My First Gourmet Tour

This article has been written on 22.04.2020

If this has been posted and you are reading it, then it means we are both healthy and well. I hope you are too. I know now, how lucky we have been. Looking back, I see that we have been a little too courageous, but we had our reasons then. One, I already lived here, and had to come back to Paris to my family. Two, we had been waiting for Inanc to visit us for so long. Three, we had organized the perfect eating spree. Put yourself in my shoes, one of the most loved friends of the whole family is coming to visit, and she is one of the best chefs of Turkey. How can you give up the perfect plan?

(As this was happening, the situation was not as serious as it is now.)

We have celebrated our third year in Paris in April. I have been obsessively trying out diffent restaurants, cafes, bakeries, chocolate houses and patisseries since we moved here. I mark my favorites on my mobile map and there are 100. I have been to all of them at least twice, and I can recommend all of them without a doubt. When friends come to visit, I recommend them places to go to that are always in the area they are staying at. Since they also do their own research, usually my responsibility is not that heavy. But now the case is totally different. The whole itenary has been left in my hands. It is very exciting because I have to take Inanc Celengil, who you know as the chef of Aman da Bravo Istanbul, but who for me is one of my best friends, to as many local, various and delicious places as I can in 5 days, digging into my 3 years of Paris experience. The pressure I was putting on myself was huge. I believe you will understand the weight if I tell you that I was creating excel sheets to plan the program.

It was a very lucky coincidence that our first day was my daughter’s birthday. Of course the birthday girl should decide where she wants to go, but I might have manipulated her a little. Thankfully, Yasemin also likes our neighbourhood restaurant a lot. La Table J’M became a part of our lives in 2019. Chef Julien Joalland his partner Isabelle Mesnil bought an old restaurant in an unpopular street of 16th Arrondissement. They changed the decor and the kitchen and reopened. This was one of my dreams when we were moving to Paris. An intimate neighbourhood restaurant that is close to home, has good food and is reasonably priced. We anticipated its opening excitedly. And our dreams have come true; we have already celebrated 2 special occasions here, we have had special deserts prepared for us, champagne has been popped, and we come back from holidays with local produce we find interesting for Julien, who uses it in his menu if he sees fit. Yes, you can guess by now. The menu has whatever is available in the market seasonally. They serve updated modern versions of classic French dishes, daily. Tonight’s dinner deserves Inanc’s comments rather than mine, so I’ll let her speak.

IMG_6888.JPEG
IMG_5145.JPEG

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

Well, what I remember from the first dinner was how I couldn’t take my eyes off the hamburger made especially for Yasemin, and how the cheese and mushroom ravioli that Okan ordered against all our protestations was actually the best dish. Of course a steak tartare was ordered right away, compared with ours at the restaurant and any short comings were evaluated. I can still picture as clearly as today and taste the chocolate ganache and layered chocolate crepe suzette birthday cake made for Yaso. And what was most impressive was the warm attitude the owners had to welcoming their guests, I hope they can get through this period in one piece.

Following the success of the first night, we started our second day early. We dropped Yasemin off to school with İnanç and went to the market. But there were obstacles on the way such as s branch of La Pâtisserie, opened in 2011 by one of Paris’s most mediatic chefs Cyril Lignac, and Benoît Couvrand.  Cyril Lignac moved to Paris in 2000, and had a very strong start to his career in Alain Passard’s Arpège, then moved onto another very famous establishment as chef, to Pierre Hermé. He has written 40 cook books, along with all the restaurant, tv and workshop business he accomplished. As much as he is a hard working person, I also believe that he has a very strong team too. Unfortunately they didn’t have the small sesame bread that resembles a ‘kumpir’ when we went, but they had the olive bun. We only made it to the market after we had a coffee and a croissant at the bistro next door. The market in the 16th Arrondissement is known as the most expensive in Paris, but at least the product quality is equally high. I love wandering around markets, the colors, the smells and the chit chat, and to have a chef to stroll along with is priceless. I hadn’t done this for a long while. My first market visit with a chef was with my old partner Didem Şenol Tiryakioğlu. We used to go for our restaurant. She would suddenly get an idea by something she would find in the market and put it on the menu right away. I would be impressed by her knowledge and creativity. Doing this again with Inanc took me back those days and happy memories. Things I did not even see when I was by myself gained a new perspective when Inanc drew my attention to them. I will definitely buy more stuff from herb stands in the future. For example, Inanc showed me something called garlic herb. We added it to a lot of dishes after Inanc left. We might have gone a little crazy at the mushroom stand because morels were in season; I’m sorry for anyone who had to wait their turn behind us. So our menu for dinner at home on Thursday was decided. We had a lot of herbs and mushrooms. What else were we having with those? We can put this question aside for now because our lunch and dinner is already set for tonight. So Inanc, did you enjoy the market?

0DA04B9B-6E7A-43F0-A257-F533EC1E49B1.jpg
4EAD6D4A-CEF2-46C6-BC56-25C824ACDA36.JPG
5170BCBD-D9F3-4867-8C38-41D99D1EC4B3.JPG

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

Of course I enjoyed it a lot, there were so many different varieties of vegetables, herbs, meat, fish and cheese which we didn’t have in our markets. And I have a confession to make. I find gozleme very meaningless, it is a dry phyllo filled with a tasteless filling, usually very, very dry, I never understand why it is so popular. But we had a gozleme in the market made by a Turkish couple. They rolled out their phyllo there, used fresh herbs from the market and it really was the best gozleme I ever had. We also bought puntarella which I would be cooking for the first time, it was very exciting. There was arugula flower with rich yellow petals that exploded on your taste buds when you ate it. We have only recently started seeing the flowers of herbs and vegetables in small producers. It hurts a little that you can find them so easily in a city market in Europe and have no access to in Turkey. It makes one think that maybe we should be visiting farms rather than markets in Turkey.

