I am currently sitting at VCE, and am mightily pissed off: I arrived at check in for a flight to Paris at the usual 40 mins before the flight was due, only to be told that “due to security” the regs have changed and all flights close 45 minutes before departure!! Result: I have to be rebooked to a later flight, an have to pay a penalty fare to boot! Luckily I get to Paris only an hour later than expected, but it’s not a good start!zrc9ii31uc7k0ai2z3vordncjh01yoro

Early morning start today: I have an 8 am meeting with my first customer. The valet collects my car from the garage, then I drive up the Grande Corniche on the way towards Monaco. This particular customer is in a splendid location: from his plate glass meeting room windows, the view stretches from the seaside to the glinting snowy peaks of the Alpes Maritimes. Aren’t meetings better with this kind of scenery rather than with a view of a car park?08snvmyzub5g97e2qgqtc6bba8vqfuh5

In contrast, I spend the rest of the day in the large industrial area north of Nice. Decidedly more down-to-earth, but also very convenient, as I can see four customers one after the other. Exit one customer, drive a couple of hundred metres along the road, enter another customer.bl0ncwnmkr6fd7y56av9bs1eats540q5

More visits in the afternoon, then back to the hotel. After checking in back home and a shower, it’s time for dinner! My chosen spot for the evening is l’Effeuillant at 26 Boulevard Victor Hugo, tel 04 93 82 48 63, in the modern city centre, specialised in Provencal cuisine. As I enter, I feel somewhat out of place: it is maybe more suitable for a romantic evening out rather than a single business traveller, but the waiter soon puts me at ease. I decide on the menu fixe. 5ab48oeab84pan6hh8yjwdl7gox3b2j6Firstly an amuse-gueule is served: a small toast with smoked salmon, plenty of olive oil, a few sprigs of fennel.3an26z3ww0hloeer61pxjurt28okbeo5

With the entrée, it is obvious that the chef has an artistic bent. I order a Terrine de fois gras de canard au Muscat de Frontignan, pain brioché. Instead of the usual limp lettuce leaf to garnish the slab of fois gras, I have an exquisitely decorated flower made of sprigs of chive with a tiny quartered tomato and a few drops of balsamic vinegar to serve as branches. The foie gras is sprinkled with a few grains of sel gros. It is so beautiful that I am reluctant to eat!! nt26y8k59nypexlit0oi917vokpf627kAs we say in Italian, “anche l’occhio vuole la sua parte”!yd68e2ij34zigf1v0ttb0dflubdl2hmr

The foie gras is excellent as well as beautiful, and is soon followed by the second course: Carré d’agneau tout simplement rôti, avec son jus d’ail, a succulent roast rack of lamb, with a very garlicky sauce and roast potatoes. I love lamb, but it’s hard to get in our part of Italy out of season, so I am glad to enjoy it.74n603fkbbeg76e10ha92avm5j36ruwp

The waiter arrives with a rumbling cart: the cheese course! I am presented with a wide selection, and choose the St. Maur, St. Marcellin, Livarot and a tiny piece of chèvre whose name I forget.x9i1kn6db97v4g1uchbo3uqgsr85fp02

Dessert is a soufflé glacé à l’orange which is a rather posh name for a cylinder of orange ice-cream, but here again the chef has excelled in the decoration: with tiny pieces of exotic fruit, candied orange peel and a sprinkling of icing sugar, he has created another work of art!1j5e82an9j7wvuqzmldt7bgpcn7e761z

A half bottle of Côtes de Provence red went down very well.r6zral2g90zts4vsykvp8ctjydtduj4b

Now I ask you, can you show me where I can eat a comparable meal in England for EUR 31, let’s call it twenty quid?v9jwspetkpd2bummh4gybjabvjf6tmpe

From the restaurant it’s not far to the Negresco and the sea front Promenade des Anglais, and I walk briskly in the cool night back to the hotel.0pnxge5ptr0hmzqkdlye41yukw5869ew

This week I’m on a three-day trip to visit my customers and contacts on the Cote d’Azur. Not a trip I do every year, but it’s always “un vrai plaisir“. The locals are friendly, the climate is agreeable, the customers are generally “sympa“.e7kmnf1985kttx54lnrn1b3cfylh7s6b

The drive to Nice is around 550 km. I leave at 8:30 and at a steady pace arrive at 15:00, with a short lunch stop before Genova. Weather good, temperature about 12C, not exactly balmy, but certainly warmer than back home. On the way to France I pass the dozens of greenhouses on the coast of Liguria, housing the famed Sanremo flowers. Mimosas in full bloom bedeck the hillsides.xj7auctpm3e2mhw2ke9ddlxhmmjpbwdz

Quick meeting with a small customer in the industrial area outside Nice, longer meeting at the airport with a potential agent for Poland, but who lives in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Claims to be able to sell millions but requires rock-bottom prices. Hrrumph! Then I drive along the Promenade des Anglais to my hotel, near the old town. p0okzbdeeedevdjwhed8frj41iv2h2ixIt is dark, but the immense crescent of the Baie des Anges is impressive as ever: lined with fine hotels, the Negresco in primis, the West End, the La Pérouse just at the end beside the castle, where many, many years ago I spent my wedding night!dmmtr5oh187ql4hhoex2qmyf2gz8samv

Tonight’s dining choice is an old-time favourite of mine, Flo in rue Sacha-Guitry 2, just round the corner from the hotel. It is a 1920s theatre that has been converted in a restaurant, whilst still maintaining it’s original structure. The foyer has become the bench for the huitrier, on the stage, beyond a huge red curtain and a plate glass window, is the kitchen with the bustling chefs and the diners are seated at tables where the audience would normally be.2515bekf86i8s465me513s2xdk8juacm

