Fat Duck Closed for Health Scare!

!!!!!

Best kebab in Paris?

There is much talk in certain circles of who has the best kebab in Paris. Common consensus leads to the Doner Kebab (a Fooding fave, but strangely no longer on their website) stand in the 17th as the nec plus ultra of this Turkish fast food (and every modern drunkard's) delight. I beg to differ, prefering the sandwiches offered up by Les Quatres Freres Bedri, just opposite the Louis Blanc metro. The tiny place is packed , and the lunchtime queue running around the corner is a daily occurance. The four brothers are courteous and friendly, and hail from the Antioch region, and the sandwiches are wrapped , something not seen often in Paris.


Les Quatre Freres Bedri
38 rue Louis Blanc, 10th
(lunch only)

Meating

This restaurant is one that I haven't really been at all interested in- at the beginning what seemed me sort of marketing ploy, a meat-based menu (American-imported Angus at that), even an American chef. Then things changed, the restaurant changed hands (the new owner also proprietor of the formerly trendy La Gare in the seizieme). The fact that it is also located in the former two-star Michelin, Apicius only makes the contradictions more poignant. Last year, in came former Taillevent second, Emile Cotte, and his new menu surprisingly NOT all meat based.

Consensus: probably the best (and maybe only) Angus in Paris. The chef and owner and staff are really nice people, and it's quite interesting to know that not only do they import all of their meat from the US, but the broiler as well! (for which the French gas agency had to create a special reference, as they'd never seen one before). Apart from that, service ok, and the window front tables, although large and with a great view....our table had a view of about 23 dogs peeing and defecating during the meal on the large tree just in front of us.. Bon App!!

Le Grand Colbert - Tout Peut Arriver

Thought this sign next to my table was pretty interesting, and more than a little prophetic


I mean, pretty much the only reason I ended up at the Grand Colbert was because I was hankering after a great tartar, and Les Fines Gueules decided to close early. The restaurant was about 20% full, but that didn't hinder the slow service, waiter spilling an entire bottle of wine on an English tourist's expensive couture t-shirt (they left without paying, and after a Faulty Towers-esque French accented apology in English from the Maitre d') , and then the same head waiter wiping out the entire barload of olives , which sent the little trays flying in all directions all over the dining room. Tartar wasn't half bad though I prefer very much the "coupé au couteau" to the hamburgered stuff..

Michelin Guide Paris 2009

Once again we get the (mostly) credible leaks from the Figaro or France Soir on the new red guide, and once again, it's underwhelming, and unexciting.

Three stars for Eric Frechon at the Bristol.

Two for the Espadon at the Ritz and Gordon Ramsay in Versailles

One for L'Agapé (ho-hum) , La Bigarade (why not) , ETC, Fogon, Jules Verne (of course) , 35 Ouest (what??), L'Arome (mouuui), Angelique (say what?)

Glou-ing

Although I'm sometimes a bit dubious of the Figaroscopeization of certain establishments when pretty much every French critic jumps on the collective gastronomic bandwagon, Glou is one of the better places to dine in the Marais. Just behind the Musée Picasso, run by a food media person, and offering good quality produce- lomo, marinated, unendangered white tuna, and a superb Salers burger, coupled with relatively inexpensive wines makes this a good mainstay in the area. And the added bonus of sitting next to Julien Clerc and listening to him and his PR guy diss Arthur made it pretty worthwhile too...

GLOU
101, rue Vieille du Temple