In France, on Wednesdays the schools are either off or half-day. Our school is one of the half-day ones. So after picking up Yasemin at noon, we head off to have burgers like we usually do. Baāgaā is a very special burger place. They buy their bread from one of Paris’s most important bakers Jean-Luc Poujauran. Their meat is from French animals raised and fed natural grains in the Japanese tradition. Every morning, the meat is minced for that day. Their recipes were created by Thomas Boutin, chef and owner of de Le Vieux Crapaud. (Of course I tried his restaurant too, and it was very good) Because we go very frequently, they don’t even ask what Yasemin is having, anymore. Meat and bread! Sometimes I choose a cheeseburger and sometimes the hot burger. This lunch, the unexpected choice comes from Inanc. Bikini Burger! (I had never had it before) Without reading the ingredients, she ordered it straight away, thinking it would be the same as the legendary bikini sandwich of Tapas24 in Barcelona, and I couldn’t stop her. Unfortunately their only common denominator was mozzarella. There was no truffle, nor jamon Iberico. Baāgaā’s bikini turned out to be vegetable burger with mozzarella and piquillo pepper sauce. And judging by the size of it, it did not seem very appropriate for anyone looking to wear a bikini in the summer either, right Inanc?

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

The Bikini was 3 sizes too large for my slim figure. I was very sad to see that this was not the bikini in Barcelona, however there were still things for me to learn from. It had a very strong grill taste that made it feel like a real burger, I remember the meaty oyster mushroom, good mozzarella, tomato sauce and pesto. And the thinly sliced raw green beans gave a delicious crunch to the burger.

On Wednesday night we had reservations for one of the restaurants on the top of my “to go list” and the only place Inanc herself had requested to go. Chef Stéphane Jégo’s restaurant Chez L'Ami Jean!  It is the oldest Basque restaurant in the city and it has been run by Brittany born chef since 2002. He’s a chef who sees his team as family, uses freshest seasonal produce, is constantly in touch with his suppliers, is happy to attract the attention of his guests during the service but can suddenly disappear without notifying anyone at the end of the service. When the pandemic started in France and all the restaurants closed down, he wrote a petition to President Macron and his ministers, asking that this health disaster is accepted as a natural disaster by the government. It turned into a campaign on Change.org. It was signed more than 20.000 times in the first 48 hours. He was requesting by this petition that establishments, especially smaller ones could claim damage from insurance companies if the situation was considered as a natural disaster. The ministry of finance responded by saying that they would not be announcing it as a natural disaster, but they were preparing a support package for the industry and they were in discussion with the insurance companies to get them involved. It is very assuring as a small establishment that the government is responding to your situation right away. Ok, after the additional information, we can go back to our dinner. I’ll leave the word to Inanc to talk about it. Chez L'Ami Jean and Baāgaā and a common characteristic, they both buy their bread from Jean-Luc Poujauran.

IMG_6880.JPEG
ba4e7526-3f7d-409a-8006-131d4bf5330b.JPG

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

I found out about this place from one of Aman da Bravo’s regulars who had told me that I would love it, it was so me. And I have been following it ever since, keeping alive my dream to eat one day one of the dishes the chef smokes by torching dried herbs over the food. We started off with grilled asparagus, bonito flakes and cream cheese, followed by caramalized octopus with a very aromatic salsa verde. Even though Aycavan does not like duck, we ordered it anyway, and she liked it with all the hazelnuts and so on. Scallops with spinach root and leek was compliments of the chef and made me regret not having such scallops in Turkey. Our smoked meat was leg of veal and came with an amazing broth, we spooned it off. We weren’t still full, grilled skate was served with bacon fried to the consistency of a potato chip. At this point we met the chef and between his very little English and my nonexistent French managed to understand that he had actually come to Istanbul for Parabere Forum and had lunch in my restaurant on a day that I was not there. We kissed each other’s hands to congratulate each other, and it was a very proud moment. There was no room left for dessert, but he sent us his famous rice pudding anyway. They serve it with salted caramel and granola. You spoon off from a large bowl onto your plate and garnish it as you like. We packed the left overs for take away and ate it for 2 more days. What should we have done, thrown away that precious rice pudding?

It was an amazing dinner, a fabulous ambience. You had to pull out the table to be able to squeeze into your seat, that’s how close everyone is to each other. Is it a problem? Never. It is actually a pleasure to share the same space with people who are also there for the food.

We had chosen Champs-Élysées for our morning walk on Thursday. The avenue will undergo huge changes by 2025 and there will no more be an 8 lane traffic. The sidewalks will be expanded, the rooftops will be planted and there will be small electric buses, more bicycle lanes and even a tram line. Last year, world’s most famous department store Galeries Lafayette opened a branch here with a very different concept to its existing store. It is a very modern 4-storied store filled with the latest designs. For me the most attractive floor is the food market on the lowest floor, it is filled with everything you should see and taste, food wise. I believe that not only gourmet lovers, but anyone interested in design and packaging should also go and see it. Many of Paris’s signatures names and delicacies, from its oldest patisserie Stohrer, to its most important chocolatier Pierre Marcolini, to legendary chef Alain Ducasse’s“Le Chocolate” are here.

After about an hour, we exit the store to go to lunch. Our destination is a restaurant in the 5th Arrondissement. It is called “Invitez Vous Chez Nous”, meaning ‘’we invite you over to ours”. Chef Julie and her husbad Aurélien do serve you in a home environment. It is one of my favourite places in Paris for lunch. They serve a daily menu of seasonal food in a warm and cozy atmosphere. The food is accompanied by a small wine list and beer from small producers. The food price parity might be another reason to come back here. They are open on weekdays for lunch between 12:00 and 17:00. They are closed for dinner and over the weekends. As an old restauranteur, I keep thinking that this is the dream job. What do you think Inanc?

 İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

There are only 2 people working. One is serving and the other one is in the kitchen. Which makes you think right away, ‘what? So is the cook washing the dishes too?’ Well yes. This being the case, you wait as long as it’s necessary, and nobody is complaining. The menu is planned very cleverly. It is a limited menu as would be expected, for example the rice and sauce on my shrimp curry was also served on the vegetarian plate. There are a couple of slow cooked dishes that require no preparation ahead and can be reheated and served. It was super sympathic and everything we ate was very delicious.

