.5 - this was a local version of murtabak, with a nice soft roti (slightly crisp but could have been moreso) with mince meat in there. The curry sauce helped add flavour and moisture to the mix.

Each of them was a little expensive for the serve (I suppose that is testament to the popularity of the place) but of the three, the goat roti is the one I would get again. However if alone, next time I would go for a main instead.