french food

My boyfriend took me to Glasshouse for my birthday. Glasshouse is one of those restaurants that for years I have seen in the Hardens guide as one of the most mentioned restaurants, that always scored very well on the quality of food, but that I have never visited myself before, mainly because it is located in Kew, so not that easy to get to. Hence I was very happy when my boyfriend booked this and surprised me. The Glasshouse serves modern British food and is owned by Nigel Platts-Martin and Bruce Poole, who also owned two other restaurants in London Chez Bruce and La Trompette (MMm) and out of these two, I prefer Chez Bruce. The Glasshouse opened in 1999 and got its first Michelin star in 2002.

I was staying in Paris with my girlfriends for the weekend and on a Saturday morning we all fancied some light breakfast/ brunch in the neighbourhood area where we were staying. One of my friends suggested we go to Café Charlot, a neighbourhood French brasserie. Café Charlot is located on the corner of Rue Charlot and Rue de Bretagne in the Le Marais area in Paris. It is a very typical brasserie with people sitting outside and enjoying their morning cigarette and coffee and people sitting inside and eating a more substantial meal.  When we arrived at around 11.00 the place was full and they had problems finding us a table where to sit as there were seven of us.

Café de Flore is a French brasserie on the trendy Rue Saint Germain on the left side of the Seine river. We were walking on Rue Saint Germain and my friend Katrina suggested we stop there for a late light lunch as she said this place was quite famous (clearly is as they even have their own Wikipedia page that says they are one of the oldest and the most prestigious coffeehouses in Paris, celebrated for its famous clientele and Café de Flore has hosted many intellectuals since World War II!!). The name of the Cafe is taken from a sculpture of Flora, goddess of flowers and the season of spring in Roman mythology, located on the opposite side of the boulevard.

One of my friends suggested Millésimes 62 restaurant for lunch, as it was convenient for us to meet there. Millesiumes 62 is located on a roundabout, on Place de Catalogne, close to the Montparnasse train station. It’s not quite a brasserie, it is more of a restaurant, and they serve French food with a strong influence from the South and Provence. The inside of the restaurant was pleasant, with a few different areas, dining room, bar and they also have a private room. We were seated in the dining room where you could find nice sofas, white tablecloths. Millésimes 62 was originally opened in 2005 but the current owners, Sandrine and Stéphane Savorgnan, took it over in 2007, and Sadrine has worked in hospitality and Stéphane is a chef that has worked in many restaurants, so together they know how to run a restaurant. The main chef at the moment however is David Ditte.

My amazing boyfriend was observing the Latvian celebration of my namesday and had bought me a present, a day in Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons where I attended a Clarins make-up session, Raymond Blanc cookery school and which finished with a wonderful lunch.

Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons is a luxury hotel and restaurant in the village of Great Multon, near Oxford in Oxfordshire. The hotel is absolutely beautiful and like a small cute and beautiful cottage located in a historic manor house. The rooms are not cheap and the cheapest one is around £600, and it also features the famous chef’s Raymod Blanc’s restaurant with his own vegetable garden next to Le Manoir where he grows quite a few of the things he later cooks in his restaurant. We visited the two-acre vegetable garden after our meal, and it was so interesting to see 90 types of vegetable and 70 varieties of herbs all grow there.