Lille, France: Gluttonous Travels & a Joyeux Paques

Only 90 minutes from London, lies the small Flemish city of Lille. Sure, the skies are as grey and the streets are as wet as London's - but the natives of Lille know how to cook a duck. This alone was worth the cost of a Eurostar ticket for our Easter weekend getaway.

The food in Lille is a regional and traditional mix of Northern French and Belgian fare - think carbonade flamande (beer based beef stew), waterzoi au poisson (cream sole and vegetables), potjevlessch (a cold potted terrine of veal, rabbit and ham) and gauffres (the amazing waffles). This is not a place for dieting. Crucially, there's no shortage of Belgian chocolate shops - the spots suddenly festering on my face are a striking testament to the fact.

Lille is the capital of the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France, not far from the border between France and Belgium. The birthplace of Charles de Gaulle, most of its visual charms, and some beautifully ornate Flemish architecture, lie in a handful of streets comprising the cobbled old town - Vieux Lille. People tend to go on about the Grand Place - a huge square in the heart of the town - but it would be fair to say it's not the prettiest of old squares I've come across. It was fairly touristy of course, but most (not all) of the bars/cafes on its sidelines were a bit grimy. To discover Lille's real charm, you need to work those cobblestones a little harder.

Meert (27 rue Esquermoise), pictured above - This picture perfect patisserie and chocolate shop is Lille's most famous. It started trading in the 1760s and it's safe to say no trip to Lille is complete without a thorough sampling of its wonderous gauffres (filled waffles). The light crispy wafers filled with vanilla or chocolate sugary goodness are the best gauffres in Lille (yes, we conducted an extensive sampling of the competition, so I can say it with certainty). It is said that Charles de Gaulle himself held a regular order for them all his life. Ornate and lavish, with mirrors and truly exquisite cakes and pastries, I owe quite a few sugar rushes to this gem of a place. It also has a tea room at the back. Most importantly, Meert was the birthplace of my delicious chocolate Easter Egg "poulet" this year, courtesy of TPG (and I didn't think it was possible to love him more...).

(My Easter Egg from Meert)

Rue de la Monnaie is another cobbled street lined with patisseries, boutiques, cafes and bars. One of our favourite bakeries there was Aux Merveilleux de Fred. TPG stocked up on what was possibly the BEST dessert I have EVER had - the Incroyable. Back at the hotel room later, we feasted with our hands on this gorgeous concoction of meringue, specaloos cream, white chocolate and cream. The delicious custard flan hardly got a look in (until later).

(The amazing Incroyable)

Meanwhile, I snuck into Benoit (77 rue de la Monnaie), another fabulous chocolate shop with over 50 varieties of locally made chocolates and truffles, to buy TPG's bell shaped Easter egg filled with little praline balls - clocks are symbollic of Easter at this time of year (in Belgium, it's said that the church bells leave for Rome every Easter and bring back the eggs on Saturday). I'm not sure if this was appreciated by TPG, but from his chocolatey smile all day, I can vouch for the quality of the egg.

Afternoons are the time to settle into a cafe for a local biere blanche or kir - or you could linger over a long lunch with a carafe of wine in the spirit of the TPG and me. Our first lunch was at La Petite Cour (17 rue du Cure St-Etienne), a small but busy cafe/bar with wooden tables and its fair share of Lille's young population, as well as some old, intellectual types (judging from the funky glasses). Over a carafe of inexpensive but delicious red wine, we shared a good, hearty meal of blanquette de veau (a tasty veal stew in a wine sauce) and the biggest magret du canard (duck breast) I've ever clapped eyes on - this thing was the size of a rib-eye. LPC apparently has a courtyard on summer days.

 

Monsieur Jacques (30 rue de Gand) - is a fun, busy little wine bar for a pre-dinner drink, nestled among a strip of restaurants on the busy (and somewhat touristy) rue de Gand. It has a funky, younger crowd of locals but it's not overly cool or intimidating.

But one of my favourite of the local traditions was that nobody starts dinner without first sipping a glass of champagne. When in Rome...

L'Estaminet de La Royale (37 rue Royale) - We stumbled upon this gorgeous, traditional little brasserie while exploring in the old town. We stood at the bar sipping kirs poured by the gregarious owner and fell in love with the place while waiting for a table among a mix of locals who seemed to be regulars. Not a tourist in sight. There's a few tables at the front where we eyed of plates off well presented Flemish, family style food - noting everyone was opting for the daily specials of carbonade flamande (beer based beef stew) and magret du canard (duck breast). We joined a small room of tables at the back and perused the handwritten menu, with our well-worn French-English dictionary in hand. I enjoyed a terrific steak - hearty, juicy and perfectly cooked with tasty vegetable sides and a local Maroilles cheesy sauce. TPG's magret du canard was delicious, although a little light on for bulk so he helped himself to some of mine. We finished off with a cafe creme, but no room for dessert. Recommended. Prices are generally around 12-20 Euros for a main meal.