After lunch we have our coffee at DOSE, founded by Grégoire and his cousin Jean-Baptiste. It is a brand well known among coffee aficionados in Paris. They import coffee from different regions of the world. The also serve healthy, mostly plant-based lunches, homemade granola, sweet and savory pastries and fresh juices. They also have an online website where they sell coffee equipment along with good beans. This store in 5th is a little smaller than the one at Batignolles, however it has a prime location because it is the only third generation coffee shop in this area and it is located in the best local shopping street, Rue Mouffetard. This was one of the streets I wanted to take Inanc to. I can check another item off my excel sheet. The history of this pedestrian street goes back to antiquity. İt is a street filled with butchers, cheese shops, bakeries, and wine shops. If you are a Meryl Streep fan like me and have enjoyed Julie & Julia, here is another reason for you to like this street. The shopping scene was filmed here.

I must confess that we didn’t buy anything here. But there is a reason. Because we are headed to another shopping street. It is as nice as this one; Rue Poncelet. We go from the 5th to the 17th Arrondissement. This one’s history also goes back to 1400. This was a holy route that goes up to the old Montmartre Monastry, for me today it is a holy route for food shopping. It is open everyday except Monday and Sunday afternoons, and filled with everything from butchers, to bakers, to charcuterie, fish and cheese. For me, it is one of those street that make you really feel that you are in Paris. I know of a Saturday when we spent more than 3 hours here. After the initial discovery tour, we decide to buy a little charcuterie and cheese to accompany the wine tonight. You must not forget that we already bought the herbs and morels yesterday. Who knows, maybe a new recipe will be born from this article.

Our primary target is good cheese, and the store is one of the best on the street: Alléosse. They specialize in aged cheeses and their selection is based on the accountability of their suppliers and the quality and the taste of their products. Comté in French, however the rest is not so easy. Fortunately, the genteman on the other side of the counter doesn’t let me suffer anymore and switches to English. Therefore my precious guest also gets involved in the process and I leave it to her choose from about 100 varietes in front of us. 10 minutes later we are able to exit the store with Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese and a Ossau-iraty we chose in order to have a more ‘smelly’ option. Good cheese should be accompanied by good bread. Right across Alléosse, we enter Liberté, an artisanal bakery. Production and sale is from the same location. They have 3 shops in Paris, and 2 in Tokyo. We bought cheese and bread, we have one more stop to make before heading home. For charcuterie, we go to Delitaly. The Spanish and Italian charcuterie are my favorite. Therefore Delitaly is one of the right addresses in Paris. The cold counter on your right is filled with fresh pasta, olives, cold tapas and salads. If I were alone here, I would be spending a fortune, but fortunately Inanc is with me and she is target oriented, the cold cut counter at the back of the store. I cannot take my eyes off all the tomato sauces, balzamics and olive oils on the other side as we exit, but maybe another time, we should really get out of here now. Tonight we will be enjoying ourselves at home. Inanc is here on vacation and so we don’t want her in the kitchen, but cannot stop her once she sees all the new ingredients we found. At least let me turn on the oven for you!

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

We blended the morels, puntarella, garlic herbs, asparagus, fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic and olive oil, added some delicious French butter on top and put it in the oven. On the side we had water cress and cherry tomato salad with a vinagrette rich in lemon juice. The cheese was more in my mind and I was actually less curious about what was going on in the oven. But as a whole, it was a very nice dinner.

Dear readers, the big day has finally come. For Friday lunch we will be going to Septime, one of the most talked about but hardest to make a reservation at places in Paris which at the same time has the most complicated reservation system. And today Seda and Alp have arrived from Istanbul. Looking back, they might have made history as our most courageous friends during this period. It has even become a running joke among us that they came to Paris for a single lunch at Septime. You will soon understand why. I had been chasing this reservation for months. We had only been able to come here twice in 3 years, one of which was by pure coincidence. Both times the dinner was amazing. The quality of the service, choice of wine etc were all very explanatory as to why the restaurant was always full. After a while I had given up on trying to make a reservation. But this time I decided that I was willing to do whatever it takes for my friends. I was stubborn, I was ambitious, I even e-mailed a blogger whom I didn’t know, naturally to no avail, but then one day they answered my call and in 2 seconds I had a lunch reservation for a party of 5. At Septime, the 37 year old young chef Bertrand Grébaud changes his menu frequently according to the availability of seasonal produce, like at most of the other places we have been to. He advocates for sustainable farming and uses as little animal produce as he can. Before Septime, he has earned his first Michelin star at a restaurant in the 17th Arrondissement, when he was only 26 years old. After opening Septime, he made the 50 best list in 2013 and also earned his star here. (It is still so in 2019.) His latest project is to create a farm at the old air base in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne) which is run by Fermes d'Avenir Association where part of the farming will be based on permaculture. Apart from Septime, Chef Bertrand has a walk-in sister restaurant called Clamato that serves sea food, a wine cellar also called Septime and a small boutique hotel in beautiful nature called D'un Ile, 2 hours outside of Paris. I ate in all of them and they were all really top quality. I saw once again the importance of having qualified people work for you and the strength of a good team. Seda and Alp came straight from the airport and we met them there. However we don't hug, we keep our distance but we've missed each other so much. Since we have no allergies, we are ready to eat anything they serve us; Alp chooses the wine, cornering our waiter. Well, it’s his right, at the end he came all the way for “just one lunch” Time for a confession; I think our first two dinners were better. But maybe Inanc will comment better on it.

IMG_5307.JPEG

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

I believe that tasting menus put a lot of pressure on chefs. I’m sure that when it comes to creativity, a menu you are pressured to change constantly causes some problems. After a while, rather than showcasing what you do best, you probably start serving some plates that are not memorable, even a little mediocre for the sake of creating something new. I, myself, am not a chef who can push herself in the area of creativity. If I have a new idea, I put it on my menu, but I don’t serve something new just because it is different from what I had before. If there is no inspiration, I choose to serve what I cook best. But it seems the world disagrees, because tasting menus are still the hype, but anyway.

