The multi-award-winning cookery writer and avowed Francophile has, at one time or another, driven, cycled and TGV-ed her way through pretty much all of The Republic. Here she reveals the perfect places she’s found on the way, from shack to chateau and from crepes to crevettes… Bon voyage!
Seasoned travellers love to claim that French cooking isn’t what it used to be – that gone are the days when you could roll into any little roadside restaurant and eat like a king (or perhaps a president) for the price of a Pret sandwich – but there are few countries around the world that take their food as seriously as our nearest continental neighbours. Bien sûr, they still respect the classics but increasingly you’ll also find young chefs playing around with old favourites, incorporating influences from around the world in menus championing local, seasonal ingredients.
And they have a lot of ingredients to work with. Over twice the size of the UK, France runs from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, aubergines to oysters, from the cheese-lovers’ paradise of the high mountains to the vast mushroom-packed forests of the centre, which means dinner in Provence is likely to taste very different from one in Perpignan or Poitiers. (And wherever you are, southeast Asian and North African restaurants serve as a reminder that Paris presided over the 20th century’s second largest colonial empire.)
A word of warning: the one thing that unites this vast country, as I’ve discovered to my cost on countless occasions, is that outside major tourist areas, French restaurants keep strict hours. Lunch is generally between 12 and 2pm (though you’re unlikely to be seated towards the end of that time), and dinner 7-9pm. Bear this in mind, and always check opening times before setting off – you really don’t want to miss out on these places. →
MOULES IN A BEACH SHACK
La Cale, Blainville-sur-Mer, Normandy facebook.com/imern8siov
Proof that the Côte d’Azur doesn’t have the monopoly on great beach restaurants, La Cale, on Normandy’s Cotentin peninsular, is just over an hour’s drive from Cherbourg, but it’s worth a trip even if you’re not heading to the ferry. A world away from the chi-chi seafood restaurants of Dieppe, this relaxed beach shack offers the chance to feast on local oysters, lobster and of course fabulous moules frites with your toes in the sand – the terrace strays on to the dunes – or, for carnivores, legs of lamb
