TOKYO

Tokyo is my second favorite city after Paris and it's because the Japanese are the most similar to the French in their love of gastronomy and beauty, from the beautifully presented food in individual dishes or lacquered bento boxes to the intricately-wrapped packages in the boutiques and food shops.  When I was at Le Cordon Bleu, it was always my Japanese classmates who perfected the pastry pratique as they were naturals at recreating the glazing and decoration on the gateaux et patisserie.  Their attention to detail is present in their day-to-day lives and this is seen everywhere in Japan.

I had been to Tokyo for the first time in 2014 and explored the city on foot with my friend Rumi.  This time around, we chose to spend a week over the easter holidays with the kids to experience Tokyo during Sakura season (cherry blossom time).  Spring in Tokyo is usually rainy but mild and it was a nice change of weather from tropical Singapore.

We walked all over the city from  Ginza for shopping and eating to admiring the architecture and window displays in Omotesando Hills.  We went to Midtown and walked around the beautiful green oasis of Hinokicho park where we saw our first cherry blossoms then headed over to nearby bustling Roppongi.  We also visited the peaceful Shinto shrine  Meiji Jingu located in the middle of a 100,000 tree forest near Harajuku and Omotesando.

We also explored the basement food halls of department stores Matsuya and Mitsukoshi in Ginza which had an amazing selection of both local and imported food for takeaway.  Despite having spent a week in Tokyo, I still felt that we had only scratched the surface on what the city had to offer in gastronomic treats which just means that I'll be gong back sooner rather than later.

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Meiji Jingu
1-1 Yoyogi-Kamizono-cho,
Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo 151-8857

*Open daily from sunrise to sunset (opening and closing times change depending on the season)

Ginza

Harajuku & Omotesando

Roppongi

GIN KHAO BISTRO

Sunday evenings are when we have our family dinner out and since Sentosa Cove's Quayside Isle  is much more pleasant than the overcrowded Resorts World complex, we end up heading there for an early dinner al fresco overlooking the marina.  Since Quayside Isle opened in December 2012, there have been several changes in the restaurant offerings - the space right beside the popular Blue Lotus used to be a Japanese restaurant, then an oyster bar and now is the space where the Thai restaurant Gin Khao is located.

Gin Khao Bistro serves simple Thai dishes at very reasonable prices. I might be mistaken but it seems like they have the cheapest food in the strip of restaurants of the usually overpriced Quayside Isle (not counting the Panini at the newly opened Joe & the Juice).   We usually order the same dishes from their menu which features Thai street food:  Po Pia Tod - prawn spring rolls, green mango and prawn relish with rice crackers and Tom Yum chicken wings plus by their larb moo - warm minced pork and mint salad or the spicy green papaya salad to start.  They do a decent seafood pad thai and have a good selection of grilled seafood (mackerel or squid) or meat (chicken or pork belly) served with the addicting nah jim (green chili and lime dip). There are several types of fried rice on the menu from the spicy green curry to the salty black olive rice to the sweet pineapple and the unusual watermelon rice.  Service is always courteous and efficient and best of all, the food is hot, spicy and inexpensive, the way Thai street food should be.

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Gin Khao Bistro

31 Ocean Way #01-12 Quayside Isle, Singapore 098375

Tel: (65) 6570 2208

Email: feedback@ginkhao.com.sg

Mon to Thurs: 12:00pm to 3:00pm, 5:30pm to 10:00pm
Fri: 12:00pm to 12:00am
Sat/Eve: 11:00am - 12:00am
Sun/PH: 11:00am - 10:00pm
Last Order: 30 mins before closing

*10% off for Sentosa Cove Residents

*Takeaway available

THE POPULUS COFFEE & FOOD CO.

The Populus Coffee & Food Co (the name's a mouthful) opened around six months ago in a shophouse along Neil road.   The long narrow space has been carefully redesigned using a lot of wood, from the ceiling and wall tiles to the counter, complemented by modern metal accents like the industrial lighting and iron shelving.  The tables look like textured grey fabric, a nice design touch that makes it seem as if there's a table cloth.  Their tableware (plates, bowls, cups, sugar containers) have also been carefully chosen with a minimalistic touch making the space a beautifully-designed spot to hang out and have a coffee.

