Union Square

I was in a bit of a mad rush trying to get everything baked and ready for my farmer's market stall this week since we only got back from Paris midweek so we decided to head out for dinner on Friday night for some "calm after the storm" :)

We had heard good things about a local eatery called "Union Square" from one of JD's friends who also lives in the area so decided to try it out for ourselves. We did make a reservation but didn't need to as the resto was pretty quiet, am guessing the reason was because it was the start of a bank holiday weekend.....

The resto is pretty casual, quirky but comfortable. JD commented that the space looked like someone's old garage but despite this, it was decorated sympathetically. Food was pretty good and very reasonably priced, 2 courses for the princely sum of 25 yoyos! Service was friendly and for the most part, pretty attentive.

I've also read that brunch is pretty good here too so will definitely be back to try that at some point :)

 

Starter of squid salad - tasty but squid was a little rubbery. Salad greens were nicely dressed :)

Burger with roasted new potatoes and beetroot horseradish puree. Not a bad burger but lacked the juice and slight greasiness that made the burgers from "Le Camion Qui Fume" soooooo good!! Would've preferred to have a proper pickle rather than cornichons, on the plus side, the spuds were yummy!

 Dessert of tea and cake :)

30th wedding anniversary cake

After our Parisian break, I received a phonecall from JD's mum asking if I would be able to make a celebration cake for JD's aunt and uncle as they were about to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige but the tricky part was knowing what sort of cake to make and also what decorations were suitable. I was given "carte blanche" in this instance for almost everything which was great but daunting at the same time. The only stipulation was that there would be some form of writing of "Happy 30th Anniversary" on the cake and that the cake would feed a minimum of 30 people.

One of my first ideas was to create a tiered cake as it would be more elegant and it would be a reminder of a wedding cake which would be quite apt as we were celebrating a wedding milestone. I then did a bit of research on what flowers, colours and precious stones are associated with a 30th wedding anniversary which turned out to be lilies, sweetpeas, the colour green and pearls respectively. I then decided to base my cake decoration on these different components. The cakes themselves (6" vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam and 8" chocolate cake with chocolate ganache) were pretty straightforward to make but the real time killler was making sugarflowers and  foliage (not to mention traipsing around town searching for fondant, cake boards, gum paste, dust colours, flower wires, etc....) My flowers were made all well in advance and drying on my clothes rack nicely (with no laundry on it at the time, of course!) only for my clumsy partner in crime to lean an ironing board against a double door which is NEVER bolted in place behind said clothes rack and flowers. Cue major crash with ironing board landing on flowers!! Needless to say, I was not best pleased about having to make some more!!!

In the end, the cake was finally finished on time. The happy couple were very appreciative of the cake and it tasted good which was nice feedback. In hindsight, I probably should've made a 1-tier cake as the cake needed to be transported by car and maybe not sugarflowers (as they are very delicate, even with no ironing board damaging them!!) so I guess experience for the next celebration cake :) 

(I also need more practice with tying sugarflower bouquets, methinks)

 Sweetpea before.....

.......and after :)

Lily

Finished cake!

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 3 dinner, Philou

I had read about Philou recently on David Lebovitz's blog, and he had raved about what a great neighbourhood resto this was so we decided to pay it a visit on our last night in town. My sense of direction failed me from the metro so it took us a lot longer to arrive than I anticipated. Upon arrival, the resto had not opened yet so we put our names down for a table (in the covered outside section as the inside was already fully booked) and went to a nearby bar for a quick drink.

The food was simple but tasty - maybe not as good as I had built it up to be but equally, I may have not chosen very well from the menu. Service was very good for most of the meal but there was a bit of a long delay for dessert. Again, nice to see another resto pretty packed with customers at the beginning of the week, will need to remember to make a reservation next time even for a Tuesday :)

My starter of mixed salad - nice but could've done with less Parmesan which was a bit overpowering

JD's salad of duck and cep mushrooms 

My main of braised beef cheek with vegetables in jus. Meat was beautifully soft and tender; a dish with quite subtle flavours

JD's main of onglet (hangar steak) with new potatoes and more mushrooms!

My pudding of almond bostock with cream and yoghurt ice cream - nice but wasn't convinced by the ice cream

JD's pudding of Tarte Tatin with Chartreuse ice cream - would've preferred plain old vanilla ice cream with the tarte, to be honest!

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 3 lunch, Le Camion Qui Fume

I first heard of Le Camion Qui Fume last year through David Lebovitz's blog and how it was a pioneer of the Paris food truck scene, selling authentic good quality US burgers. I was even more excited to find out that the owner of Le Camion Qui Fume was Kristen Frederick, a fellow Ferrandi alumnus!! Kristen was at school exactly the same time as I was but was taking the Anglo-cuisine program. 

We had no set plans for lunch but happened to be around the area where Le Camion Qui Fume would be serving lunch at the Place de la Madeleine. I had read that the queues were always long and as we were arriving towards the end of lunch, I did not have high hopes of getting served.

