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Browsing category archives: Food and Cooking

Bar Zinc



Yesterday was my last day in Paris. I regret having spoiled a fewevenings. One evening I was to tired to go out and had a sandwich in myhotel room (Fresh tomato and roquefort, so not a complete waste) andone evening I got sucked into a IETF working group chair beer event ina English style micro brewery.

But yesterday evening I was with good friends and I’ve managed to convince them to go to Bar Zinc.

Thefirst time I was at Bar Zinc was about a year ago when I was in Parisfor a training course and my colleague and me stumbled upon the placeen were both plesantly surprised. So when I returned about 2 monthslater, with my wife, we went to the same place and were plesantlysurprised again. Yesterday, again a plesant surprise.


As astarter I had a cucumber-Cheddar tartar, Magrait de Canard as a maincourse, a cheese plate to relax and finally a lovely little desert withthe most delicious white chocolate mouse I have ever tasted. It wasn;tquite a mouse more thick butterlike cream, but very tasty indeed. Thethree of us started the meal with a Champaign, accompanied our meal witha bottle and a pichet of 2001 Medoc AOC and had more Champaign,Cognac and coffee after the meal. Total price per head, a very fair 85Euro.


Three times cannot be coincedence. This place offers quality. BarZinc is a relaxed bistrot. The guests were elderly women, business people, couples, tatood andpierced youngsters and even while its Augustit seemed that we were the only 3 tourists. The walls showed anexposition of a local artist, this time photos whith an erotic twist. If I recall well they had other types of art on display the first 2 times.

The neighbourhood is vibrant and Bar Zinc is probably not the only restaurant where you can find fine food for a fair price. But the next time I’m in Paris… I’ll give it a try again.

The address:
Bar Zinc, 9, rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris (Tel: 01 48 05 05 95). It is a block north of La Bastille.

Oh-la-la….

Yesterday I had a very nice salad in this slightly overpriced restaurant down the road from the IETF venue. Its a Brasserie specialized in Fruit de Mere.

I ordered Salade Italienne. Very nice indeed, until I hit a bug, covered in olive oil, that was enjoying the salad too. I am not a specialist in insects but I know cockroaches come in many different shapes and forms. The small animal covered in oil could have been a baby cockroach.

I signaled the waiter and after several "Oh-la-la’s" he offered me a new salad. I lost my appetite so I refused. So far nothing to complain about. But then came the bill. I was charged. Then I specifically asked if something could be done about that. And to be honest I’d settled for anything symbolic, free wine, free desert, espresso, anything. But the waiter could not be convinced.

Hence my recommendation. Do not go to:
Le Ternes Pereire
84, Avenue de Ternes
75017 Paris

Actually pass by, look at the menu, and if the waiter tries to convince you to come in just mention the cockroach in the salad.

Spoiled and not so spoiled…



After last weeks debacle with the Saint Émilion Grand Cru we decided to open yet another 1996 wine this weekend.This week’s “Craves” (Château Lagupeau) was fortunatelly not spoiled and although we cooked a normal dinner we did enjoy it.

Its not that often that I drank spoiled wine. I do not have thebest means to store wine for longer than a few months. Besides, Inormally buy wines that are ready to be drank. So last weeks spoiledwine was something of a new experience. The taste is just so differentfrom a young wine that spoiled. Young wine will turn into vinigar aftera couple of days. A spoiled old wine just has no taste, its flat,watery and has this brown rusty color.

Last week I had a couple of nice beers with Henrik, Geoff and Thomas.When Geoff had left we talked food. I recomended Harold McGee’s “OnFood and Cooking. The Science and Lore of the Kitchen” which Iown in the Dutch translation. When I came home and opened the “Graves”I noticed crystals on the cork. Also something that I do not see thatoften, being used to the younger varieties. My mediocre wine book didnot describe this phenomena but McGee does refer to the cristals(mostly salt, but also apple and wine accids).


Thesame chapter describes that Louis Pasteur, we owe fresh milk to thatbloke, was a researcher that actually studied why wine went bad.That is something I did not know. He scientifically demonstrated (with one vacuum andone open tube) that wine exposed to air will go bad. The pictureshows the pigments separate and fall to the bottom to the tube.

Althoughthe beers that I drank in the Stockholm brewery that Henrik took us to—the name of the place has slipped but they served Heaven and Hell— were absolutely fabulous I think I would choose for wine if I hadchoose what to drink for the rest of my life.

Finally, when talking food we also spoke about Jeffrey Steingarten’s “The Man Who Ate Everything” which is also a very nice book about food and eating.

(the B/W picture is Pasteur’s and came from the above mentioned McGee Book)

SaintÉmilion Grand Cru

Saint Émilion Gran Cru 1996. Bought a couple of years ago kept carefully opened two days ago. Turned out to be over its top but still went pretty well with the French Fries yesterday

Kyoto

Hmmm… tasty

I am in Japan, in a conference hall, and when I look around I see… chairs, walls, blinded windows. If there would have been people the differences would have been more distinct.
But now I could have been anywhere. Fortunatelly I did have a change to leave the conference center and I am getting introduced to the Japanes Kitchen.

I consider myself a foody, but not a ‘natural one’. I have not been educated as such and a lot of things that I appreciate nowadays I have tought myself to eat when I was in my late 20s.
I have been concentrating on the European kitchen mostly. I am familiar with the French and Italian kitchen. I even pretend to be able to cook. But all this pompus pretention asside I have never been properly introduced to the Japanese kitchen. Mainly because I am not so much of a fish eater. But here I am getting over it. The food is so amazingly well prepared that one just has to taste.


We went to a restaurant two days ago where we had a “surprise” dinner (only 2500 Yen), a wide variety of fish, poultry, veggies and… beef. The best beef I had in years… maybe even the best beef in my life. It came with sesame seeds and a red sauce that might have had some tomato in it but also could have been soy based. Let me not forget to mention the Duck, which appearantly is judged at proper value here too.

I hope I’m abble to find more places with surprises like this…. jummy.