So, we completely adored Chinon, where our dear friend R lived and worked many years ago. He recommended the restaurant at La Gargantua where he worked, and which apparently in his day was a pretty fancy place.
Now, it seems to have changed. It’s called the Gandoyau, though is still part of the hotel. The food is simple and tasty with a local touch. Their suggested local aperitif was a sweet red wine served in a clay goblet, which felt properly medieval (to suit the surroundings). 
The stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer was tasty, though plain.
For my main, I couldn’t resist trying out a selection of local smoked fish (and eel).
While my better half had coquelet, spatchcock. When he ordered it, I thought he ordered a ‘coquette’, a flirt, and amused myself greatly by this (he has since informed me that he did not say coquette!) . That sauce was good.
But this was my highlight: Ile flottante! A hunk of meringue floating in custard. I’d had a rather fancier version of this in Sydney at Tetsuya’s, but perhaps this is truer to the original recipe. Delicieux!
73 Rue Haute Saint Maurice
37500 Chinon
France
So, boohoo, we left our cute AirBNB in Montmartre, where we were a stone’s throw away from South Pigalle, where we hung out at our favourite coffee place of this trip, KB.
This was all washed down with a Monowai Pinot Noir 2013 from Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand. We liked the flavour and the match.
Thang Long is an institution. Any restaurant that manages to last over a decade in Surry Hills, crowded with its restaurants and cafe, is showing some staying power. They turn out tasty, traditional Vietnamese food at fair prices. The flavours seem authentic, and the service is always pleasant.
There are many great things about Bangbang Cafe in Surry Hills. First of all, it’s a few minutes from my apartment. It’s a pleasure to pop over for coffee, meet folks there for business meetings, and recommend people who stay with us to go over as their first port of call.
The cafe’s gone through some big changes. Years ago, when I first arrived in Sydney, it was a great cafe called Plissé: excellent food and sweets. If memory serves, it went through one or two other incarnations which were sadly mediocre until Alan Thompson, the DJ, took it over with a British-inspired menu, and groovy decor. Alan’s moved onto bigger and brighter things at Barista and Cook in Green Square. I happened to try and get in on opening day (we didn’t mean to go on opening day!): it was so packed that we were warned we wouldn’t even be able to get a coffee for 45 minutes. Better luck next time.
I’ve so far stuck to the breakfast menu, and it’s delicious. The classic corn fritters of Sydney… here served with crispy bacon, two poached eggs, and maple syrup (photo at the top!). It was really very good, even though I found it a touch salty on the day. But beautifully presented, and portioned… and… well, it was yum. A mate who had the same thing found it a bit rich for a weekday , but admitted he loved the maple syrup. My friend who had blueberry pancakes found them delicious, and I thought the serving size was just right (since in North America, you often get a stack as big as your head).
Oh, and the pea, feta and avocado mixture I had on toast this morning was very, very nice.
In the meantime, just outside the cafe, something is going on, and this is what I freaking love about Surry Hills. How beautiful is this?
Having failed to get into Deux Fois Plus de Piment (on a Friday night, of course this would happen without a reservation), we wandered back past the Boudin Noir on offer at Diablito Latino and decided to see what a vegan burger is at East Side Burgers.
With a variety of choices, I opted to try the vegan bacon with cheeseburger. It was… uh…: relatively small (which is good); the patty tasted vaguely of beans, the cheese of cheese, and the bacon was an amusing colour but didn’t taste of much. Not sure what could have made it taste better; it was a fair imitation of a fast-food burger but… Points for contributing to a healthier planet, and in a hipster atmosphere (the outside table looked nice, the posters on the walls were fun)… I wouldn’t be rushing back to try their other burgers though.
