Eat Like Ushi

A well known galette/crepe place in Paris is Breizh. After the recent trip discovering the quality and earthy flavours of galettes from Bretagne, I don't think I could go back to the standard sweet crepes. The difference in flavour is such a welcome change for a savour-ite like myself. The best so far has been the similarly named Ty Breizh (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/ty-breizh-perros-guirec-06-2017) so it was interesting to see how this would compare.

We didn't have much luck here. The day before during lunch they said they only took bookings until 2pm. In the evening for dinner the night before they had stopped serving. This day they were also fully booked but directed us to their shop next door. Why didn't the same guy bother doing that the day before? Unclear.

In any case I preferred this little gourmet shop to the restaurant full of loudly spoken tourists. It was much quieter and gave an opportunity to peruse some local products which have a clear Japanese/French fusion. I picked up a yuzu mustard and a nori mustard for the trip home.

- Mushroom galette (scrambled egg, ham, raw milk comte cheese, Paris mushroom & shiitake) €12.5
- Artichoke galette (fried egg, raw milk comte cheese, white ham, artichoke of Brittany) €12.5
- Crepe with butter & sugar.

The galettes here are different to the typical ones in Brittany. The inhouse cookbook explains that here they are intentionally thicker and softer. I must admit I do prefer the more standard thinner and crisp if nothing else because the slightly charred areas add such a delicious texture and nutty taste. However these do have the advantage of a more varied selection of toppings including borrowed from other cuisines.

Some friends have been living in the more grimey/character 11th in Paris and recommended a local dinner at a true Parisian place in their suburbs. It's true to say very few tourists would venture out this far and the solely French menu reinforced that. They therefore also found it quite unexpected that the waitress spoke very good English. Only good English, because her smirky/smiley response to my ordering of a cocktail of "be careful, you're Asian" is perhaps lost in translation. Or maybe it's just French.

The 3-course menu is €34, a reasonable price for Paris considering mains are generally around €20-25.

- Oeuf bio mayonnaise addictive, gaspacho d'artichauts violets, pousses de pois - a lovely poached organic egg on a "gazpacho" of artichokes with tomato and parsley. A warm fresh entree;
- Veloute de lieu jaune au lait de coco-galanga-citron vert, legumes croquants - a fish based soup cooked with the Thai trinity of coconut milk, galangal and lime. It was a beautiful soup with a strong tart edge with a lighter nod to classic tom kha soups;
- Joues de lottes mijotees a la creme d'Isigny et au chardonnay, risotto de riz noir, carotte rotie - al dente black rice risotto with morsels of soft white fish in a savoury creamy chardonnay sauce;
- Canard des landes aux figues roties au miel de romarin, polenta, jus de cuisson - I was craving duck and this delivered the beautiful rare meat with some sweetness from roasted figs. Simply wonderful dish and meat;
- Biscuit a l'amaretto, mousse au chocolat noir, compote de framboises - biscuit, dark chocolate and raspberry. A good combination;
- Poire williams pochee dans un sirop aux agrumes et epices, yaourt au safran d'Iran, crumble cafe/avoine - an excellent poached pear with a saffron yoghurt and crumble.

The duck reminded me of my favourite parts of French cooking. My last trip to Paris had the wonderful deep warming duck cassoulet (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/chez-papa-paris-06-2016) and so I have myself a theme.

This well known sandwich-erie is located in the Marche des Enfants Rouges. It is lucky my Airbnb was a couple of minutes across the road. It seems like a nice market to buy things to eat then or take away for a picnic later. There's quite a few options but the most popular with both French and foreign-language speakers is Chez Alain Miam Miam.

The queue on this Saturday around 1pm went for 50minutes. There's a lot of queueing and really only one sandwich or one galette can be made at a time. So be prepared for the wait and bring a book.

The two main options are the galette and sandwich. The sandwich is the more famous one but as you see other people receiving their galettes it certainly tempts you that way. Luckily I tried both.

Galette Fraicheur €9.5 is a buckwheat base with loads of fresh salad, tomato, parsley, cured ham, loads of parmesan and even more loads of basil. It's a wonderful fresh and healthy flavour mix. The problem I have with it is that galettes are best eaten warm and crisp but the wet salads make it cold and soggy when you eat it.

The sandwich €9 is a hot pressed beast with salad, cooked onions (10kg per day), mushroom, tomato, avocado and your choice of cheese (I liked cantal better) and filling (I chose the warm chicken). It is reminiscent of that drunk 3am kebab in terms of warmth, size and satisfaction but also healthier, better quality ingredients and a more fresh (rather than meat salt) flavour. It is very satisfying.

