Another Food Blog

Most colleges have a big formal meal for graduands on the eve of the ceremony. After you’ve been duly inducted as a member of the university, many people are busy packing and preparing to head off, and want only a casual meal. So Aki-Teri was a good choice. I’ve seen three previous bar-restaurants flounder on that site, but since the highly successful Japanese restaurant Teri-Aki took over, it’s been headed upwards. I don’t know if the name reversal is a joke, but the formula is almost identical, give or take some Thai and Korean options, and when we went the place was crowded, mostly with Orientals, which is a good sign.

I opted for three starter dishes instead of a more formal set meal, so I ordered deep fried prawns in Japanese breadcrumbs, which seemed nicer and crumblier than ordinary ones. The meat dumplings (Gyoza) were appetizing, but the pastry was a little hard at the edges. It usually is, so I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be. My deep fried spicy chicken fillets were a surprise, in that they were hotter than I’d expected, and gave the meal quite a taste boost. Fortunately I cooled down with an ’07 Keate’s Drift sauvignon blanc at 12.5 percent.

Afterwards we sat in the courtyard of the nearby Pickerel for drinks and in my case a Chambourd cigar brought back from France at a cost of 2 euros. Pretty nice evening.

I enjoy croissants most mornings in France and many in England. The French ones are far better – somehow they make them fluffier. I’ve never seen French ones with anything in them but chocolate; however I have seen savoury-filled croissants in the US. I had a couple of croissants left over, and since they don’t keep, I thought I use them for lunchtime sandwiches. I halved them laterally with a very sharp knife, cutting carefully so as not to crush their texture. I gently smeared light mayonnaise on each half, then made my fresh salmon with cucumber, lemon and black pepper filling. Yes, they were nice, but on the whole too rich. I prefer brown bread for my sandwiches, and my croissants unfilled.

There’s a place on the harbour at Dives-sur-Mer that does pizzas, paninis, sandwiches and salads to eat at tables outside (and a few inside) or to take home. I ordered a pizza, and watched it rapidly prepared and cooked in the wood-fired oven. It was ordinary enough, with mozzarella, chorizo and oregano, but with a nice paprika bite to the meaty bits. Ordinary enough, but the view of the small boats in the evening sun while I waited for it to cook was spectacular.

I stopped by the Grand Hotel for a beer overlooking the sea. It’s on the Promenade Marcel Proust, appropriately named because he used to stay there (and made it fashionable). They have a ‘degustation menu’ of multiple courses which looks rather amazing. In the event of a third anniversary next April for the writers of anotherfoodblog, I think we might go there to sample it.

The beer was perfect for a hot summer day, but to my astonishment and irritation there was no broadband available for my little Eee-pc, nor anywhere else in Cabourg that I could find.

La Belle Epoche in Cabourg’s Avenue de la Mer is not just stylish, with décor from the eponymous period, it’s very good value for very good food.

Their 3-course dinner menu shows the choices which 15.50 euros gets you – that’s not a lot of money.

As you savour their food and wine, you can amuse yourself by watching the passers by, or maybe by looking at the oddities in the antique and curio shop opposite.

We were at Loch Fyne again after a long gap. We decided the wine to go with seafood might be an interesting pinotage rosé. It was a Laibach ’08 at 13 percent and was a good choice. Like most rosé made from strong-tasting grapes, the wine itself had body and character.

I chose the spiced crab and mussel soup. It was delicious, with a real tang to it, plus the taste of fresh ingredients.. My companions went for fresh oysters and smoked haddock soup, both praised.

For the main course I had the bradan rost, the smoked salmon steaks in a creamy sauce with mussels and clams alongside. It was moist and tasty. The fishcakes and scallops my companions picked also found satisfaction. We had glasses of something described to us as “sauvignon roll,” but it seemed to be just the house white, a French sauvignon blanc.

No, it wasn’t a reception in a forest, but a reception by Forest, the smokers’ rights association. It was held at Boisdale, split between the ground floor and the cigar lounge on the top deck, carefully compliant with the law, now one year old.

The canapés were first class, and there were lots of them. The drinks included a very nice Kir, complete with a fresh raspberry at the bottom of the glass, plus red and white wine.

Among the guests enjoying the evening was the artist David Hockney, pictured in his white cap with Simon Clark, Forest’s Director. It was a superb evening, complete with a Bolivar cigar I smoked while reclining in the upstairs lounge.