This is why I think we were not able to taste the plates that earned Septime its name. Our first course was a porcini soup with porcini and chestnut. It was followed by raw scallops, raw almonds, berries served with a berry sauce. I remember wishing it was more sour. We continued with grilled asparagus, served with asparagus sauce and water cress. For me, it wasn’t impressive. But I must also remind you that we had set our expectations very high. Then there was a stew of black truffle, bone marrow, pancetta and jerusalem artichoke. The main course was steamed seabass served with rhubarb sauce and caramalized endives. Dessert was a sorbet but I don’t remember the flavour. The experience as a whole was of course pleasant, but it wasn’t the best of this trip

However the main adventure was what happened after lunch. We recieved news from Turkey that they were closing the borders to France. İnanç, Seda and Alp were of course confused and panicked. Their families, kids, their whole life is in Turkey. They want to fly out that night but there are no available flights. The announcement by Turkey is very vague, there are no details. Is this restriction valid for citizens or not? Will there be rescue flights? Will they be quarantined on return? And many more questions come to mind. Normally, you would expect the embassy to have all the answers in such a case, but it seems they are equally clueless. We head out to the airport but cannot find any solutions or answers, we all head back home or to our hotels, empty handed. It seems we have no one to talk to. Later on the deadline to lockdown changes, only to be changed once again later on. The certainty and the consistency behind these decisions leave us nonplussed. Seda and Alp return on Saturday, and Inanc on Sunday.

Saturday morning we make plans in a mood totally different from our previous days. We decide a walk will clear our heads. Towards lunchtime we feel like a snack and to to Gregory Marchand’s FTG about which I’ve written in Gastereamag.  Anyone who comes to visit us eats once at FTG became true for Inanc too. As usual the kitchen staff is working away seriously in the kitchen.

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

We have found THE Lobster Roll, it cannot be called just eating and we basically drowned ourselves in it. It is the best and the most expensive fast food I’ve ever had. If you make the mistake of converting euros into liras, you feel the dread. The fries are amazing. It justifies twice over why fries are call French fries. It is served with ginger aioli and it is so delicious.

And the last dinner!

As we leave the house for our Saturday dinner, France also starts announcing its own security measures, closing all restaurants and cafes starting tonight midnight. Restaurants and cafes who have not closed even during both world wars or the terrorist attacks of 2015 are closed. Without realizing it, we are also on our last dinner out along with Inanc. Our last dinner is at Restaurant Eels. This is my wife Ayca’s discovery. We ate here a couple of times thanks to her and have always enjoyed it. It is a very modern, modest, comfortable but chic place. It has a Scandinavian feel to it. Its owner chef Adrien Ferrand has been awared best young talent in 2015 Gault & Milau Awards. The whole team is young, like himself. They have opened Eels with sommelier Félix Le Louarn in 2017. They had been working together at another famous Paris establishment, Ze Kitchen Galerie. The menu consists of 4 starters, 4 main courses and 4 desserts. You can either order a la carte, or a fixed menu. In 2019, they were chosen as a new and notable discovery in the 50 Best list.  I believe this young chef and his team will be every successful in the future as well. The ambience, service, wine and the food are all worthy of our last night. I think this will be one of the first places I want to come back to when life returns to normal. Normally I had narrowed our options for tonight down to two and I let Inanc decide.

IMG_0447.jpg

İNANÇ ÇELENGİL

I’m not sorry that we chose Eels in the end, it made us very happy. We orders lamb loin that was served with a fantastic red curry and beurre blancla. Its fat was crispy, and the black beans under the meat were a very nice accompaniment. Raw mackerel, aioli and a thin garlic breadcrust. Raw oysters, black and red caviar, and an aromatic herb butter. We ordered duck once again and were not disappointed. We finished off with a cream cheese dessert covered with chocolate. The wine pairing was very good too but with all the excitement around the food and the travel nerves, I forgot to take pictures. It was a very adequate finish in the end.

Our last meal was fried eggs with mushroom and a traditional baguette by Ayca. Then we said our goodbyes. I’m very lucky to have been able to make it back home directly, and not getting infected along the way was the cherry on top. I even had all three seats to myself on the plane. But my fortune in life is that I have best friends who live in Paris and know about food, which is also my biggest misfortune because they are also so far away. Point of view is relative.

 

I have nothing to add to Inanc’s last words, but I want to remind her something: Don’t forget who made the sandwich you had on the plane!!!

 

South of France I - Arles and Gordes

This article has been published in Turkish on Gastereamag on 24.08.2019

I’ll describe you a city, let’s see if you can guess which one? There is usually construction on the roads and sidewalks for long periods of time, a structural frame is up at least on one building on every other street, most of the sidewalks are so narrow that two people cannot fit at the same time, and it takes extra skill to push a pram on these. I’m not even mentioning the dog shit for your sake. Traffic and parking is impossible beyond words. It even has its own traffic rules. Honking the minute the light turns green is another pleasure endowed on the pedestrians. When an important politician visits from another country, most of the roads are closed off. The same goes for when it snows. When the weather gets warm, the suffocating metro cars are very disturbing. In the last two years, one patisserie blew up because of gas leakage, almost taking the whole street with it, a woman set fire to her neighbor’s apartment who complained from the noise she was making, burning down almost the whole building, a fire during the renovation works annihilated most of a historic building, heavy rains flooded some parts of the city.

Sounds familiar? Istanbul, right? No! Let me give you another clue. For more than 20 weekends, there hasn’t been metro service to one of the most important avenues in the city because there have been protests! Yes, now you know! I’m talking about Paris. As you see, even with all the picturesque beauty, widespread public transport and the forests on two sides of the city, it’s still not very easy to live here actually. I’ve haven’t even mentioned how expensive it is. Therefore, here too, we use every chance to get out of the city. On one of these escapes this April, we went to the south of France. I’ll write to you about the places we visited and enjoyed. If you get a chance to visit, I hope you’ll enjoy them too.