As soon as you step inside the Populus, you know what they specialize in from the wonderful aroma of roasted coffee beans which come from 2 Degrees North Coffee Co.  Several types of coffee are available - from the usual espresso, cappuccino, latte with both full cream, low fat or soy milk and flavoring, plus bottles of single origin cold drip and a white brew using their three in-house blends: Monolith (comforting & reassuring), Caldera (uplifting & refreshing) and the Duxton Vice (cheeky & adventurous).  Filter coffee is also served with six types to choose from.  For those not so much into coffee, they serve a rich Valrhona chocolate, iced or hot, and a selection of smoothies, fresh juices and botanical soft drinks from Fentiman's.

For a small cafe, the menu is quite large.  I prefer the weekday menu which has a selection of breakfast specials along with healthy grain bowls and donburi plus a few pastas and sandwiches.  There are three ice cream sundaes and a buttermilk waffle for dessert.  The weekend menu has more egg dishes and less of the main courses and since they're usually packed from early morning, some dishes are sold out by early evening.

On my first mid-morning visit, I had their fluffy scrambled eggs with a perfect piccolo latte and a large fresh orange juice.  For lunch recently, I had the teriyaki salmon donburi, a petite portion of teriyaki-glazed salmon served on seasoned Japanese rice, furikake, nanban vegetables and an onsen egg. On another weekend evening, my husband & I shared their avocado superfood green platter (kale, broccoli, avocado and spinach with feta and cottage cheese) and the Portobello mushroom grain bowl with furikake baby corn, red cabbage & apple slaw, roasted zucchini, roasted butternut squash, sautéed cherry tomatoes, L&P mixed mushrooms.   It's a good place for healthy eaters since there's quite a few dishes that are just vegetables and/or grains.  I'm looking forward to my next meal at the Populus since there's still a lot on the menu I haven't tried plus a few several coffee concoctions I'd like to sample.

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The Populus Coffee & Food Co.

146 Neil Road, Singapore
Telephone: +65 6635 8420
email: hello@thepopuluscafe.com

Mon & Wed 09:00 - 19:00
Thu & Fri     09:00 - 22:30
Sat                 09:30 - 22:30
Sun                09:30 - 19:00

MOSCOW RESTAURANTS

To finish off my long-delayed posts on Moscow is a list of a few restaurants I went to that I really enjoyed. Most are located either in the center or just off the garden ring road.  Here they are in no particular order:

Moloko Cafe

Ulitsa Bolshaya Dimitrovka 7/5

Moscow

Telephone: +7495 692 0309

*Open 24 hours daily

Moloko Cafe used to be a state milk store hence the name (moloko means milk in Russian).  Interiors are modern - great velvet chairs line each side of the room with a large bar in the middle.  There's a good crowd of expats and locals and not everyone is dressed to the nines.  We came for lunch on a Sunday and the place was half-full with mostly young Russian couples and their kids.  We shared a starter of smoked mackerel on baby potatoes followed by the sea bass in red curry for me and the beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes for A.  Food was fine and service was friendly, the only downside was the dessert which seemed store-bought.  As it's open 24 hours, I'm sure that there is a pre-club crowd that hangs out for cocktails and a post-clubbing crowd who come for breakfast before heading back home at dawn.

Vogue Cafe

Kuznetsky Most 79

Moscow

Telephone: +7495 623 1701

*Open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. till late, Weekends from noon to midnight

Another concept from the Novikov group, Vogue Cafe is a modern, bright space with a black and white interior with some color brought in with the large framed model shots on the walls and shelves of Vogue magazines.  Food is modern European Russian-style which means Italian or Mediterranean with some sushi and sashimi thrown in.  The combination works though as the place is crowded on most days with fashion-conscious Muscovites enjoying the Euro-inspired menu.  Its' location alongside trendy department store Tsum also helps.  We had a decent mixed salad, a penne arrabbiata and a pappardelle with cepes.

Il Forno

Ulitsa Neglinnaya 8/10

Moscow

Telephone: +8495 621 90 80

*Open weekdays from 8:00 till midnight and weekends from 11:00 a.m. till midnight

Other branches on Ulitsa Ostrozhenka 3/14 and Kutuzovsky Avenue 2/1

We stumbled into Il Forno on a cold windy evening on our first night in Moscow since it was on the same street as our hotel not expecting anything special and we were pleasantly surprised with the pizza and the service.  We had a salad to share and some pizzas on one evening and pasta on another night.  The menu has classic Italian pastas, risottos and pizzas and a few meat and fish main courses.  It's a casual restaurant with a proper brick-oven which makes the pizzas perfect.