L'Assiette du Marche (61 rue de la Monnaie) - Set back from the street in the courtyard of a townhouse that was once Louis XIV's royal mint, this enormous restaurant was teeming with locals. Prices are cheap - 21 Euro for 3 courses, 17 for 2 courses - or reasonably priced a la carte.  However, the food is modern and well presented. After starting with a glass of Pommery champagne (8 Euros), and moving on to a wonderful Meursault, I adored my delicately presented vegetable terrine as well as TPG's hearty fish soup with all the trimmings (both for around 7 Euros each). Still struggling after a big lunch and snacks and snacks in between snacks, I opted for a second entree of smoked salmon and buttery potatoes - again delicious. TPG's chicken breast with morrel and cream sauce was hearty and flavourful - another winner. We retreated home to devour our Incroyable for sweets at the hotel. The interior is nothing special (especially compared to the promise of its beautiful facade) but there's plenty of chatter and service is ultra friendly. Recommended.

 

La Cave aux Fioles (39 rue de Gand) - Dark and candlelit, with brick walls and red tablecloths, this restaurant is traditional, but frequented almost solely by English tourists on the night of our visit. TPG dined on an enjoyable, chunky fish stew, however my steak was overcooked (at well done), chewy and overloaded with stringy sinew. It did have a cute plastic cow stuck in the top of it (which helpfully doubled as a toothpick to attend to the sinew). The Il flottante was slightly too sweet and the meringue as rubbery as a wet shower cap. My cold cheese tasted like fridge. My red wine glass smelt like egg and had to be swapped (a pet peeve when dishes are mixed in with eggy things in the wash). Apparently there is a courtyard, and jazz on some nights.

Wazemmes Market - One of the highlights of the weekend was Sunday morning spent at Wazemmes market. Do not go to Lille without visiting the market. I love a French market, and this one is the biggest I have ever seen. Teeming with stalls selling everything you could not possibly want, from cheap towels to underwear and electronics, we made a beeline through the throng for the food section. I have never seen so many rotisserie chickens in my life.

We wandered past stalls selling Moroccan tagines, cheeses (some of the local cheeses pictured above look like bright orange pumpkins), ribs, Vietnamese and Chinese fare, fruit and vegetables (we loved the stubby radishes which we devoured by the bunch), baguettes, pastries and gigantic flat, round Moroccan breads, making several purchases along the way. There are cafes facing out on to the market to sit and sip a wine and watch the world go by, while streets leading up to the market are also worth a poke around - we discovered some gorgeous food stores, delicatessens and a beer specialist selling all sorts of weird and wonderful brews to fill up our suitcases.

We returned to the hotel with our arms laden with bags to prepare a leisurely Easter Sunday lunch. The market is certainly a more edgy part of town compared to Vieux Lille, but definitely worth visiting.

While in Lille we stayed at HotelSuisse, which is conveniently across the road from the Eurostar station (and the amazing L shaped building of the Credit Lyonnais) and is a 10 minute walk to the centre of town. Spacious, modern and comfortable it was also amazingly cheap for its calibre at around 70 Euro per night. It's no designer/boutique hotel (I couldn't find anything like that for a reasonable price throughout my research) but it's comfortable and has a shower, bath and free movies (great for rainy day interludes). My main quibble was that the walk into the more charming parts of town was a bit annoying at times, so if you can find something as reliable closer to the action, then go for it. Also, take your own equipment if you want to blow dry your hair in under 500 hours - this is one pathetic excuse for a hairdryer.

There are no frills (like moisturisers or shampoo) and they only gave us 1 tiny container of UHT milk (containing about 2 teaspoons of milk) for our coffees. When we asked for more, they gave us 1 more (5 more would have been closer to the money). But staff are helpful and breakfast was free - a help yourself arrangement to basic cereal, fruit, yoghurt, very buttery croissants, breads etc - nothing hot, and nothing too fancy. But who wants to fill up in the hotel when the delights of Lille await...

We didn't eat at L'Huitriere, a Michelin star seafood restaurant in the old town, but it gets decent reviews if you want to blow the budget.