Paris to Marseille is 3h 20 min by train. Therefore we chose to go by train and rent a car there. Because we were trying to get away from the city, we didn’t spend much time in Marseille, so I don’t have much to say about it. Even though the idea of a city next to the sea is very appealing to someone from Istanbul, still we chose to get out of the city quickly because we were more excited about small towns and the island we were yet to visit. I shouldn’t forget to mention that this trip has been planned according to the needs of a 6 year old who gets bored after maximum 2 hours in the car and has the potential to easily disturb your inner peace as well.

Our first stop is Arles, some parts of which have been under protection as an Unesco Heritage. It had first occured to us while watching Willem Dafoe’s “At Eternity’s Gate” on a cold winter night at home. Dafoe plays Vincent van Gogh and the film takes place during his years in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise. Even though he lives here for only 15 months, he paints more than 300 pieces here and goes partially crazy meanwhile, this is the period he cuts off his ear. One of the paintings he painted here is called “Le Jardin de la Maison de Santé à Arles” which he painted while hospitalized there. The hospital garden previously green was later planted with the same flowers Van Gogh depicted in his painting.  You can recognize many locations in the city from his paintings, there are also tours taking you through them. The Van Gogh Foundation in the city center is a must-see too. There isn’t a permanent exhibition, however once or twice a year there are exhibitions of other artists inspired by Van Gogh. There was an exhibition by the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani when we visited. I especially enjoyed compositions he painted using animals such as lions and giraffes that he never actually saw, but just imagined. There was also a rare animal painting by Van Gogh included in the exhibition. It’s called “Stuffed kalong” (flying-fox or fox-bat). It was very impressive, exhibited on another room, by itself.  We found ourselves museum hopping in Arles, as if we hadn’t been visiting any museums in Paris. After Van Gogh Foundation, we visited The Réattu Museum, 3 minutes’ walk away. Truth be told, I liked it better. First because the museum is 150 years old, and second because Réattu was born in Arles and painted all his work here. In 1867 the building and the paintings were sold to the municipality by his daughter in return for a life-long pension and residency. In 1868 the building was converted to a museum. There are also paintings donated by Pablo Picasso in 1971. One of the exhibition rooms is reserved for photo exhibitions. My favorite was a black and white photo of Pablo Picasso and painter François Gilot who is known as the only woman to leave Picasso.

IMG-8705.JPG

After a one hour drive and two museum visits, we were naturally hungry and found ourselves in a French restaurant called “Le Criquet”. It was the type of place we always imagine; max 30-40 seats, not very touristic, seasonal and local food and good local wine. The peak point of the lunch was lamb chops. Finishing off her plate, my daughter ate some of mine even though there was more thyme than she is used to, well let’s say she helped me eat a balanced diet. The balance of little food and more wine. The lamb chops were amazing, they had cooked four chops together without drying out, without drowning in extra sauce, it was very simple and very delicious.

On with walking back in time after lunch, we aimed to go really back in history. We wanted to see the Roman amphitheater built in BC90. This is the amphitheater in one of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous paintings. It is still used as a cultural center in the city. During July and August gladiator fights are reenacted and it is also used as a concert venue during the summer. There is also another activity here that is totally inappropriate for such beauty; even though it is forbidden in most parts of France, there are still bull fights here. This is seen as sustaining an old tradition and has partially given back the city its popularity. Another characteristic of the city is, it is part of the pilgrimage route of Camino de Santiago. Practiced since the middle ages, the pilgrimage has regained popularity in the 90s. In 2017 more than 300.000 people have walked the route. Walking or cycling the route is a great experience, both physically and religiously. There are different routes but all finish at the grave of Saint James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The routes in France are the most popular. However walking the tidy streets of Arles full of pretty flowers was peaceful enough for us therefore we can leave off the pilgrimage for now. For us, the next step is setting off to our accommodation.

Auberge La Feniére is farm house, an hour’s drive from Arles. It is located between two villages called Lourmarin and Cadenet. It is a beautiful, isolated hotel in nature, growing its own vegetables and it wins our hearts immediately. Seasonally they grow their own tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, peas and artichokes. They’ve divided the garden in three parts; aromatic, vegetable and healing. They are careful of using a sustainable farming style. They attribute the success of the garden to the harmony between human, plant and soil. They believe that the three should be able to interact with each other. Apart from the vegetable garden, they also have an olive grove from which they collect around 450 litres of olive oil every year. The lead in all of this is Reine Sammut. While studying pharmaceutics in Montpellier, she meet her husband Guy Sammut and learns the Mediterranean kitchen from her mother-in-law. In 1975 they open their first restaurant and in 1995 earn a Michelin star. Meanwhile their daughter Nadia is born in 1980. She is hospitalized when 29 years old because her immune system crashes and she faces serious health problems, later she is diagnosed with Celiac disease. A chemist herself, she enters the kitchen with her mother and specializes in gluten-free nutrition. They are very careful with what they buy from the outside. For example they buy pesticide free rice from Camargue rice farm, pork from a farm north of Luberon where the pigs are chickpea fed. There are two restaurants in the hotel. One serves a fixed tasting menu and the other is a more bistrot-like a la carte restaurant. We had both dinner and sunday brunch at the bistrot one. Everything we ate was very delicious but I want to stress something else. Listen carefully, this is important!! THE BREAD! We have been in Paris since April 2017, and as a bread lover I always either buy or eat bread in every restaurant or boulangerie I go to. And I’m telling you, I have never eaten such good bread. And please keep in mind that it was gluten-free. Nadia is a bread lover like me and because she needs to eat gluten-free bread because of her disease, she has researched all the way back to the Egyptians and found out that bread was baked in clay pots on stone and that gluten content was actually very low. She then started trying similar methods, and they did so well. Because we were early to brunch, the set up was not ready and there was no bread on the buffet. You should have seen my disappointment. I thought there was no bread at brunch, I could have cried. Thankfully it came out eventually and I lost control eating it. When I saw my wife actually grimacing while I was sipping wine and eating bread, I finally stopped. Of course this was too much. After chasing good food for so long, I shouldn’t have been doing this. Reine and Nadia Sammut use rice, chick pea, chestnut and other grain flours for the bread. I have not mentioned Guy Sammut so far but Reine actually tries all new dishes on him and he might be one of the luckiest men on earth. In short, Auberge La Feniére won our hearts as a very special hotel we would love to stay at again if we come back to Southern France.