Brownie Cafe

Maly Kozinsky Pereulok, 10

Moscow

Telephone: +7916 336 26 33

*Open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

In hip and happening Patriarch's Pond, Brownie Cafe is a tiny. welcoming place owned by the Friends Forever group, which has a dozen hip cafes specializing in cakes and coffee.  This newest addition which opened in February of this year,  has a retro vibe with it's multi-colored chairs, communal wood tables and large display case filled with all sorts of cakes and sweets.  We shared two - a chocolate raspberry cake and a strawberry shortcake with excellent coffee.  I dare you to enter and not have a slice of cake.

WATERCRESS CAFE

I'm playing catch up as I've abandoned my blog for months now since we moved to Singapore and have just had several hours straight to sit down at my desk to blog.  Although we went back to Bali in January of this year for a long weekend (haven't been since we left in March 2012), I am only posting this recent find now.  Watercress Cafe is a charming cafe on Batu Belig street, an up and coming area right by Seminyak in neighboring Kerobokan which is on the twisty rice field flanked road towards the surfing beaches of Canggu.

A brick-walled light-filled interior serving breakfast all-day with a lots of other yummy, healthy dishes especially for vegetarians or those looking for gluten-free items.  I was so impressed with Watercress that I went twice while we were in Bali - once for breakfast and another time for a late lunch (recently, they have also started serving dinner).  Their bread is from Bali's French bakery Monsieur Spoon and coffee specialist Revolver Espresso.  Drinks are made up of fresh fruit smoothies, lassis and juices and a selection of iced teas.  The menu is simple but with so many good things, it's hard to make up one's mind with what to order.  Some menu items can also be ordered in half-size portions which is convenient and unusual for Bali.

For breakfast, I had the Two Crispy Sweet Corn Fritters - two poached eggs over corn fritters and a chunky avocado and tomato salsa.  I ordered it as part of the breakfast set which comes with a bowl of fresh tropical fruit topped with crushed peanuts and grated coconut and a creamy cappuccino.

At lunchtime, there are loads of salads, a few burgers (Mahi-Mahi, crispy Tempeh or chicken sate) and several open sandwiches served either on sourdough or gluten-free bread. I had the Bruschetta topped with vine-ripened tomatoes, Feta and arugula followed by a Roasted Pumpkin Salad -  a large bowl of caramelized pumpkin, watercress, arugula with a basil pesto dressing.  Watercress Malam (the dinner menu) is more substantial with small plates as starters, salads and grilled items with assorted side dishes.

It's been a long time since I've loved a restaurant from start to finish.  Watercress Cafe is going straight on my favorites list. If you're going to Bali, you should add it to yours too.

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Watercress Cafe

Jalan Batu Belig 21A

Kerobokan, Bali

tel: +62 361 780 8030

LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN

Our last trip in 2013 before our move to Singapore was to Buenos Aires to visit family.  It was the tail end of winter in the Southern hemisphere and although the sun was shining on most days, it was still chilly so we lucked out on a nearby cafe which was two blocks away from where we were staying.  Le Pain Quotidien has been a favorite for years.  I remember spending so much time there in the late 90's when my stepsister was living in New York.  The Madison avenue branch was our local cafe and we whiled away hours with our bowls of cafe au lait reliving our Paris days.  Since then, Le Pain Quotidien has become a global brand recreating their bleached wood interiors with the standard communal table and their selection of amazing bread all over the world. 

We were pleasantly surprised with the Buenos Aires outpost - same bleached wood interiors, a large oval communal table, the usual open-faced tartines (sandwiches), the big bowls (not cups) of milky coffee, the daily blackboard menu and the same friendly service.  We had breakfast there almost every day and since it was located in the mostly residential neighborhood of Palermo chico, it was superb for people watching and hanging out.  As they say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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Le Pain Quotidien

Jerónimo Salguero 3075
Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina
+54 11 2073-1866

*Open all-day daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Other branches in Palermo Viejo and Belgrano

FILIPINO FOOD FIESTA

In early April I left for the Philippines to visit my ailing 94-year old grandmother (who has since sadly, passed away) and spent several days in Manila with my sisters having a taste of home.  As we were all jet lagged and awake at dawn, we were all dressed and ready to go for breakfast very early in the morning.  Most days we just crossed the street to One Rockwell where we usually ate either at UCC Cafe Terrace, Apartment 1B (more on that later) or our old favorite Pancake House. 