As predicted, the queues were there and initially, we were told that they were sold out for the day. However, after hanging around for a while, we were then informed that there were a few burgers left so we happily placed our order and joined the queue to collect. We were the last people to be served and the poor guy who was taking orders then had to tell everyone joining the queue after us that they were sold out. Most people left upon hearing this but he had to repeat this 3 times to an old lady standing behind who refused to budge and eventually stomped off with a typical Gallic shrug! The 2 guys in front of us had not pre-ordered but had queue jumped ahead of us thinking that they would get their burgers at the counter. Luckily for them, they were not turned away once they reached the counter but it was all a bit risky!

Our burgers were ready after around a 20 minute wait and they were some of the best we have had to date!!! Kristen wasn't around but I was told she would arrive at the end of service - unfortunately, we didn't hang around so I wasn't able to tell her just how great the food was (she prolly knows it anyway as Le Camion Qui Fume has been getting rave reviews from everyone and has even graced the covers of FT!!)
Update November 2012: Le Camion Qui Fume has just won an award as part of the Le Guide Fooding 2013 (Fooding d'honneur), many congrats!!

I always feel very happy when I see someone from our Anglo cuisine/patisserie programs realise their dream and have the vision/determination/drive of setting up their own business. Bravo Kristen et bonne continuation! :)

The system is 1) place your order at the table where the lady on the right hand side of the pic is standing, 2) pay and collect your ticket (they take card also) and 3) join the queue to collect on the left hand side.

We are about to collect!!

I ordered the Campagne (cheese, caramelised onions and mushrooms)......

...whilst JD plumped for the BBQ (cheese, onion rings, BBQ sauce). In a word.......awesome!! Burger patty was wonderfully juicy and tasty, bun soft and crunchy with each of our fillings complimenting our burgers perfectly, absolutely delicious!!

Update - November 2012: Kristen has just published a cookbook with all her burger recipes as well as some side dishes and desserts. Its a lovely book with a really interesting intro and the background behind Le Camion Qui Fume, mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous photos of the food (if I ever wrote a book, I would ecstatic if it turned out like this one!). The only disappointment is that the recipe for her yummy hamburger buns is not included which for me was a shame; perhaps it may get included in another edition, fingers crossed!! :)

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 3 breakfast, La Coupole

The French aren't exactly renowned for putting on a good spread when it comes to breakfast, most of the time it is merely a cup of coffee plus a chunk of baguette!! Our hotel room did not have breakfast included which meant having to venture out for our first meal of the day. The nearest branch of Le Pain Quotidien was a little too far away so we walked down the road and settled into La Coupole for their breakfast formule. Sitting in the brasserie is like being transported back to another era from the old school waiters rushing past each table to the Art Deco decor surroundings.

All in all, a satisfying brekkie (weak tea aside) to set us up nicely for the rest of the day :)

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 2 dinner, Astier

I had recently come across Astier on a blog that I regularly read - after a quick rummage through my own guides, we decided to try our luck and head there for Monday night dinner. Luckily for us, we were dining early and managed to score a table despite having no reservations (we were surprised to see that the resto was doing a roaring trade even on a Monday night, a heartwarming sign and defying the grips of the recession, yay!)

Su Lin had recommended the marinated herring in her post so I decided to try it for myself. It was a lovely touch being given a whole bowl which I could help myself too - however, I was not quick enough with nabbing a few more fillets before someone else was requesting for their herring too!! Nice but a lot of work to fish out all the many bones in the fish :(

JD and I then shared the special of chateaubriand which took a while to arrive but was delicious when it did. The meat was served with lovely roasted new potatoes and a perfect bearnaise - simple but oh so lovely!!

I ended the meal with some nougat glacé - not a looker but yummy all the same. A lovely meal with attentive service. We were made to feel very welcome and really felt that the staff were genuinely concerned that our meal would be perfect. Astier may not be the most creative bistro out there but the combination of solid cooking and brilliant service would make me return if I was in town again :)

Cheeky vacances à Paris - day 2 lunch, la Compagnie de Bretagne

I first heard of chef Olivier Roellinger through Ulla's blog and her visit to his resto in Cancale, Brittany. The food looked amazing and made me want to visit myself; unfortunately, chef Roellinger decided to hand his 3-Michelin stars back and close the resto for good at the end of 2008. Since then, he has opened a gourmet spice shop in Paris (Epices Roellinger) which I was able to visit last year and also, a crêperie called La Compagnie de Bretagne, serving what my friend Won calls "haute (couture) crêpes" !! :)

Of course, we had to pay a visit and managed to arrive on time for a late lunch. The interior of the resto is elegant and stunningly decorated in simple black and white. Our galettes were nice and well-made but I am not entirely sold on the fillings being deconstructed (I think I prefer the more traditional way of serving where everything is piled in the middle and you get a bit of everything in one bite like in Briezh Cafe). Since we have been eating so much, we did not enough room in our tummies to squeeze in a sweet crêpe - perhaps next time!

The highlight of our meal was observing our neighbour sitting at the table next to us; a well-presented gentleman who we guessed might be a manager/civil servant of some sort. By the time we arrived, he had already enjoyed a 3-course lunch with wine whilst mulling over today's newspaper. After a coffee, he then proceeded to have a power nap (!) at the table before making a few phonecalls and leaving around the same time as us, presumably 

heading back to the office......at around 4pm!!! C'est la vie, n'est ce pas??!! :)

My galette with caramelised onions and sausage - nice but maybe a little too modern for me :)