The first time I tried Spanish sherry, fino, sometimes known by one of its famous brand names, Tio Pepe, I found it sharp and dry and slightly unpleasant. This was when I was working at Expo 92 in Seville, in my early 20s and without a particularly sophisticated food or drinking palate. But somehow I came to like the flavour quite quickly and since then, the taste of it brings me back to hot weather in Andalucia and this feeling of everything beginning.
It’s not easily found though, and usually, there’s not much choice. So, hearing from my friend Peter that there was a bar in Madrid that specialised in sherry… Oh my god. It’s much more than a bar though, it’s a piece of history. Dating back to the 30s, it was a hangout for Republican sympathizers, as well as Ernest Hemingway (read about it here…) and has some strict rules about no tipping (because all workers are supposed to be equal) and no photos (since they could be used as evidence against the people in the bar). So, I’m pretty impressed that so many photos have snuck up on the Yelp review page! When we were there, someone tried to take a sneaky photo and wasn’t allowed…
In any case, they serve five different types of sherry here, from big oak-casks, all from Jerez, the Andalusian home of sherry. I’m used to, in Australia, associating the darker sherries (amontallido, olorosa) with a dessert sherry, but these were either bastardized versions or I’m confused. Each of the sherries I tried (and I’m sad to say I only managed three of them) were really dry, though varying in weight and texture, and flavour.
The other thing is that the glasses were cheap. Like a couple of euros each. So cheap it felt like they were paying me to enjoy myself at the bar. As we went at the end of the night, we didn’t have the appetite for what looked like very tasty bar snacks and selections of meat, and if we’d gone earlier in the night, I would have aimed to try all five! But ah, I was so glad to be introduced to this place. Sherry heaven!
A weekend in Madrid, away from Paris, and what a lovely city… a relaxed and chilled atmosphere for eating and drinking and wandering around, and the temperature a few 
degrees warmer too.
The fancy mushrooms, deep fried, was tasty; and the pork dish was also very delicious.
Calle de Pelayo, 24
Food and memory is a funny thing. I’m sure we didn’t eat more than two or three times at the Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver, but I remember the times we did vividly: the slightly sour soft aerated pancake and the mysterious varieties of vegetables and meat to be scooped up by said pancake. Also, for something that I liked so much, I don’t know why I didn’t hunt it down more often in the many years after.
In any case, finding out from a work colleague about a good Ethiopian restaurant was exciting. In Sydney, I believe there’s one restaurant that’s opened, and it’s not so easy for me to get to. Someone ran a food stall at local markets, where I was able to grab a snack, but it wasn’t the same as a proper meal.
I found all of the dishes interesting and tasty: chicken, beef, ground meat, lentils, carrots, a cabbage mixture, fish. The sauces were savoury and rich, without being oily. My better half found the injera filled him up rather quickly, and god, it was a lot of food (and such value, for Paris: 40 euros for the two of us including a half-litre of house wine).
4 rue Sauffroy
There’s nothing more than I like than an interesting food recommendation… it’s perhaps why I offer the same with my food blogs. So, over a fabulous gin cocktail called 
But the question is: how did it taste? We couldn’t fit the whole thing in our AirBNB’s toaster oven, so whacked it in half (and thankfully, the butcher removed the blue feet before handing it over), and had it over two dinners. It was… quite extraordinary. The drumstick and thigh were so dark… and being so tender, it reminded us of really good turkey, or a rarer bird to eat, like pheasant or goose.
Possibly confusing to some, the name of the area in the back of the wine shop, La Caves des Abbesses, is Le Trou dans le Mur, or the Hole in the Wall. We’d gotten a recommendation to try it out. I was a little worried that it would be packed out, as you can’t see it from the front of the store, but it was relatively quiet when we went.
And of course, being a wine shop, there’s an amazing selection of wine. It had a great vibe with wandering tourists like us and locals hanging out and talking about wine, but really, the best thing: oh my god, the planche was amazing. Four types of cheese – all great (in fact, better for the differences between them). Three types of meat. The goose rilletes was so rich, I kind of wanted to mainline it. The pork spread also tasty and the sausage. Between that platter of food, and a few glass of delicious wine, we were in heaven!
I liked the look of this modest restaurant around the corner from our AirBNB; and we were glad to try it. Decorated in amusing art, photos and ethnic dress, it has the feel of a family-run business, keeping the authenticity of a culture and it’s food, married to the demands of the Parisian restaurant market.
I mean, what can one say but ‘No Problemo’? This bar, on the corner of a street, at the bottom of the stairs below Sacre Coeur is cute, tiny and casual. For such a small place, it looks like it has a very impressive food menu, but we just wanted to have a nightcap, and had a delicious glass of Montepulciano and Côtes du Rhône. We’ve walked by when it’s been super crowded, and other times when it’s not so crowded. On a rainy Thursday night, early evening, it was not so crowded. Nice guy behind the bar, a good vibe from the other patrons. No problemo!
I love a food gimmick. There’s a Buzzfeed post going around making fun of hipster food gimmicks, but for me, the problem is when the gimmick loses its originality, or it was never a very good trick in the first place, probably lacking in intelligence or interfering with the enjoyment of the food itself. So, of course we had to try Privé de Dessert, where all of the savoury dishes are 
designed to look like sweet French pastries, and two of the desserts are designed to look like savoury dishes.
As for the mains, I had to try the Mont Blanc, as I like the real thing, a chestnut pastry. Here (and pictured at the top), chestnut flavoured mash potatoes imitated the icing, covering up some crisp, nicely cooked fish. My better half had Tiramisu, actually beef cheeks with mashed potatoes, and yup, it looked like a gigantic serving of Tiramisu. With gravy.
I could have exploded. All in all, a fun experience with great service and a cool concept. The restaurant is pretty new, apparently, and I think the story goes 
started by a Chinese webmaster who did a pastry course, and then eventually assembled her team to create her dream restaurant. Seems to be doing well, and as a a bonus is in one of the coolest neighbourhoods around.
So, I’m not sure why they run the name together like that… but having found this cafe from lists of good coffee in Paris on the interweb, we love this place, located in South Pigalle.
Apparently, 
Looks like they do brunch too, and sell their beans to whoever wants them!
Considering myself a labyrinth aficionado – a longtime user of the one in Vancouver, where we were married just after Christmas; and having walked the one at Grace Cathedral in 
San Francisco and Chartres in Paris (the original!); and so pleased to have one now in my home city of Sydney – I was surprised to visit the Amiens Cathedral and find a major labyrinth in the middle of it.
A shame as I think with some encouragement and explanation, the many tourists to the cathedral could have a nice introduction to labyrinths, a beautiful ancient tool for contemplation and meditation, and a fun thing to do for kids too!
shame that the one at Chartres is only available to walk once a week on Fridays (though I currently see that the labyrinth is closed completely and won’t be opening again until July 2016)
I do think it’s a special and beautiful thing; this labyrinth compared to the Chartres design feels about a similar number of turns, but is different, and with the square, straight edges 
feels different than the round paths of the Chartres labyrinth that I’m used to.