UCC is a Japanese coffee franchise that uses the siphon method to make their specialty coffees.  The place isn't fancy but the coffee is very good and the Filipino breakfasts are fine.  We tried most of the "si-log" combinations (meaning SInangag, Filipino for garlic fried rice and itLOG, Filipino for egg) with tapa (marinated beef), longanisa (local pork sausage), bangus (milk fish) and tocino (marinated pork).  I liked the longanisang hubad (naked longanisa) best - when they split open the pork sausage skin and take out all the sausage meat, fry it till it's nice and crisp like corned beef hash, then place it on top of the garlic fried rice and serve it with a sunny side up egg - a Filipino breakfast of champions.

On another evening, after a log day spent at the hospital, we decided to have some Filipino food to go from my friend Malu's Milky Way Cafe on Pasay Road.  We ordered the usual classics: kare-kare (oxtail stew made with peanut-flavored sauce), inihaw na liempo (char-grilled pork belly), adobong sugpo (prawns cooked adobo-style in crab roe) and a crispy pata lechon de leche (deep-fried suckling pig knuckle) with a home-made vegetable dish of pinakbet (long beans, bitter melon, okra and eggplant cooked in shrimp paste).  The food came with rice, appropriate sauces (spicy vinegar, bagoong - shrimp paste and chili soy sauce) plus banana leaves that we used to line the serving plates.  Fantastic Filipino food that we enjoyed at home.

When my Lola (grandmother) was brought back home for her last days, we all gathered around the table once more for our traditional lunch which we spent at my Lola's house every weekend when we were growing up.  On this occasion, we had two versions of crab - sauteed in garlic and deep-fried in butter - both of which I hadn't eaten in a long time and probably last enjoyed at one of my lola's weekend lunches.

We also had the traditional summer heat quencher - halo-halo (literally meaning mix-mix of sweetened fruit and beans topped with leche flan, and ube ice cream with milk and lots and lots of finely shaved ice).  We did the classic Via Mare version and the superior Milky Way version which was better because it was filled with more goodies and the ice was so finely shaved that it never made our halo-halo watery.

Last but not least was my dinner with J and N who very nicely picked me up at home and drove me to get my Filipino food craving and took me to Greenbelt's Mesa Filipino Moderne where we had a delicious dinner of deep-fried inside out tilapia where the crispy fish was prepared in bite-sized chunks ready for dipping into the four sauces - spicy, sweet, salty or sour, a prawn and pomelo salad with crispy shredded coconut, grilled pork belly, mixed vegetables in garlic sauce and something I had never tried before: sauteed sigarilyas (wing beans) in coconut milk with chili and shrimp.  For dessert, we shared the leche flan turron (a flan-stuffed spring roll) and the refreshing pandan and coconut jelly.  As you can imagine, it was a Filipino food fiesta.

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UCC Cafe 
Ground Floor, One Rockwell West Tower, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 896 3951

Milky Way Cafe
2nd Floor, 900 A. Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road), Makati
Telephone: +63 2 843 4124

Cafe Via Mare
Ground floor, Rockwell Center, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 898 1305

Mesa Filipino Moderne  
Greenbelt 5, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 728 0886

LA CEIBA

On our way to dinner a few weeks back we passed by a large well-lit cafe on the bustling avenue Roosevelt which we added to our list of new places to try out.  Last Sunday, after brunch at another new discovery in Condado (more on that later), we headed over to Puerto Nuevo to see what they had to offer.

La Ceiba is a large delicatessen and pastry shop specializing in Spanish treats from jamon and chorizo to churros and turron.  A large chiller counter lines one whole wall and is filled with goodies - cakes, pastries, sweets and bread while a small area off to the side has prepared food - boquerones en vinagre (white anchovies marinated in vinegar), seafood paella, chorizos stewed in red wine and lots of other goodies.  There are also sandwiches made with jamon serrano and other Spanish cold cuts.

The cafe itself is more a self-serve cafeteria with simple formica topped tables and wooden chairs where  one can have breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack as the place is open all day from early in the morning to late in the evening.  It was bustling for a Sunday afternoon with locals lingering over lunch or just having a beer, some ham and watching Spanish football on the large-screen tv's.

