13 May, Monday
Finally arrived in France, and made our way to Nicolas’ parents’ house in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Lunch: Nicolas’ mom, Guylaine, prepared some steamed white asparagus with vinaigrette, steak and some mâche salade. All of which would have been very Paleo, except that I also had some goat’s cheese and the top half of a religieuse.
Religieuse. An eclair shaped like a nun with a bad habit. (Internet file photo.)
Dinner: At La Cave Lanzerac, near the Arc de Triomphe, with Nicolas’ friends and our mutual friend, Jo Nguyen. I started with the foie gras and had the plat du jour for my main, which was pork jowls that tasted like a very refined version of corned beef, served with tagliatelle. No wine or dessert.
14 May, Tuesday
Breakfast: After I ran for about 20 minutes, I had a bit of bread with anchovies and a quiche lorraine.
At 11:30, we set out on our second road trip with Guylaine.
The three of us had done this before, when we explored the south of France some years back. Our objective then was to (1) sight see, and (2) eat at as many Michelin-starred restaurants as possible. What we learned then was that the one-starred restaurants offered the best value for money. Back then, we found a one-starred restaurant in a tiny town that offered a tasting menu for less than €30! Nowadays, they’re up to about €45 but that’s still reasonable for three courses, often times also with amuse-bouches and mignardises – in, more or less, inoffensive surroundings (although we did try this one-star that could have been a set for an old Addams Family special) with amiable yet professional wait staff. The food is always innovative and interesting and can be outstanding. While it doesn’t always work, it’s never so bad that the food is inedible and they usually get two out of three courses right.
Our goal for this trip was to explore Brittany (- I asked Nicolas why we had never been to Mont St. Michel and it turns out it’s because Mont Saint-Michel isn’t in Paris but in Brittany) and to try out the one-starred restaurants in the area.
Fields of colza gold on our way to Brittany via Normandy.
Lunch: Since we had set out so late, we couldn’t be picky about lunch and stopped at a town called Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy.
Typical Normandy architecture. Not a lot of it survived the war.
The lunch special looked good, but they had run out so I just had a croque monsieur. Normandy is known for everything apple so I had to try the cider brut (which is strong and dry, as opposed to "cider doux " which is sweeter) and the compote. Fortunately, not my cuppa.
We had a quick drive-by look-see at Fougéres, then checked into a hotel in Saint-Malo for the night.
Walking around Fougéres.
An inexpensive but well-located hotel is the Hôtel de l’Univers, which has a cool bar downstairs. Apparently, the rooms come in two sizes. Ridiculously small or ridiculously large. We had a large one while Guylaine had a small one that she said she could barely move in.
Dinner: At L’Eveil des Sens. No Michelin star yet but it supposedly has one fork, whatever that means. (I could have sworn they at least had three. Har.) Because no one takes photos of their food in the civilized world, I refrained, which was a mistake in terms of chronicling this food journey because I now cannot remember what I had. I remember having an over-all good experience, save for my main course – which was scallops served on andouillette slices. If you’re a fan of rancid cadavers, then you’ll like andouillette. If you’re sensitive to smell, stay away!
But Nicolas was quite happy with his agneau de pré-salé (lamb that grazed on the salt marshes of Mont Saint-Michel) and Guylaine with her salmon.
A photo of a photo on exhibit at Mont Saint-Michel. Salt meadow lambs. Yummmm…
Nicolas ordered from the ala carte menu and had a glass of wine. Guylaine and I ordered the tasting menu and shared a bottle of mineral water. Total bill came out to about €120.
15 May, Wednesday
Breakfast: My birthday! Did my exercises in the room, then Nicolas and I went walking around Saint-Malo.
Freezing in Saint-Malo.
We were freezing and starving by the time we were done and ducked into the nearest boulangerie for a pain de chocolat for me and a whole host of pastries for him.
Lunch: We drove to Mont Saint-Michel. Well, you can’t really drive all the way there now since there’s a lot of construction going on around it (Project Mont Saint-Michel), aimed at restoring this World Heritage Site into the island that it used to be. There are free shuttles there. Or you could walk.
On the shuttle to Mount Saint-Michel.
Anyway, apparently, when in Mont Saint-Michel, one must have the omelette at La Mere Poulard. Nevermind if it’s a plain, ordinary omelette. Well, a big ass, fluffy, plain, ordinary omelette. It’s all egg. And maybe some salt and pepper – although it could certainly stand to use some more. But at €45 for the tasting menu that includes a starter and dessert and a whole lotta egg, whoever came up with this marketing ploy, in the guise of tradition, was pure genius. If the likes of Leon Trotsky, Maggie Thatcher, Woody Allen and Yves Saint Laurent could admire the Emperor’s New Clothes, why shouldn’t we?
My pimped-up omelette.
Thankfully, the omelette came with potatoes in cream and a salad. When mixed all together, with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper, it wasn’t half bad. Plus, my starter (the selection of terrines) and my dessert (the selection of ice cream) were pretty good so, all in all, I was happy. Plus I have no clue how much €45 is and I wasn’t the one paying…
Tried the cider brut again. Still not a fan.