Our next stop is Gordes. It took us 43 minutes by car. It is the most famous mountain village in the region. You are already impressed while approaching it by car. It is a very neat, clean and calm village like other examples we have seen in the past 2 years. Two reasons why I love these little villages are the ever immaculate gardens and colorful wooden shutter and doors. Just like Arles, Gordes has Roman ruins as well. Throughout history Gordes acted as the resistance force and its latest ordeal was in WWII. While being rebuilt after the war, it attracted artists such as Victor Vasarely and has been to many artists since. If you visit in season, The Senanque Monastery is a wonder, surrounded by lavender gardens. Unfortunately we didn’t go at the right time, but if anyone reads this and manages to do so, I promise not to be ugly-jealous. We had lunch at Gordes at “L’outsider”. It is a very small restaurant located in a cistern, run by a couple. Chef Patrice de Rosa who is cooking hearty meals with local produce and his wife who was then pregnant with their second child, hosted in a very warm and intimate manner, as if we were guests in their own home. After working abroad for a long time, they’ve decided to move back to a quieter and more peaceful life. When their elder child was friends with our daughter, our enjoyment of the restaurant was of course doubled. As a starter I had foie gras and my wife had smoked salmon with leeks, and both were very delicious. As the main course, I was still craving meat, therefore chose a steak from the famous Charolais of Burgundy. I must admit that it wasn’t very interesting, but still delicious. I’m not sorry that I ordered it. My wife initially claimed that she wouldn’t have a main course, but couldn’t resist ordering one for herself when she tasted our daughter’s chops. Chef De Rosa always recommends it if you like meat. And finally, we had a taste bomb! Warm ganache chocolate cake on vanilla custard! Actually I thought it might have been a bit too heavy because there was cream both in the custard and the ganache, however when you consider both how obsessed the French are about good cream, and the balance in all the other dishes of the chef, there was no chance that the dessert wouldn’t be good. In the end, it was again an amazing lunch. After lunch we kept getting lost in the streets of Gordes and enjoying ourselves. We bought lavender honey and olive oil, which we still haven’t got to opening yet, from Le Miel Peyron, and had ice cream from Le Petit Comptoir. Apart from being homemade there is nothing special about it, however it is the perfect spot for families with kids. Do something for your kids as well, you cannot chase wine and good food all the time, right?

Gordes

Gordes

Frenchie - FTG

This article has been published in Turkish on Gastereamag on 22.03.2019

It’s really hard for me to describe how excited I was when it was confirmed that we were moving to Paris. As someone who had been a restaranteur for a short while, I constantly caught myself smiling. I envisioned myself at French bistrots, having foie gras, steak tartare, onion soup and french fries. And I knew there would be so much more waiting to be discovered.

 We relocated in April 2017, and straight away I started creating restaurant lists for myself from international and local websites. And naturally, these lists have been rewritten so many times. Slowly we started trying out these places and eventually discovering restaurants became my biggest thrill and pleasure in Paris. There are really very few places that I would call myself a regular at. It was exactly the opposite when I lived in Istanbul. I don’t know for how long I’ve been going to beloved Cavit in Asmalı, nor can I count how many times I’ve been to Adana Ocakbasi, Kiyi or Aman da Bravo. Sometimes I think “why the difference?” but it is a totally different subject that I can speculate on forever. Maybe one day I’ll do that in a different article for you to enjoy. I believe right now, it’s better for me to introduce you to the hero of this piece;

Gregory Marchand ! 

 While strolling through the 2nd arrondissement in Paris, if you enter Rue du Nil, you’ve come to the right place for food. Because it also means that you have surrendered yourself to Marchand. On this street you will find Frenchie to Go where he serves gourmet street food, Frenchie Bar à Vins for dishes to share, his wine cellar Frenchie Caviste where he sells really good wines, and of course his first child Frenchie where he offers a menu inspired by food in New York, London and Paris. On the same street, there is also a fishmonger, butcher and a third generation coffee shop. All these little shops supply Frenchie with the best produce. These collaborations are very important for the perfection that is Frenchie.

Dear Marchand is someone who had an unlucky start at life. At 12, his widowed mother dies and he finds himself at an orphanage. After some tough years, he starts his culinary education at 16. One year later, he leaves the orphanage to find himself a job at a pizza parlor at the west of France. In an interview he says he initially chose cooking as an easy way out, but soon it turned into a great passion. He spends his early 20’s in England. He works at The Savoy Grill, Mandarin Oriental and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. Jamie Oliver nicknames him “Frenchie” and the name of his first restaurant is born. Gregory then moves to New York where his cooking style takes its final form. Entering 30, when his wife and partner Marie becomes pregnant, they decide to move back to Paris. In 2009 he opens his first restaurant Frenchie in the 2nd arrondissement which is known as the center of textile wholesalers. The restaurant is decorated by Émilie Bonaventure. He starts his first service in the 24 seat restaurant with only one waiter. Everything else, from buying to cooking, to washing and dishes and taking reservations, he does himself. Very quickly his dishes earn a reputation by WOM and Frenchie becomes, even today, one of the hardest places in Paris to make a reservation at.

I was introduced to Gregory’s restaurants through the owners of Izmir’s most delicious Patiesserie Arpege, Metin and Beliz Saruhanli. I cannot thank them enough. Metin discovered Frenchie to Go when he first moved to Paris to follow his own dreams, and it is the first place he recommended us when we moved to Paris. In the end it was actually them who took us first to Frenchie to Go. The first time I went, somehow I chose the Reuben sandwich. I believe it was my yearning for pastirma that drove me to the pastrami sandwich. Although they have similar names, they are made from different cuts and pastrami has less spices which naturally did not satisfy my pastirma craving, but still there is nothing to complain about. The balance of cheddar cheese and beetroot coleslaw was perfect. On further visits I also tried “pulled porc” – slow cooked barbecue pork leg or shoulder – beef hot dog and the fried chicken sandwich that was added to the menu this year. I can recommend you all of them. However I’ve saved the best for last. Lobster roll in brioche. I might have taken every single one of my friends who visited us in Paris to try this, and it is the one single dish I recommend to anyone visiting Paris without fail. The perfect harmony of the celery, lobster and herb butter sauce in warmed brioche can make my mouth water. I guess I will have another one before this article gets a chance to be published. To Gregory, “Frenchie to Go” is a reflection of what he ate in London and New York. And for me it is one of the most delicious quick fixes in Paris.