We succumbed to a few sweets to go - mallorca, churros, quesitos (a caramelized puff-pasty case stuffed with white cheese) as well as a few salty treats - a togo box of crispy roasted pig crackling and a small portion of seafood paella.  La Ceiba is perfect for a simple Spanish meal or a coffee and a pastry with a bit of local flavor thrown in.

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La Ceiba

1239 Ave. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Puerto Nuevo 00920

Puerto Rico

Telephone: +1 787 782 0419

*Open all-day everyday from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

CHOPHOUSE

In every country we've lived, we always look out for a neighborhood restaurant which becomes our weekly takeaway place.  In Santiago, it was roast chicken; in Montreal, it was bagels: in Marbella, it was Thai and in Bali, it was Japanese.  Well, we just found our new to-go restaurant in Dorado and it's Chinese from the Chophouse.

We met Sam and his wife Jess several weeks ago when we went to our first Puerto Rican dinner at Scott & Ann's where we found out that they also owned and ran the Chophouse restaurant in the nearby mall.  We have been to dinner there and had takeaway a few times already and the food has been consistently good and the service, friendly.  We have the crispy orange beef, the vegetable Lo-Mein, grilled five-spice squid, pan-fried dumplings, shredded chicken in lettuce cups, sauteed duck with eggplant and stir-fried tofu with vegetables.  The restaurant also has Teppanyaki and sushi which we haven't tried yet but will do as we've heard that it's also good.  Slowly but surely, we'll go through their menu till we've tried all their specialties.

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Chophouse

Paseo de Plata Shopping Village

Avenida Jose Efron Dorado

Dorado 00646 Puerto Rico

Telephone:  +1 787 796 8787

*Open Tuesdays to Fridays for dinner from 5:30 to 11:00 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 11:00 p.m., Closed Mondays

*Valet parking available

CAFE ZINC

On our last morning in Laguna beach we stopped by for a quick breakfast at Cafe Zinc, the other breakfast place on Ocean Avenue, right before the more than four-hour drive back to Las Vegas.  With three locations in Orange County, this place is loved by the locals and is usually always packed for breakfast.  We had been to nearby Cafe Anastasia several times and never to Cafe Zinc as we were initially put off by their no-meat menu (meaning no bacon for breakfast).  On our last day though, we decided to try it and see what the fuss was all about.

The Laguna Beach Cafe Zinc has both a cafe and market adjacent with a separate entry.  The marketplace has a takeaway counter for bread (from La Brea bakery), pastries, coffees and drinks to go plus a large selection of deli items, soups, sandwiches, salads and prepared platters.  The Cafe is self-serve and usually has lines snaking out the door so get ready to queue and then try and snag one of the outdoor tables.  There is a large breakfast and lunch menu and a dinner menu on the evenings when dinner is served.  Although not advertised as a vegetarian place, Cafe Zinc doesn't serve any meat but there are so many dishes to choose from on their extensive menu that the absence of meat wouldn't be missed.

For breakfast, my sister and I shared the Huevos Rancheros, a poached egg over papaya salsa, blackbean chili, smoked Gouda, marinara sauce and a toasted bagel with butter and jam.  She had a creamy cafe mocha and I had a not so great espresso.  All in all an okay breakfast but not as tasty as the one at Cafe Anastasia up the road.  I would give this vegetarian cafe another chance maybe for lunch when there are more interesting choices on the menu.

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Cafe Zinc

Market and Cafe

350 Ocean Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Cafe: + 1 949 494 6302
Market: +1 949 494 2791
*Open daily, Market  and Cafe from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

(Cafe open only till 4:00 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays)
*Cafe dinners starting May 2, 2012, Wednesday to Sunday from 5:00 to 9:30 p.m.

KAT'S KITCHEN

Now that our son is back in school and we just have to finalize our lease on a house, Bali is starting to feel like home.  We're still staying at the hotel which is a luxurious treat but not that easy with kids so we try and have some meals outside the hotel to get away from daily room service and being in the villa all the time.

Down the road from Uluwatu in nearby Ungasan is a place we drive by all the time called Kat's Kitchen which has a large brightly-lit sign right on the road advertizing Thai fusion cuisine.  We finally stopped by last week for a quick dinner and we've been back a few times since the food is good, the service friendly and the prices very reasonable.  The place looks unassuming from outside and the parking lot is seemingly empty until one walks in and see that the restaurant is actually quite full with surfers and beachcombers who have come on their motorbikes.