We drove around Dinan, stopped at a boulangerie for some crepes and a nutella beignet (- the one at the Enterprise Building is still better), then checked into a sweet, little B&B in Lézardrieux that one of Nicolas’ friends recommended. Lan Caradec is a bit tricky to find but it’s the lovely home of Edith and her Japanese artist husband, Toshihiko Wake. And don’t let the internet photos put you off. It really is a gem of a place. The rooms are spacious, as are the bathrooms.
Dinner: Finally, our first one-star of the trip: Le Bélouga at L’Agapa Hotel in Perros-Guirec, about 30 minutes away from Lézardrieux. Most of the Michelin-starred restos in the area were closed on Wednesdays and this was one of the two that were open, and the other one was booked for a conference. So Le Bélouga it was.
L’Agapa.
They had several tasting menus. The gourmet menu (€90) lets you put together four courses (for a total of five including cheese) from the ala carte menu. The seasonal menu (€60) features one main ingredient of the season. (Brittany is France’s largest peninsula. Because of all that water surrounding it, the seafood here is highly recommended. The ingredient du jour at Le Bélouga was scallops.) But we chose the surprise menu (€48) where the chef is given free reign to create dishes, working only on constraints we specify (- our only constraint: No andouilette, please!). For an additional €20, Nicolas and I paired our meals with wine.
Scallops with a citrus sauce.
The whole dinner went well but several things stood out at Le Bélouga. First, the amuse bouche made of – get this – lard. It was the most awesome piece of pork lard ever. We would have been happy with just that.
Bite-sized awesomeness. The lard is on the left.
Then there was the dessert, which was a mix of cooked and raw apples. I am not an apple fan – but this was easily one of the best desserts on the planet.
It doesn’t look like it, but this is probably one of the best desserts on the planet.
And lastly, after all the after-dinner treats (they also make the best madeleines), they offered us some of the chef’s chocolate creations. I tried about four kinds and the one that made me swoon was the “blond chocolate”, which was burnt white chocolate, a beautiful beautiful thing.
My chocolate selection.
FYI, Le Bélouga’s lunch menu is only €25, so if ever you’re in the area…
16 May, Thursday
Guylaine’s birthday. I went downstairs to kiss Guylaine good morning and give her her presents, then went back up to the room to do my exercises. No breakfast for me, please. Except that when Nicolas informed me that Edith had made some crepes, I had to relent. How often does one get homemade crepes in Brittany? I finished up then, still panting, joined Guylaine and Nicolas for breakfast.
Breakfast: I wish I could say I just had crepes. Edith not only makes crepes, she makes her own jam and, possibly, one of the best raspberry jams in the world. I had it with lots of bread and cheese.
Lunch: We took it easy today and I caught up with interent stuff (read: Facebook and email), while Nicolas and Guylaine chatted with Edith and Toshihiko. At 11:30, we set out for La Clarté, also in Perros-Guirec.
When we were seated, we recognized the couple from the other table as having been at Le Bélouga the night before and we started chatting with them. Then the other couple next to us recognized us , also from the night before, and we all had a good laugh about being the One-Star Club and joked about which restaurant we would meet up next. (Nicolas later informed me that this was rare and one almost never talks to other diners in restaurants in France.)
La Clarté served a similar amuse bouche to Le Bélouga which was an emulsion of foie gras and asparagus, except that La Clarté did it better. (For some reason, the one at Le Bélouga reminded me of taro cooked in coconut milk.)
The one who ordered best this time around was Guylaine with her lobster starter (- the presentation alone was pretty spectacular) and Saint Pierre (John Dory) main.
Rocking the lobster.
Nicolas and I had the tasting menu with wine, but I found the wine selection at Le Bélouga much better.
After lunch, we explored the Côte de Granit Rose (Pink Granite Coast) in Trégastel, a dramatic landscape of giant pink granite boulders. It was all very “Land of the Lost”.
Nicolas in “The Land of the Lost”. Check out the pink granite sand.
The Pink Granite Coast in Trégastel.
Dinner: We didn’t want anything fancy for dinner and thought we’d eat somewhere near our B&B. Upon Edith’s recommendation, we went to Auberge du Trieux. It turned out to be the most excellent surprise. I expected traditional French fare and instead we were treated to a one-star worthy meal! At €26.60 (plus €3 if you want cheese) for the tasting menu, it was a steal!
We all ordered the same menu, except that Nicolas and Guylaine were able to substitute their mixed seafood starter with 10 pieces of oysters, something they were very happy with.
My starter…
… and theirs!
We also ordered some ormeau (abalone) to try, which was excellent.
But the stand-out of the evening was my chocolate dessert, which featured two different types of mousse (milk and dark), a crunchy chocolate biscuit and some alcohol-spiked chocolate bricks. And because I wanted to try their white chocolate ice cream, they included a small scoop of it for me to try.
Chocolate overload! Unexpected fine dining in an auberge.