IMG_0719.jpg

Even though we go to FTG so frequently, it might still be counted as successful on our part to have to Frenchie at least once so far. I’m telling you, it’s not easy to make a reservation in some restaurants. There comes a point where you just stop trying. Luckily my wife kept her patience and we managed to get in for our anniversary. The atmosphere of the restaurant is an exact reflection of Gregory’s modest personality. There is nothing exaggerated in the decor, it is a small space, simple but tasteful place. The lighting is neither too bright, nor puts you to sleep, walls are bare with mirrors, gray topped tables and black chairs very simplistic. The staff is dressed in the same hues. In general, you feel very comfortable. The way the staff is treating you helps this feeling as well. They are warm and frank, there is no pretension. At least that’s how we felt. At dinner there is a chef’s menu of 5 courses. And like us, if you are one of those lucky people who can eat anything, you will make both the kitchen and the floor staff very happy. And even if you are not, you will be asked beforehand for your special requirements or needs.  The menu is seasonal and changes according to what is available at the moment. As expected the food is also simple, but very delicious. Normally it’s not heard of me ordering chicken anywhere at dinner, but I will never be able to forget the chicken I had here. I have no words to describe the crispiness of the skin. The juicy and soft meat is a whole different discussion on its own. I have tried a lot of restaurant so far in my two years in Paris, but this was definitely one of the best two and made our anniversary dinner unforgettable. I was enjoying myself so much that this time, against all protestations from my wife, I even shared the wine with Levon this time. (And of course she was not happy) I might just as well share it with you: We had the 2016 Pinot Noir, Givry 1er Cru, Clos du Cellier Aux Moines from Damain Joblot, a family chateau from Bourgogne.

Gregory Marchand knows very well that the restaurant business is so much more than just cooking good food, but it takes a great team to be successful. He constantly puzzles over how to make the work environment better for his team and balance out the intensive work hours. He has about 60 people on his team and their happiness at work is very important to him. But of course he is experienced enough to know that too much ease might kill self-development and progress. Very recently Gregory and his team served the lunch at the World Restaurant Awards given out this year for the first time. I didn’t have a chance to attend the ceremony but Arzu was there and you can read about her impressions in her own article about the awards.

Baieta - A little kiss

This article has been published in Turkish on Gastereamag on 22.11.2018

 

I believe there are two types of people. The first are the people who are discouraged and choose to live a quitter life when face with difficulties in life, and the second are the courageous ones, who choose to learn from these difficulties and take a risk to start over again. Unfortunately I must admit that I’m might belong to the first group because my dreams have somehow always been taken from me by events beyond my control. However I’m also very very lucky that my family, especially my wife and my friends have always been there for me and at the end I always had another chance to become part of something new and better. Lately, chance is on my side once again and I’ve become a part of Gastereamag. I’ve even published my second article. I would like to thank dear Arzu for that, because she is one of those courageous people who had the crazy idea of convincing me to write something.

Since we have started off by talking about courageous people, I would love to introduce you to Julia Sedefdjian, whose restaurant I visited in June 2018. She is a very young lady, born on the last month of 1994. She has the courage, diligence and determination that only a few people have in the world. At 14, she has stood up to her parents when she decided to become a chef and enrolled herself at  the Lycee Hôtelier of Paul Augier.  While studying, she also started apprenticing at David Faure’s restaurant Aphrodite in Nice. (The restaurant has closed since then.) Working in a serious job has helped her mature and grow. From an early age she has learned the importance of taking responsibility, the amount of hard work necessary to succeed and how making sacrifices becomes a natural part of your life. At 17 she moved to Paris where she didn’t know anyone and found an apprenticeship in “Les Fables de la Fontaine” through the employment agency. Here she continued to work with seafood just like in Nice. Julia says she loves to cook dishes that combine fish and vegetables and this is evident in her menu as well. When I visited her restaurant, there was only one starter and one main dish that did not have seafood in it.

IMG_5841 (2).jpg

Julia is very attached to her roots and her restaurant that she opened in January 2018, is called “Baieta” which means little kiss in Nice dialect. It is this “little kiss” that greets you when you enter the restaurant. It is a beautiful black and white painting by Frédéric Agid.  In the painting the two partners - Sébastien Jean-Joseph in the kitchen, and Grégory Anelka in the dining room – are caricatured while kissing Julia. The amuse bouche is a pissaladière, a type of tarte/quiche typical to Nice. The anchovy, black olive and caramelized onion pissaladière is really delicious. The chef says that her favourite ingredients with fish are lemon, garlic, fresh thyme espelette peppers from Basque Country. As a starter I choose octopus that is served with espelette. The velvet crab is served in a white bowl with a juicy and sweet gnocchi. The sweet potato chips served at the top of the plate were wonderful. I have nothing to say against the gnocchi, nor the crab broth and the taste of the octopus. However, if you are used to eating octopus in the Greek Islands, at our late Lokanta Maya or Aman da Bravo, you would not be happy with the texture of this octopus. It was not one of those soft octopuses you would be used to that you could eat in two bites, almost without chewing.

Talking about “softness”, I have to mention how smooth and organized everything ran in the dining room. The well-informed and warm service, the distribution of the tables and the timing of the food were perfect. This is due to the previous experience of Julia and her team at a Michelin starred restaurant. Mentioning Michelin, I just realized that I forgot to mention a very important fact. Uuppss !! Julia Sedefdjian is the youngest chef to earn a Michelin star in France.  Yes, what you just read is true. At the age of just 20, she became head chef at Les Fables de la Fontaine, and next year was awarded by the red book. Naturally, this brings her to the spotlight. At the beginning she felt weird when she started working as head chef and realized that she wouldn’t have anyone to teach or guide her. However she is very open minded, curious, reads a lot and has a very small ego and therefore she is open to keep learning from everyone. She says that having her own restaurant has made her feel more independent, which has improved her creativity a lot. One of her mentors is Christian Constant, from a neighbouring restaurant on the same street. Her role model as a female chef is Anne-Sophie Pic who was the fourth female chef to earn 3 Michelin stars and was awarded best female chef in 2011. Not a bad role model at all.

