Cannes, France

"When I have to go to Cannes, that is boring to me."
- Monica Bellucci

We went to Cannes. It was pretty boring. Maybe it would be better if Monica Bellucci were there. Or if we had a film in competition. But we were a couple of weeks early.

For us, it was cold and cloudy. In order to enjoy the pleasures of the sea, we had to turn our gaze inland. A nice lunch would help brighten our day.

Walking near the old port, the sight of a man shucking oysters caught my attention. V is a big oyster fan, and I knew that it would take her mind of the lack of sunshine. The man was doing a quick and professional job. At first, I thought it was a shop selling fresh seafood.

But it turned out that he worked for a restaurant that is something of a Cannes institution: Astoux & Brun. The place has been in business since 1953. We walked in. It was a bit busy, but we lucked out and got one of the few tables left. The weekday afternoon we were there, I’d say the clientele was mostly French, mostly women, and mostly elderly.

I started with marinated salmon. It was €11.00. It was a medium-sized plate completely covered with fish. On top of the salmon, there was olive oil, dill, cilantro, diced red and yellow peppers and zucchini. There were two lemon on the side for squeezing. It was excellent, with a wonderful mix of flavors. Very good fresh bread is served on the side.

V ordered a dozen large Fine de Claire oysters for €18.00. They offer an extra large size, but these were more than enough. They couldn't be fresher, with a wonderful taste of the sea. V enjoys them only with a squeeze of lemon. She loves watching them shrink as the citric acid hits them.
While we were raving about them, a Frenchwoman of a certain age told us in English that she believed Astoux & Brun to be the best place in Cannes for seafood. Her mother of a less certain age agreed.

A mixed salad was €4.00. A glass of white wine was €3.50. A liter of water was €4.60.

Then, I decided to open the purse strings a bit more and order the lunch special. Noix de St. Jacques (scallops) with green vegetables and a Hollandaise for €27.00. It was very nice. The scallops were sweet and perfectly seared.

The spinach, asparagus, haricots verts, and broccoli were freshly wilted. The sauce was fairly basic. I would rate it pretty highly, but I wouldn't get it again. I speak for myself, but at that price, it was too rich for my blood.

The weather remained cold and cloudy for most of our week on the Côte d’Azur. We knew it was early in the season, but we had hoped for a sunny day on a beach somewhere. Since that didn't happen, we saw many sights and had to find other ways to entertain ourselves.

One of them was a return visit to Astoux & Brun for oysters.

Astoux & Brun
27 rue Félix Faure
06400 Cannes
Tel: (+33) 04 93 39 21 87 or 04 93 39 98 94

"So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?"
- Attributed to Christina Aguilera

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Fuzion Cafe - Update (Closed)

**NOTE: This cafe closed down in April 2008. Another one bites the dust.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Fuzion and some its sandwich offerings. They were OK, and it is a nice place, but there wasn't much that really grabbed me.

However, V told me that their veggie wrap was very good, especially given the dearth of quality and healthy lunch options in the Wenceslas Square area. She was a bit annoyed that I didn't give Fuzion a higher recommendation.

In my defense, when I first visited, I didn't see a veggie wrap in the case. But I could see I was going to have to go back again to please this one particular reader.

Upon my return, I was in luck. There were several veggie wraps on display. It costs 65 CZK if you eat it in the restaurant or 60 CZK if you take it outside. I took it with me back to work.

The wrap is filled with raw yellow and green peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and goat cheese. It is wrapped in a green spinach and flour tortilla. It only looks brown in the picture because it is then wrapped with paper.

The big attraction for V, aside from the fact that it is healthy and light, is the goat cheese. We both like goat cheese a lot. And the goat cheese is what saves this wrap from being completely boring. The other ingredients are fairly unimaginative. The one negative aspect was that when I took the brown paper off, the wrap began to unwrap a bit and fall apart.
So, it is definitely a good light option for lunch. But it just goes to show that my tastes are my own and not necessarily what V likes or possibly even you.

Given a choice, I'll go for the warm ham and cheese croissant with a hot chocolate every time.

Fuzion
Vodičkova 38
Prague 1Tel. (+420) 224 215 156
Hours: Mon-Fri 7 am - 8 pm
Sat-Sun 8 am - 5 pm

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Avignon, France

Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

Avignon wasn't always packed with tourists. Just since 1309. Things changed a bit after Pope Clement V set up house.

On our first night in the walkable old city, we hoped to avoid the crowds. V and I wanted to go somewhere special for dinner. Something that didn't feel touristy.

After wandering around for a while, we found Le Coin Caché (The Hidden Corner), a place just behind the Palais des Papes on the Place Cloître St. Pierre.

The restaurant is on a pretty little square filled with tables from a few restaurants that reside there. The tables themselves are a bit unstable, with green, chipped paint. We like them. They felt very French.

The restaurant's host was a friendly young man who recited the menu to us. The menu is only written on the chalkboard, but we couldn't remember everything and hadn't decided when we sat down.

V started with a creamy avocado puree topped with a rillette de crabe and dill for € 8.00. There were marinated red peppers and a small salad on the side. It was a nice refreshing starter. We dipped some of the nice bread on the table into the avocado and crab.

V liked the light oil and vinegar dressing on the salad. Although it was very simple, she said she hasn't been able to make a dressing herself that tastes quite the same.

I had the tomato muffin with eggplant caviar and pesto and a small salad, also for € 8.00. When I ordered it, I thought it might be a tarte of some kind, but it was actually a corn muffin, studded with chunks of dried tomato. The eggplant was flavorful. I haven't had anything quite like it before.

For a main course, I had Le Coin Caché's shrimp moussaka. Four shrimp with stewed tomatoes and caramelized onions sit beneath a layer of eggplant, baked in a square dish.

It was OK, but the shrimp were relatively small and a bit overcooked. Also, the dish itself was fairly small. It was € 17.00.

V picked the real winner. She had the scallop served over squid ink risotto with wok-fried zucchini and carrot. The scallops were nicely seared and fresh.

The sauce was lightly sweet, but we couldn't figure out exactly what it was. The host was too busy to ask. I thought that it tasted like hazelnuts, but V didn't think so. I also thought there was a bit of coconut milk. The dish was also € 17.00.

We decided to split one dessert -- the mille-feuille with chocolate and white chocolate cream for € 6.00. It was actually just trois-feuille -- three crispy leaves sandwiching something along the lines of flavored whipped cream.

During our meal, we were entertained by two gentlemen who took turns playing the accordion. I found the music pleasant.

One thing about it made me laugh. I recently learned how to play "Besame Mucho" on guitar. Since that time, I have been hearing that song almost everywhere I go. Including this night on the Place Cloître St. Pierre.

It is really a pretty spot. It is right beneath the walls of an old church. There are also apartments above it with cute green terrace gardens.

The final bill was for the food and drink was € 66.00. We enjoyed just about everything, It wasn't a lot of food for the money, but the beautiful square and the friendly host made us feel it was well worth the cost.

There is no getting around the fact that restaurant dining in France, even at many average places, can be an expensive proposition. If you are American, thinking about the cost of a dinner in dollar terms these days will just crush your soul.

So, don't do it. The pope left town a long time ago.

Le Coin Caché
3 Place Cloître St. Pierre
8400 Avignon, France
Tel. (+33) 04 90 82 07 31

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