(Lovely wine bar in the old town)

(Typical street in the old town of Lille)

I'd say 2 full days is a perfect amount of time for Lille. We stayed longer (3.5 days), but took things at a leisurely pace and took advantage of the free movies and some time to read a stack of books and mags in wine bars during downtime (aaah, the luxury of holidays...). There are some lovely clothes boutiques for shopping trips (not so many for guys - sorry TPG), but not more than enough to knock over in a day if you're focussed (and Sunday trading is limited). Lille is certainly a handy place to practice your French over some fantastic Flemish food and wonderful, well priced French wines. Bon appetit!

Lahore Kebab House: Whitechapel, London

In the hotly debated world of food lovers, there's one thing most Londoners hold as gospel - if you want some good lamb chops, go to Whitechapel.

Whitechapel boasts some of the oldest and most revered Pakistani restaurants in London. Many would cite Tayyabs as a favourite. These kinds of places are to the feasting Brit what good Thai and Vietnamese restaurants are to the gluttonous Aussie. And, although the Thai and Vietnamese flavours are still preferable to my Australian palate, I'm not one to knock back a good plate of lamb chops. Here, in London, go to the right places and they do them so well.

Last week, we took on a feast at Lahore Kebab House.

The first thing you notice is that it's massive and it's packed to the rafters. The whole upstairs floor was crowded with groups welcoming in the weekend with Cobra beers, spicy curries, grilled chops, and tandoori chicken to their hearts' content. At least one thing this place has over Tayyabs is that there's so much seating, you won't have to spend half your night in a queue.

We started with poppadoms, minted yoghurt and mango chutney (all fairly standard) and, the main draw card for me, platefuls of expertly grilled, marinated lamb chops (£7.50). The spicy marinade is intense, but delicious, and our first serve was moist, tender and juicy - perfect. Subsequent platefuls were, unfortunately, quite chewy.

There's a full range of curries (£5.50 each for vegie, £7.50 each for meaty) varied from mild to spicy - we sampled most of them. While nothing screamed out at me as being earth shattering, they were a cut above the curries I've sampled closer to home in the West End. Serving sizes are decent.

The huge stacks of plain naan we ordered to slurp them up were excellent.

And (halleluyah!) it's BYO, so take your booze (there's an off-licence next door) and for 15 quid per head you can feast til you burst. Just don't expect any frills - champagne glasses were provided for the red wine drinkers.

Service is brusque and not particularly personable, but when you're getting such good food at low prices, and given the number of covers, you can't expect too many pleasantries. The only hitch occurred when our waiter spilled red wine all over the shirt of one of the ladies at our table - however, they did deduct her share from the bill.

Perhaps not a location for a romantic special occassion (do NOT get any ideas TPG), but just brilliant for a big, noisy night out with a gang of like minded gluttons.

Lahore Kebab House, 2-10 Umberston Street, Whitechapel, London E1 1PY

The Lanesborough: A posh afternoon tea in London

Now and then, I'm quite partial to a nice scone with lashings of jam and cream. As a child, my parents would bribe my sister and I to partake in long drives up to the Dandenongs in Australia to look at ceramics and seemingly endless paintings of bush scenes, with promises of a big Devonshire tea along the way. It always did the trick. The scones were the size of a Gregg Wallace’s head, and never came with the dreaded sultanas (not that I'm suggesting GW's head does). I still measure up all scones since to the high standards they have imprinted on my memory.

Many years ago, I had a lovely afternoon tea at The Savoy for my birthday (although I have no idea what it's like now), and 2 years ago I enjoyed the Fashionista afternoon tea at The Berkeley with some girlfriends (with colourful cakes shaped like handbags and shoes, how could it not be superb?). The afternoon tea at Claridges - complete with art deco finery, live tickling of the ivories on the grand piano, a constantly refreshed serve of sandwiches/cakes/scones and at least 1 major celebrity sighting - still remains hard to beat. Refuel at The Soho Hotel also offers a fun, more casual version. Not that I do this all the time...

However, on Sunday, I was off for a very la-di-dah ladies’ afternoon to try out The Lanesborough for tea with some lovely food bloggers, Mathilde's Cuisine, Food for Think and Gourmet Chick. I merely nibbled at breakfast and skipped lunch in preparation. I was eyeing off the furniture by the time of our 4pm sitting.

The Lanesborough won the UK Tea Council's Award of Excellence 2009 and Best Afternoon Tea in London 2008. It also lays claim to England's first tea sommelier, Karl Kessab, to guide you through your tea selection - although I didn't clap eyes on him on Sunday.