I wouldn't go back there knowing what the queues are like, but I'd stop by in the area and take a peak to see how long a sandwich might be...

You'd think it would be easy to find places serving food in Paris on a Friday night. Yes it was around 2230pm but that isn't late for any decent sized city. But in the 3rd arrondissement the pickings were slim as the places closed their kitchens. Everywhere that was open until 12 or 2 or 4 weren't serving anymore food. I'll admit to being a little picky considering nearly everywhere served exclusively meat dishes that sounded appealing.

In the end a corner restaurant that had a French menu with a few token smokers sitting outside was the last option and luckily it was a welcome re-introduction to Paris.

- Escargots x12 €14 - beautiful little creatures covered in garlic parsley butter and perfect to be absorbed by the slices of bread;
- Pan-roasted tuna steak (with coriander sauce, sweet potato puree) €18 - a fully-cooked but at least not overcooked seasoned fish with a healthy mash;
- Beef tartare 180g (with homemade French fries) €15 - the waiter had to check I knew it wasn't cooked. It was an interesting version with diced beef pieces mixed with onion and pickles, rather than the finer mince I'm more used to. Nonetheless nice and served with excellent fries;
- Crepe with sugar & lemon €4 - a simple sweet offering to finish.

It wasn't a place I wanted to go nor a place I would normally have picked. But it was open, serving food, French and a fine bistro meal to start.

The last meal in Brittany was during a short drive through Dinard. The airport was a quieter place than St. Malo and cheaper too. It made an easy decision to visit the little town and its beaches for lunch before leaving.

After finding some free street parking, a quick walk around showed mainly (no surprise) creperies. I struggled to pick between this and another which had fish soup, but the ratings for the other place were quite average. I was keen after many a galette to find a menu that hard a few different options and Cote Mer managed to do that. It had a nice outdoor but covered area along the walkway and some specialty galettes that stood out from the rest. Not only this, but there scallop options were €5 cheaper than the other places I'd seen. 

The buckwheat was once again full and flavoursome with a crisp coating.

- La Tourangelle (smoked bacon, goat cheese, potatoes, green salad) €8.8 - goats cheese balanced the light bacon and earthy galette well;
- La Perigourdine (smoked duck breast, apple, potatoes, cream, green salad) €10 - a fancy gourmet galette with strong savoury duck pieces.
- A simple crepe finished off the meal.

Both galettes were excellent and I preferred the wonderful contrast of the goat cheese the most. I'd happily eat here again.

After eating a lot of delicious oysters, it was time for something sweet. In the hot sun my craving was for artisanal gelato and quite a few places advertised this. There were no pure gelaterias in the area so it came down to a restaurant or creperie. A creperie around the corner won in the end and instead of sticking to my gelato plans, I ended up sharing a plain crepe and a sweet crepe with chocolate sauce, pear and dark chocolate icecream.

It was nice but next time I should stick to my gelato guns. That's what I wanted after all!

Cancale's greatest reputation comes from the oyster market. Here several oyster vendors setup and sell a variety of types at incredible prices. A dozen local oysters for €4-5 is remarkable. And they are good ones too with a strong flavour and touch of metallic. The lemon and bread from the nearby supermarket mopped the flavours well.

I preferred the standard shaped creuses than the unusual oblong longues. Perhaps the creuses were just a little bit sweeter. I also sampled the famous belon at €3 each (and the stallholder said the €4 pied de cheval weren't much different) which were a little meatier. But at 6x the price, I'd be happy going for the sets of dozens.

After eating the oysters, the shells get discarded to the oyster graveyard littering the floor and serving as a scrap heap for the seagulls to pick from. It's not a bad life.

Having only one meal set for the walled city of St. Malo proved difficult. There's many restaurants within town and likely mostly catered toward the tourists that land during the warmer months. Most places have a mixture of reviews which makes things difficult. But a few places had interesting sounding menus with local ingredients and seafood. L'Entre deux Verres was one of only very few places in Brittany that had cotriade on the menu and I really wanted to try this local seafood stew. Also L'Absinthe Cafe had a seafood locavore menu. But unfortunately they were both closed in this Wednesday in June. As was the butter store and restaurant Bistro Autour du Beurre Bordier and even the places I found on Tripadvisor while walking around looking for something good such as Le Tourne Pierre. Au Coin Malouin looked very popular and busy but only seems to specialist in burgers.

Lion D'Or had very mixed reviews being very popular and the first place you come across as you walk through the walls. It had a reasonable menu and a large outdoor seated area being enjoyed by many. There was a well priced 2-course menu price of €25 (I think). Although given the size of the meals I think just one course would be enough next time (although adding an entree for a few € is hard to resist).