I decide to eat fish: as a starter Tartare de saumon mi-fumé, jeunes pousses, parfum exotique. As expected, the classic minced salmon with a baby spinach leaf salad, but hey, what’s this?? A mango sauce! Strangely enough, the smoky, salty salmon is well matched to the sweet mango! What a surprise!kzsdz04mmyscxscjlcsmz70ijvg4bi8l

As main course I chose a Nage crémeuse de joues de lotte, ravioles au basilic. I am presented with a mysterious black cast-iron cocotte, the waiter opens it with a flourish, and proceeds to ladle out the contents. I have a delicious creamy monkfish stew, with tiny basil-filled ravioli, with morel mushrooms, a sprig of rosemary and a dried tomato. Incredibly tasty – only the French could make a dish of such perfection!tj5f3f5q967jubim7z0t0qo0bua4syib

As a wine I choose a dry Muscadet sur Lie, 2001, but a red would have gone down equally well with the monkfish.ci5uqbdn0jz5c0cvewoydwm2f7shsefv

Dessert: being a chocaholic, I am sorely tempted by the Croustillant de Chocolat amer, crème anglaise à la vanille, but after much indecision I decide on the Croustade de Pommes gasconne au jus du vieil Armagnac. A worthy choice: I get a crunchy puff pastry castle with a puréed apple filling, the alcoholic aroma of Armagnac wafting all over. An excellent meal!ke2ep9fnav4fbbbykn9ppiddh7eum7mw

To aid digestion, a brisk walk up to the seaside, I watch for a few moments the bright lights of the planes landing at the airport on the other side of the bay, then on to bed.m5btx8q6ae1afqjlb84klf5ma8bxei5q

Evening out tonight with my Turkish distributor and his wife. As you know, I have visited him several times and he is a good friend as well as a customer, so a nice soirée is in prospect. I select the venue: Le Petit Zinc in Rue St. Benoit, just off Boulevard St. Germain in the Left Bank. Not far from Vagenende where we went on Monday.p7524h9ob81o1ftlu0qqinuvw4y0iecx

Thursday evening is late shopping night in Paris, and you know the ladies have to submit to retail therapy, so we arrange a late booking at 21:30. Petit Zinc’s ambience is fantastic as usual: a large oval dining room on three levels, colourfully illuminated by Art-Nouveau lampshades. We are seated right in the middle of the oval, with a grand view of our fellow diners.jxp38ao6i3bx25gyh7jzyvzbsvdrjfbt

The menu arrives with the regulation apéritif: after some hesitation, I select a so-called Salade Folle as a starter – this seems enticing but turns out to be a mistake! I receive a mâche and chicorée salad with four shrimps and a slice of warm foie gras. A folly it certainly is – the ingredients were individually good, but the mixture of the three left much to be desired! Avoid!vucvlc8mxypzdyo7ds0jpodc5gvhnm49

My guests choose instead the plateau dégustation de huitres – a selection of four different types of oysters, from the various regions of “ostreiculture” in France. They report that a difference can indeed be tasted, but oysters are not much to my liking, so I decline the offer to try.okmxuq8cf2v5r6kaybx6w2g2pyh2bqiq

As a second, we all have an excellent salmon tartare – very good with fresh slices of baguette, and certainly a recipe I must find in time for the Christmas dinner. A good bottle of Chablis 2001 goes down very well with things fishy.mem5nfvsm2j59dzxvlnpk7vx10ezf1ss

Dessert: I love those French classics, so a tarte tatin is my choice – the classic upside-down pie, but with a variation, as this is made with pears instead of apples.zbcojacohkz94al1e0qayhecb1qn998y

After the coffee we set out back to the hotel, past one in the morning!! Le Petit Zinc is highly recommended for an evening when you’re out to impress, who knows, maybe to escort a good friend…qi6ani8nxaxea3q9e59fnec7fnzsvlvc

Exhibition day much as yesterday: slow start, but livening up in the afternoon. More customers turned up, my bubbly Woman in Portugal, a few new contacts. Back in the hotel at 19:00, quick wash and brush-up and out at 20:00 for dinner!livlajdwq11pd16q266pqjkfa0o6kgiw

Tonight’s guest is my gastronome Belgian distributor. After some perusal of the Red Book, we decide to try a new spot to us, but well-known in Parisian gastronomic lore: Fermette Marbeuf 1900, 5, r. Marbeuf, 75008 Paris, tel: 01 53 23 08 00 Just off the Avenue Georges V, near the Pont de l’Alma.p3zhtzm5gcgzfcse82dzhp6l4jlyp1p5

Good impression right from the start: a beautiful Art Nouveau décor, with a dining room shaped like a conservatory, with colourful tiles and stained glass walls. We have a Kir Royale to get us going as we peruse the menu. I decide on the Foie Gras de Canard layered with cèpes, accompanied by a glass of Sauternes, followed by a Magret de Canard aux épices, with a side of puréed turnips. The foie gras is a melt-in-the-mouth experience and the duck is just parfait. ix5tjclctd201qrs1rgip0wrkq9przs0A good bottle of Bordeaux 2000 (sorry, forgot which cru!).z1gagg6cq5fc69x84kzt1dbqjxycd8b3

And the desserts! I had profiteroles as I have never tasted before, with vanilla ice cream instead of whipped cream in the choux pastry and a very dark chocolate sauce. My partners chose Crèpes Suzette (served by the waiter with appropriate flourish) and a crispy Tarte au Pommes with a ball of apple sorbet on top.r4e43qkebhflnwiow2cl8e6orenb499m

Warmly recommended! Prices to match the high standards of cuisine!6dfvrp3lymc2em5xpfnkc0emni68l99i