Lately, as has been the popular move among other young chefs in Paris, it was a very courageous decision, to leave her Michelin starred position to open her own restaurant. The reason behind this move is to serve more reasonably priced by high quality dishes. The chef’s signature dish, ”the Bouillabaieta”, is an upgraded “bouillabaisse”, the renown Marseillais fishermen’s stew. I found myself wiping the plate with my bread no make sure there was nothing left. Of course they make their own bread as well and serve it with a flavoured butter that they change seasonally. I was very glad when the Bouillabaieta came that I hadn’t already finished my bread. I believe I will be curiously following the development of Julia’s dishes and her restaurant for the next couple of years.

Note: I’m sorry but I will refrain again from mentioning the wonderful wine I had with my dinner because my neighbouring writer Levon will keep pestering me until I bring him some.

Fichon - Impossibilities push for creativity

This article has been published in Turkish on Gasterea Mag on 09.08.2018

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my story with Fichon goes back to 2011. It all began on a very busy work night in Lokanta Maya, our precious restaurant with Didem, when a gentleman, whose occupation I had no idea about, agreed to sit on the most uncomfortable barstool in the world and tasted most of our dishes. About 3 months later, in June, we found out that this gentleman was actually a very renown food writer who writes for Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Saveur, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, and had published an article in New York Times Magazine solely about Lokanta Maya. His name is Alexander Lobrano and he in turn introduced me to Fichon 6 years later in another one of his articles. Now, wherever I travel to, I always check his blog after my initial research about the destination. For me, his blog is kind of a guarantor of the restaurant choices I make.

Last year, when Ayca accepted a job offer, we came to Paris for house hunting. We had only 2 nights, and naturally we wouldn’t choose a restaurant without first consulting Master Alexander. When I logged in, the first article that caught my eye was about Fichon, and luckily fish and sea food was exactly what we were craving. We made a reservation right away to guarantee our table and took an Uber from our hotel to the restaurant. We really loved Fichon that night and daydreamed about how we could keep coming back when we moved to Paris.

The restaurant is located at the corner of two streets, in a triangular space. The tables are not crammed together like most of the other French restaurants. Yes, you do get tired of no elbow space after a while. Anyway, when you enter, the decor and the lighting makes you feel right away that this is a cosy and intimate place. Wooden tables are matched with silver painted chairs. The drinks bar designed after a fisherman’s stall is a cute decor trick. Charles du Pouget, who has designed the restaurant, was inspired by the journey the fish makes from the sea to our plates.  The sea blue back wall, backs of chairs designed after fishnets, chandeliers, herringbone patterned marble fish bar, the fish man’s stall inspired bar and sand colored raw columns are all a part of this journey. During the day, an amazing daylight fills the space from huge windows on both sides of the triangular space.

Before Lokanta Maya I had no clue about cooking or restaurant management (Sadly but truly, I’m still clueless about cooking) Therefore when we were setting up the managerial side of Maya with Didem and Okan, I decided to strengthen my previous business management experience by taking a restaurant management course in MSA. Unfortunately, both because it was a very busy time at work, and because I’ve never been a particularly good student, I didn’t utilize the course as much as I should have. However one thing dear Osman Serim has told us from day one has stuck with me. He told us that, when opening a restaurant, one should always concentrate on the type of food one likes to eat the most. He said that, this is why small scale places always reflect the character of their owners. And this is what I have always observed afterwards in restaurants that I find successful. And Fichon is the perfect example of this theory.

Matthieu Dewilde runs the restaurant. We went there at least 6 or 7 times and he was always there, on top of his game. He attended to all his customers with care, he was always a part of the service. I think he is a bit of a workaholic. His careful attention to customers almost makes you think he might not be French after all. Matthieu is actually a sommelier and has been in business for more than 10 years. His restaurant has been open since 2016. He has a master’s degree from INSEEC Bordeaux Wine Marketing and of course, his restaurant has an amazing wine list. He buys directly from producers. 90% of his wines are biodynamic (Please refer to Levon Bagis if you have any questions about biodynamic wines :) )  Two thirds of his wines are white. And if you are already asking ‘Do I have to drink wine?’ Matthieu has cocktails and amazing beer options as well. In short, you will not have a problem with drinks. I would mention my favorites white wine here, but I’m afraid Levon will make me carry bottles of it my luggage to Turkey, so I’ll refrain.

IMG_5717.jpg

And on a more serious note, I always believe that impossibilities push for creativity. This is exactly what happened here as well. Because of the structure of the building, it is impossible to put in a sufficiently strong and large ventilation system, it is impossible to fry anything in the kitchen. Therefore everything is served grilled, steamed, raw or smoked. Which means you actually eat a quite healthy meal. The whole menu is about fish and shellfish where freshness is a must and when you order an oyster or a shrimp it comes still smelling of the sea. I have never seen them compromise on this. When the food arrives, you realize a certain elegance in the presentation which is owed to the Japanese chef Katsuhiko Sato. The menu changes with the seasons so there is always something new every time you go. The grilled octopus has been my favorites for the past 2 years, however I still have my eye on the smoked salmon that Ayca orders (maybe the time has come for another visit to Fichon).

Paris is filled with so many good restaurants that the idea of becoming a regular of a place seemed almost impossible. Hundreds of food writers and publications keep servicing reviews on new places, on top of which new places you discover and want to try while roaming the streets. There are infinite choices available. You cannot imagine how many lists I’ve created and recreated already.  Fichon has actually succeeded in making loyals out of us within this huge pool of choices. It is the first place we think of when we want to eat incredibly delicious seafood, paired with a very good wine, careful service and calm atmosphere.