On coffee

I've been missing my flat whites since getting back from New Zealand. Even more so today after seeing these posts from Marion and Kristina.
Still, French cafés are not so bad, especailly if madeleines are involved.

Les Fruits de Mer

Back from New Zealand at the weekend it seemed a good way to counter my wish to be back in a kiwi summer, by having a seafood lunch at Les Halles in Sète.
The crumbed oysters were delicous & the tiny glasses of white wine just enough for soothing a jetlagged head.

Brunswick House Café

Brunswick House Cafe is an 18th century mansion sandwiched between all the horrible new apartment developments along the river at Vauhall Bridge. It's a gem and completely unique.
You can read the Time Out review here.
I hadn't realised how much I'd missed eating these little Portuguese custard tarts in the second to last shot. I used to have them regularly while living in South London as it's an area with a big Portuguese community.

Sicilian Granita

Limone

Mandorla - made from almonds.

A killer choccolatta granita.

Limone with flecks of lemon rind.

Pistachio and mandorla- a favourite with the locals.

Gelsi - a blackcurrant flavoured granita.


We were told to try granitas made from local Catanian flavours.
So there was a lot of limone sampling, much pistachio, a fair amount of mandorla and sadly, only one taste of gelsi.

sunday morning's at sète

What I really love about cafés in France is the relaxed attitude towards bringing your own food. It's more than tolerated, it's actively encouraged. We often go to Sète on a Sunday morning & always to the same café, waiting for a table if needs be. We bring pastries brought from a local boulangerie & sometimes stay long enough to order a plate of oysters & mussels from les Halles across the road. The waiter then brings us each a glass of wine that he's chosen, always a different variety for me & another for F.

I spotted these biscuits on our last visit. As a child we called them 'snail biscuits' & I spent many an afternoon baking & promptly eating them.

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luca's

I can never decide which I like taking best - before or after fika shots.
At any rate the cinnamon buns at Luca's Bakery on Lordship Lane are some of the best.

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the gilbert scott

I took coffee at the newly opened Gilbert Scott Hotel beside St Pancras station while waiting for a Eurostar train.
It really is "taking" coffee the old fashioned way - complete with coffee pot and warm milk in a jug.

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coffee & cameras

I met Marion & Robert for breakfast on a very rainy morning in Paris a couple of weeks ago.
You can see her side of the table here.

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coffee & donuts

Ever since Nigel Slater wrote in the Observer food monthly about the St. John doughnuts, I've been wanting to go down to Maltby Street market to try one. I finally made it down on my last trip to London, early one sunny Saturday morning.

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how to make a cup of tea*

warm cup

pour milk into said cup

draw tea

and pour

draw again

then fill to the brim

drink, preferably with dunking biscuit.

* the old fashioned way by my dad.

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Audrey kept me company, while I had afternoon tea at the bar on the 5th floor of the National Portrait Gallery. The view wasn't bad either.

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chez bebelle

Chez Bebelle is a café / bistro in the midst of Les halles in Narboone. We breakfasted there a few Sundays ago and liked it so much decided to go back for lunch as well.
What at 10am had been a quiet Sunday morning café, had at midday turned into a mass of people, with groups of families & friends drinking wine and eating plates of charcuterie or fruits de mer brought over from neighbouring stalls.
We shared a table with a couple who'd come up from Beziers for the day.
It was very good fun and I ran out of film. Problem solved by nippng across the road to the tabac for a couple of rolls of kodak gold.

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