We had several main courses to share - a delicious Pad Thai with chicken, a spicy-sweet-lime flavored Laarb gai (minced chicken salad), crispy pork ribs and a green curry of vegetables with lots of steamed rice (all for around 168,000 Rupiah or US$ 18.50).  On another evening, we brought our son along and had the usual pork ribs and Pad Thai but also tried the prawn spring rolls and the red curry of aubergines.  The food comes quick and the portions are large enough to share - perfect for a cheap and cheerful meal.

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Kat's Kitchen

Jalan Raya Uluwatu 132, Ungasan

Telephone: +62 361 272 8600

Takeaway and delivery - katsthaifooddelivery@yahoo.com

Open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

LA MORAGA SWEET

After a recent walk around Puerto Banus, I noticed that the storefront near Pizza San Marzano (aka Pizza Express), which was still under construction a few weeks back, is now open.  La Moraga Sweet, operated by chef Dani Garcia and his team at nearby always-packed tapas bar La Moraga Iberica, is a little cafe with a large display of cakes that look almost like art in their perfection.  This little place will definitely give Le Notre (on the other end of the same road) a run for its' money.  When we dropped by, they were still stringing up the plastic bubble lamp over the cake display case but otherwise, the place was ready.   I had an illy espresso in a special cup created by Pedro Almodovar along with a designer looking eclair filled with coffee cream.  The stools are fun but not that comfortable so it be a place where you can linger with your cappuccino but you can always drop by for a quick coffee and a pastry and then choose one of the cakes to enjoy at home.  It's a great place to buy a hostess gift or as a present when one is invited over.  I'm definitely going back for another espresso and to try another of their pretty pastries.

P.D. (January 30 2010) - Went back today to buy some of their wonderful pastries.  Pricey at 3 euros a piece but worth it especially with the fantastic packaging.  Just wish that the staff would learn to smile and make the experience more pleasant.

COMPTOIR DE LA GASTRONOMIE

After our gossip-filled breakfast with Daria, we jumped into a taxi and rushed to Les Halles and got off on the corner of rue Etienne Marcel and rue Montmartre to meet family/friend (it's a long story), Tonger, for lunch at Comptoir de La Gastronomie.  Last time we saw each other was for breakfast in late January and before that was fourteen years ago so there's been quite a lot of catching up going on.

Tonger is a real foodie and so we have that in common.  The last time we met, he brought us two hunks of cheese - Comte and Mimolette - that we brought back home to Marbella.  This time, I promised to get him some jamon Iberico and as a special treat, I also brought some jabuguitos (chorizo Iberico) and a bottle of Balsamico al vinagre de Jerez (sherry vinegar glaze) but he surprised me too with an Eiffel tower chocolate mold from kitchen emporium Mora across the way. 

After we said our hellos, we settled into a banquette and checked the menus out. Comptoir de La Gastronomie is a delicatessen and boutique selling gastronomic ingredients and delicacies - from fresh foie gras d'oie (fresh goose liver) to andouillete (white sausage), from tapenade (black olive spread) to wines, from magret de canard fume (smoked duck breast) to sel de guerande (Guerande sea salt).  Founded in 1894, the wooden shelves and moldings have been retained and the atmosphere of an antique epicerie prevails.  There are two entrances - one that goes directly into the deli and the other to the small restaurant alongside which serves most of what's available at the deli.  The menu is limited with a couple of foie-gras starters, cassoulet, several salads and a few simple dishes like steak tartare.

My mind was made up ahead of time as Tonger had been raving about the foie gras carpaccio and I couldn't resist ordering something I had never tried before.   Tonger had another specialty - the pan-fried goose liver while my mom and A both had the cassoulet.  Tonger ordered his favorite Loire wine, Cour- Cheverny (a white wine made from Romorantin grapes usually served with foie gras), JM Tendresse from vigneron Michel Gendrier. According to the server, it was unavailable so she offered us a Chenin blanc, from Montlouis-sur-Loire, a Domaine de La Grange Tiphaine.