A complimentary starter of fish paste with some stale/hard-ish bread came first.

Entrees
- Organic stirred egg with Gorgonzola from Bordeaux and black truffle - a warm poached egg in cheese and butter with minimal truffle taste. It was good but the roasted cherry tomatoes were better;
- 6 oysters from Cancale #4 - nice oysters as expected although given the next day's plan was to go to the oyster traders in Cancale perhaps should have opted for a different course.

Cuisine traditionnelle Francaise
- Traditional salt cod gratin - a very salty fish protected by a large amount of sliced potatoes. The highlight was once again the delicious vine of cherry tomatoes;
- Half-roasted chicken with gravy - nicely flavoured skin with the meat itself being a little tough (but not dry). The fries were a bit average with a chewy texture. I'll be repeating myself in saying the cherry tomatoes were excellent.

The beef bourguignon looked excellent on the table next to me but the lady complained that the inside of the beef was cold/frozen which put me off a bit. However she did admit the taste was good.

The food was more general French than Breton but satisfying enough. Next time I'd see if any of the above places were open for a more local dining experience.

For the final meal in Perros-Guirec, the most well reputed restaurant in the best situated hotel had to be it. Luckily I was staying at the hotel also and could enjoy the beachfront location, the sunset and the moderately warm outdoor spa.

The a la carte was reasonably priced at €62 for 3 courses.

Pitted olives and vegetable crisps were presented first. The amuse bouche was a tuna maki piece showcasing an excellent piece of fish.

Entrees
- Saint Pierre/John Dory (with yuzu, small pickled vegetables, avocado cream, gomasio powder) - often I'm concerned about how well a place can cook fish. As expected from an upmarket restaurant along the beach, the fish was soft and good quality;
- Lobster (with Colonnata bacon, green asparagus, peas, lobster sauce) extra €5 to set menu - 3 lobster pieces adorned a mild sauce with the other highlight being nice crunchy fresh peas. I don't think the amount of lobster justified the extra €5 price but sometimes you just have a craving for lobster.

Main
- Signature Sea Bass (in a salt crust, mashed potato with truffle, vegetables, vierge sauce) - a bit of fish theatre with the cracking of the salt crust, deboning the fish and serving it with the olive/onion/herb/oil sauce, very very strong truffled potato and some buttered vegetables. The fish was cooked perfectly.

Dessert
- The Szechuan (crispy pecan, chocolate cookie, creamy Manjai & Jivara chocolate, Azelia raised ganache with Szechuan berries, chocolate icecream) - lots of chocolate forms on a plate;
- Souffle (with pan-fried apricots with honey & rosemary, almond icecream from Provence) - stunningly soft and warm souffle with the warmest sweetest apricots and a hint of rosemary.

Petit fours finished the enormous amount of food with chocolate ganache and lemon curd on biscuits.

Overall the ingredients were excellent quality and the cooking techniques were skilled. There isn't much competition in the area but it's clear to see why this is the highest rated restaurant in Perros-Guirec.

After the minor disappointment of the food options along the beach side of Perros-Guirec, the next day made up for it by going to the nicer port side. There seem to be a few well rated creperies mixed amongst the standard mussel places and it was perfect for a brunch/lunch meal. Of the two highest rated, Ty Breizh won out over Creperie des Flots for galette menu options (including seafood) and just looking that bit cooler and more nautical.

Les Galettes de Sarrasin
- Ile Bono (jambon, emmental, champignons cuisines ail et persil, tomates cuisinees) €8.8 - more of that deep buckwheat savoury flavour housing cheese and ham, topped with buttered garlic and parsley mushrooms;
- Ile Plate (Noix de St. Jacques, tranches de lard fume grille, champignons sauce cremee) €15.5 - soft half-sliced scallops with slices of quite mildly smoked bacon with a creamy mushroom sauce.

As full as we were, I couldn't resist the sound of the house namesake crepe. I'm not generally a crepe or sweets person, but how could you resist the sound of the special?

La Crepe
- Ty Breizh (pommes caramelisees, glace artisanale palet breton, Kouign amann, caramel au beure sale maison, creme chantilly, servie avec un verre de chouchenn) €9.8 - a Breton flag sat on top of icecream and stewed apples, flanked by cream and mini-Kouign amann pastries (less crispy and chewy than the full sized ones) and drizzled with thick caramel. A crisp sweet honey wine was served to wash it down.

This was probably my favourite creperie of the several visited in Brittany. Not to mention the lovely male wait staff who were pleasant and friendly.