Le Bistrot du Peintre, Paris

 Le Bistrot du Peintre ("The Painter's Bistro") is in Paris's 11th arrondissement: in a slightly grubby, gritty, non-touristy part of town. The bistro itself is beautiful and full of gorgeous art-deco furnishings and finishes. We had a fantastic lunch here. The menu is full of Paris bistro and brasserie classics, like steak frites, composed salads, lovely cuts of meat and simple desserts.

Chewy sourdough baguette pieces with saucisson sec (dried sausage)

Beef tartare with pommes frites and salad

Crispy canard confit (duck leg) with pommes frites and salad 

Creme caramel

Baby quiches

My contribution to a work lunch. So easy.

Baby quiches

300g diced bacon

3 sheets store-bought puff pastry

6 eggs

1 bunch chives, finely chopped

a dash of milk or light cream

ground black pepper

Fry the bacon till browned and slightly caramelised: set aside.

Whisk the eggs, cream or milk and chives in a jug. Cut circles out of the puff pastry and use them to line deep muffin tins (spray tins with non-stick cooking spray first.)

Distribute bacon evenly among the pastry cases. Pour a few teaspoons of egg mixture over the bacon in each pastry case. Don't let the egg come all the way to the top of the pastry.

Bake in a preheated hot oven (200C) for about ten minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden (even on the bottom: take one out and check) and the egg is puffed and set.

Our Haus Cafe

Popped down to Our Haus, Riding Road, Hawthorne, for a spot of lunch. Overwhelmingly good feedback from the interuniverse, so I was looking forward to something interesting and tasty. Pictured here is the cheese and tomato toasted sandwich with salad, the Caesar salad and some fries to share. Toastie was well recieved and the chips were a winner (note to cafe: serve aioli with them next time please), but my salad did not please me so much. Sure, all the elements were there, so A for effort but execution gets a C- at best. Poached egg on Caesars are great, but this one was a fridge-cold poachy and so did not ooze satisfactorily. Salad leaves were only one layer thick, and croutons, while made from your excellent house sourdough, were over-baked and really hard on the teefs. Anchovy good. Dressing good. Feel free to toss the dressing through a little more and even add some water to thin it slightly, get that coaty, crispy, juicy effect on your salad leaves. Just a suggestion. Coffee was lovely. Interior decor was also lovely- I was a big fan of your bright fuschia banquette seating and your quaintly decorated inside room, even if there were too many people jammed in there for a simple weekday lunch and even if half of them were annoying wannabe yuppie women who shop at Marg Kaye. Bit squishy at times to get through to a seat. Also think about getting rid of that INCREDIBLY LOUD AND ATMOSPHERE-DESTROYING JUICER or blender or whatever it is. Surely someone must make a quiet one these days. Or just shove that one out the back, and send the work experience kid or the most hated member of staff out there to be on Juice Patrol. Speaking of staff, our waitperson was very friendly and very lovely and very sweet, even if he did seem to be a bit Special Ed at first, when he brought us two forks, then took them away, then came back with one fork, then a second fork, then went away, then returned and took the second fork away again and replaced it with a butter knife. One butter knife. Lucky it was only for a toasted sandwich; or maybe that was the point. Anyway he was very nice and it seemed like all your staff are like little shining Happiness Fairies. Good on them. Unfortunately though, if I return, I won't be having a salad. Maybe work on those- in the meantime I'll order a sandwich or something.

Christmas lunch 2010

Ham with maple syrup glaze

Roast turkey breast

Lemon, thyme and parsley stuffing balls

Roast potatoes

Turkey gravy

Mixed tomato salad

Pear, apple and chicory salad with blue-cheese dressing

Cranberry sauce

Cherry chutney

Buche de Noel

Onsen lunch

Can't remember the name of this onsen in northern Japan, but it was my first ever hot springs experience. As part of the visit an incredible lunch was included, served in our own private room with mountain views. Truly amazing. Beef cooked on our own stone hotplate with potato and corn, tempura vegetables, broth with enoki mushrooms and soup vegetables, sashimi, cooked eel, edamame, salad, and for dessert, a poached sweet tomato. Eleven out of ten!

Sydney yum cha

If only I could remember the name of this restaurant. It was great.

The Cliffs Cafe

Relatively new cafe at Kangaroo Point. I dropped in today with a friend for lunch. We ordered the prawn salad with caviar, and the lamb burger with tzatziki and fries. The prawns were the best: the burger bun was stale-ish and uninspiring and the fries were floury and not hot. Both dressings were nice though, and the coffee was not bad. We were lucky to be there at an off-peak time, but I think perhaps a little more attention to detail might go a long way.

Okonomiyaki

My first okonomiyaki experience. People told me it was amazing. They were right. A giant savoury cake, filled with vegetables and various meats. You mix and fry it yourself on the teppan (hot plate).
We also had a delicious daikon salad to share.

The two wooden boxes stacked up on the left are filled with dried seaweed flakes and dried bonito flakes for sprinkling. The glazed black pot has a brush in it and contains the sweet thick okonomiyaki sauce. The three little bottles have soy sauce, oil and chili oil. Behind them is the mayonnaise, and in front is my glass of melon-flavoured Fanta. Over to the right is the Dalek-looking thing: it has a button on it you press to call the server and doubles as an astrology guide.

There's a good recipe for okonomiyaki here.

Cold roast pork noodles

These were up there with the best noodles of my life. Cold ramen in a bowl of ice cubes and tangy savoury broth, topped with roast pork slices, ham, sweet egg slices, pickled ginger, cucumber, tomato, nori strips and mustard. There was a raw egg on the side for mixing through, but we preferred the noodles without. Perfect for a hot summer day.