It's always entertaining for us single types to hear what family men think of as "bloody expensive to dine out" -- €30? You'd be hard-pressed to get a decent meal with a cheap glass of wine for that in my local Italian, which is by no means expensive by Birmingham standards. (On the other hand, it's pretty good by Birmingham standards. Not that it's all that good. It's just pretty good by Birmingham standards.)
I was very impressed that you managed to combine "Birks" with "Corsica" whilst avoiding certain vertically challenged reference points.
The supposed contrast between wasabi and tempura baffled me, until I realised that Birks is presumably talking about the dipping sauce traditionally served with the latter. This is, essentially, equal amounts of soy sauce and sherry emulsified with ginger ... not much like wasabi, even then. My chef friend is always banging on about how the French can't stand proper mustard, with proper mustard bite (and the same presumably goes for horseradish), which may explain the substitution.
"Exotic" restaurants in France (ie anything not a bistro and not haute cuisine, and certainly anything foreign) are always a cross-cultural joy. I've noticed that quite a few French "chinese" restaurants serve food that is more akin to vietnamese, which leads to the entertaining fact that, in Saintes, my local vietnamese restaurant served food that was recognisably more chinese than the food in the chinese restaurant down the street. Of course, "chinese food" is a slippery concept outside China anyway.
But this viet-chink thing. Is it a legacy of the Colonies, much as with that wonderful non-Indian indian dish, jalfrezi? Or is it some subtle put-down by the French, who presumably won't eat vietnamese food if it's advertised as vietnamese food?
Answers on the back of a carte du jour, s'il vous plait.
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Re: Corsica
Date: 2010-10-15 08:39 am (UTC)I was very impressed that you managed to combine "Birks" with "Corsica" whilst avoiding certain vertically challenged reference points.
The supposed contrast between wasabi and tempura baffled me, until I realised that Birks is presumably talking about the dipping sauce traditionally served with the latter. This is, essentially, equal amounts of soy sauce and sherry emulsified with ginger ... not much like wasabi, even then. My chef friend is always banging on about how the French can't stand proper mustard, with proper mustard bite (and the same presumably goes for horseradish), which may explain the substitution.
"Exotic" restaurants in France (ie anything not a bistro and not haute cuisine, and certainly anything foreign) are always a cross-cultural joy. I've noticed that quite a few French "chinese" restaurants serve food that is more akin to vietnamese, which leads to the entertaining fact that, in Saintes, my local vietnamese restaurant served food that was recognisably more chinese than the food in the chinese restaurant down the street. Of course, "chinese food" is a slippery concept outside China anyway.
But this viet-chink thing. Is it a legacy of the Colonies, much as with that wonderful non-Indian indian dish, jalfrezi? Or is it some subtle put-down by the French, who presumably won't eat vietnamese food if it's advertised as vietnamese food?
Answers on the back of a carte du jour, s'il vous plait.