The ritzy main dining room is set off by large round chandeliers, high glass ceilings and big spacious tables, for the pleasure of young and old alike in all their Sunday finery. In contrast to my recent visits to some of London's steakhouses, the crowd is largely women. Dressing up is, of course, half the fun. Soft piano tunes tinkle over the speakers, although the music is not live (despite sounding like it – we were upturning the cushions looking for the piano at one stage).

I am not a huge tea connoisseur, and the only teas I like are certain green teas or Earl Grey. I opted for the Earl Grey, while my companions were more exotic in their selections. The teas came served in individual shiny silver pots, although I was a little disappointed in the flavour and aroma of my tea – it tasted more like English Breakfast tea to me, missing those lovely fragrant bergamot flavours which usually hit me immediately with Earl Grey. The other teas were lovely. My only other word of caution with the tea – go easy if you’re not used to drinking copious cupfuls after 4pm. I had quite a few re-fills, and as a result was still wide eyed into the wee hours of Sunday night (#traps for beginners).

An amuse bouche of a light parfait with berries and chocolate kicked off proceedings. A lovely sign of things to come.

Our 3 tiered bounty of sandwiches, cakes, friands, scones and tea cakes then arrived, accompanied by a plate of heavenly Stilton and caramelised red onion tarts. The sandwiches were more hit and miss – the selection included cucumber (of course); chicken and sundried tomato paste; smoked salmon; and egg filled brioche rolls. The flavours were nice enough (no amazing stand outs) but there were some questions over the freshness of the bread, which was quite dry in places.

The scones were gorgeous – quite dense, and served with delicious strawberry jam, clotted cream and lemon curd. With a mere flick of the wrist, we ordered a second round. The fruity tea cakes were also quite nice.

The next tier of happiness contained some lovely friands - chocolate, carrot cake and lemon varieties. The chocolate was particularly good, although it was so decadent and rich that I could only manage a sliver (we had diplomatically sectioned everything up into quarters for sharing).

And then, at the top, the penthouse. Intricate and colourful cakey/moussey creations set off our tiered stand wonderfully, like a lady’s feathery racing day hat. Very Alice in Wonderland. I really liked all of these, and a Mont Blanc style sweet with meringue and chestnut cream (the one that looks like its wearing wholemeal spaghetti) was scrumptious.

Service was formal, but helpful. Sittings can be booked at 4pm, 4.30pm or 5pm, but maximise the luxury with a 4pm sitting since service ends at 6pm regardless. (No-one wants to be booted out mid friand). We had the pleasure of the standard afternoon tea for £35 per person, although there are more expensive options if you wish to add champagne.

Frocking up for The Lanesborough’s afternoon tea, on the fringes of Hyde Park, is a delightful way to spend a leisurely afternoon. I did think I may never eat again, although of course that all changed as the sun set and I found myself gorging again – separate stomachs for sweet 'n savoury and all that....

The Lanesborough Hotel, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge SW1X 7TA (Ph: +44 (0)20 7259 5599)

Koba: A Korean BBQ in London

I have now tried walking into Koba so many times, only to find it full, that I had almost given up on it altogether. I'm still not used to having to plan so far ahead in this city. Get with the programme, GD.

Fortunately for me, A Rather Unusual Chinaman, is a man with a plan, and secured us a booking at this fabulous little Korean BBQ restaurant, tucked away near Charlotte Street.

The setting is clean and minimalist, detracting nothing from the food. The delicious, BBQ aromas wafting over from nearby tables had me drooling even before we ordered. Not even the fact that ARUC was drinking cocktails from a curly pink straw could distract us from the main event as plate after plate of scrumptious fare came our way.

Naturally, we started with some obligatory Goona Mandoo (pan fried dumplings - £5.50) - lovely.

Being indecisive about which meats to order for the BBQ, we decided on the Koba Modeum Gooi - a "grand assortment" of meats, prawns and vegetables (£23.90).  Our waiter started off the cooking at the hot plate in front of us, although I think we took over as we got into the swing of things. The sirloin was smoky, tender and absolutely lip-smacking.

Just as good as the BBQ was the Yookwei Dolsot Bibimbap - steamed rice with raw beef and vegetables in a Korean hot stone pot (£9.20). All this was mixed in together at the table. Loved it.

Finally, we had desserts - green tea ice-cream (always a favourite with me) and some weird cakey thing with green stuff in between. I can't remember for the life of me what it was, and it was fine although not really my thing.

So, Koba has a new fan. I've tried a few Korean BBQ places around the West End now, but Koba is a new favourite. If you want to read more, here are some others who agree with me: A Rather Unusual Chinaman; Catty; Meemalee.

Koba, 11 Rathbone Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1NA