Oi garlic breath

[Grandad]

Dear Will ........................ ;D


seeing as I always have something to say re our gallic cousins ( well more your cousin ;) ) I would like to post my first hand experiences of yet another week here

first the wine seeing as this was a recent topic


I decided ( in the interests of research to try a few out :p )

It seems to be as we agreed, at the low to middle end the new world wines have it, however at the better end I have been partaking of some superb stuff this week, the downside is that all the good stuff has been over 30 euro a bottle ( restaurant price ) , I have had a couple of amazing Sancerres ( when I say a couple maybe it was one or two more ;) )

now the food

sorry but French food has really been left behind the times, what I think has happened is that around 20 years ago the British realised that their food was so bad that they abandoned the whole lot and took bits from every corner of the world to create a new cuisine

I'm sorry ( and you may not agree ) but French food has seen better days , yesterday I had a perfectly cooked filet of Talapia and then they covered it in a butter sauce :'(

and the next place to serve me a mediocre gratin dauphinoise gets a kicking

do love what they can do with green beans though


this isnt intended as anytrhing more than my observations , just wondered what yours where :)

[Will]

I guess it varies and it depends where you go. Remember the Froggies are a little bit arrogant and tend to keep the best for themselves - which is stupid because you'd expect them to give the best to the tourists to bring 'em back! Yeah there's a lot of average stuff in France, however I find that the average stuff, is still better than the average stuff in the UK. However, yes in general thanks to the diversity of British culture now the food has picked up a lot - British cooking and cooks all train in France, Spain, Italy, or by chefs from those countries. So I agree with you absolutely that British cooking is now shining and making the effort to shine. :)

Good French wine doesn't have to be expensive, but I Guess it just depends where you go and what you say and so on. I agree with you though a lot of the middle of the range new world wines are more than palettable and I make no secret that I do love Chilean and Aussie Reds and a small handful of Californian reds.

The problem with French cooking is it's become gimmicy and cliche. Typical tourist trap cooking - rather than authentic passionate innovative cooking. It's maybe a bit of complacency or laziness, or apathy towards many things, such as politics, communities or maybe even just the cost of living.

For whatever reasons a lot of the average restaurants are losing their "je ne sais quoi" I think I probably agree. However, little partisan restaurants in little villages, or "locals" restaurants in even busy touristy areas will still IMO offer better basic food than some top end restaurants that we have here in the UK. The top end restaurants in France still have the edge, but I agree it's getting a bit tired. Place like NY are slowly starting to steal a lot of the inspirational chefs from continental Europe - and do I blame them? No!

I hope it's just cyclic but obviously if you lose the leaders and the figureheads of a nation's cooking, the lead is followed. Good on the UK for developing it's aged gastronomy - I would actually say that Britian is now on the map when it comes to good food though still at a cost which is prohibitive for most people (myself included). Whereas in France I still feel and actually I'm certain of, that the majority of the time you can get a better meal for your buck than you can in Britain (for the moment maybe).

If France looked after it's workforce better and helped crush the apathy and loss of faith that the populous have it would be a different story. Hopefully a little "resistance" group will stay behind and try and convince enough people to stay in France - Sarky needs to pull his socks up - now!

Thank you for the thread though it's interesting to hear your view point. Obviously with food as always it's very subjective. I'll have to take you to some of the gems I know! Or just cook for you ;) :D

[Grandad]

Will , thanks for the reply, it wasnt meant as a piss take more a serious discussion and I think you saw it as that , it is now 01:30 here so time for bed , I will reply properly when I get the chance :)

[Will]

Nah I didn't see it as a piss take - I know you well enough by now. :)

[Jonny69]

Can't say I've noticed all that actually. I don't go to expensive French restaurants but what I do normally get when I'm out there is simple food well cooked from good base produce, unlike what you get over here in a similar restaurant bracket.

The French are exceedingly proud of their wine, ok it's not the best any more like they claim but again, all their wine is good honest stuff. Some of the crap you get from South Africa and Australia which is loaded with fake oaking and carbonic masceration would never get by in France, it would get poured down the toillette. Young wines from the local region bought in Super U, Champion etc, cost about €2 max and it's a perfectly drinkable table wine with no nitrites and no hidden additives. It's not trying to be anything it isn't. You can tell by the aftertaste and the fact that it doesn't give you a headache or acid stomach the day after.

Vive La France ;)

[Grandad]

. You can tell by the aftertaste and the fact that it doesn't give you a headache or acid stomach the day after.



certainly may be something to that, I had 3 bottles last night and feel fine today :)

[Jonny69]

Ooo I'd feel pretty rough after that much ;D

[Grandad]

years of practice works wonders ;)