Our food came quick - the cassoulet served in an earthenware dish filled with chunks of sausage, bacon and a duck leg confit over white beans.  Tonger's sauteed foie gras came with toasted pain d'epices (spice bread) and a small green salad.  It was seared perfectly on the outside, soft and creamy inside and delicious. The star of the show though was my foie gras carpaccio - a large plate (almost a platter) of very, very thinly sliced fresh foie gras, layered carefully, drizzled with honey and balsamic vinegar glaze and sprinkled with sel de guerande.  It came with a dollop of caramelized onions and some slices of pickled ginger.  The foie gras was melt-in-your-mouth delicious but the addition of the tart balsamic vinegar glaze, the sweetness of the honey and the crunch and flavor provided by the sea salt made each mouthful delectably different.  The accompanying caramelized onions and pickled ginger (just like the one served with sushi) was a welcome flavor contrast to the richness of the foie gras - a very interesting combination and a memorable gastronomic first.

We ended the meal with espressos and finished the rest of the wine.  As we were leaving, Tonger whipped out another surprise - a bottle of the Cour-Cheverny he wanted to have with lunch which was available at the deli, for us to take back home.  We said our quick goodbyes at the door and off he rushed back to work and we wandered down the rue Etienne Marcel in search of a taxi while the pleasurable memories of lunch lingered on.

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Comptoir de La Gastronomie

34, rue de Montmartre 75001 Paris

Tel: +33 01 42 33 31 32

Orders can be made online via their website: www.comptoir-gastronomie.com

ROSE BAKERY 2

Thursday was supposed to be our shopping day and initially, all we had scheduled was lunch with Tonger at his favorite foie gras place in Paris. Plans were changed at the last minute on Wednesday though since my son called to let us know that he had his last football game of the season (and the chance to be champions of the little league) on Saturday morning so we changed our return flights to Friday making Thursday our last (hectic) day in Paris.

We ended up meeting another good friend, Daria, for breakfast at the new Rose Bakery in the Marais a block away from her new apartment.  We turned up at half past ten in front of what seemed to be a little grocery shop with no sign outside.  The restaurant/deli was completely empty except for the seemingly foreign-student servers setting up for lunch.  While we were waiting for Daria, my mom ordered a cappuccino and a scone with butter and jam.  I wasn't sure what to have since they were offering only the cakes on display and I didn't really feel like starting my morning with their famous carrot cake, delicious though it may be.

When Daria arrived and we had hugged and said our hellos and finally settled into our table by the front door, she somehow managed to convince the servers to rustle up some eggs for us: oeufs brouille and an omelet nature.  She had a Rooibos (South African red tea) and I ordered an organic coffee bean espresso and we caught up on each other's new since we last saw each other in January.  Service is definitely unobtrusive (they pretty much left us alone) to chat away until our food was served.  The plain omelet was baveuse (runny) and came with a small green salad and the scrambled eggs were creamy and delicious, something that looks so easy but so hard to get right.  No toast was available which was a pity as some bread would have been perfect with the eggs.

Funnily enough, although Rose Bakery is open for all day for breakfast, there really isn't a proper breakfast menu.  You'll just have to choose whatever is on display - cakes, scones, muffins etc.  There is, however, a limited lunch menu of dishes available EVERYDAY (vegetable plate,  salad and tarte/quiche or pizzete and an omelette du jour), daily changing specials labelled TODAY (gazpacho, asparagus risotto, beef carpaccio bruschetta, chicken and sweet potato curry and tofu and Shiitake mushrooms) plus DESSERTS (fromage anglais et chutney, riz au lait, crumble du jour, fruit compote and pastries).  There are also large platters of different salads on the counter available for takeaway.   The drinks menu has fruit smoothies and fresh juices aside from the assorted leaf teas and bio-café. Watch out though for the tiny print as food eaten in the restaurant is charged a 50% premium on the displayed takeaway price.  Total bill for our deliciously simple breakfast was  €25.

Rose Bakery is basically a delicatessen/takeaway counter/restaurant serving food often made with organic ingredients which seems to be popular in Paris at the moment proving that, aside from all the Jamon Iberico on offer I saw in many restaurant menus on this trip, biologique, c'est chic.

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Rose Bakery 2

30, rue Debelleyme (on rue de Bretagne) 75003, Paris

Tel: +33 1 49 96 54 01

* No sign so watch out for the unobtrusive metal and glass-fronted entrance

* No reservations taken so get there early to snag one of the few tables.