Kei Matsushima (Nice) & Le Pre Catelan (Paris)

I know I’ve mentioned in several posts now that there are imminent updates galore, but I’d like to take a moment to excuse my spotty posting record by saying that in the past four weeks, Jon and I have travelled to the French Riviera, Paris, DC and Lisbon. I don’t expect a lot of sympathy, [...]

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Mirazur Restaurant, Menton, France

In the span of one week, Jon and I ate at Mirazur in Menton, Keisuke Matsushima in Nice (one Michelin star each) and Le Pre Catelan in Paris (three Michelin stars). It’s a rough life. That said, of the three meals, our favorite was (by far) dinner at Mirazur. The town of Menton is the [...]

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Dining on the French Riviera: From Socca to (Michelin) Stars

I usually dislike beach vacations because food tends to be mediocre and expensive in places where the main draw is sand and sea. So even though the Riviera is French (and I believe more French care about food than not), I had my worries about spending time, money and calories on the restaurants of the [...]

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Town Hopping on the Cote d’Azur: Cannes to Menton

The French Riviera has been a beach getaway since the late 1700s, which means a lot has already been written about the social goings-on along that famous azure-blue coast. So I’ll disclose up front that I haven’t got any fabulous stories about partying it up in St. Tropez with Roman Abramovich and his Russian oligarch [...]

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Back from the French Riviera

Jon and I are back in London after a long weekend (the first of two May bank holidays) on the French Riviera. The weather was sunny, in the 70s and breezy. The water was, in fact, azure, and we ate at several excellent restaurants – the standouts being the two-Michelin-starred Keisuke Matsushima in Nice and [...]

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Eating and Drinking in Istria, Croatia

Considering how much I’ve read about Lidia Bastianich’s roots in Istria, I was sad that our experiences eating out and drinking in Istria were generally so-so. Our best food market experience was, in terms of consistent freshness and variety of produce, at the enormous Mercator hypermarket in Pula (think Wal-Mart size), and our best restaurant [...]

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