Home and away

We have recently returned from 3 weeks' holiday in Southern France, where the sky was blue, the weather was hotter than Singapore for much of the time (although mercifully less humid) and we were graced with the company of good friends with whom we shared some fantastic food moments, as well as some very competitive Trivial Pursuit events.  My friend Kerry was kind enough to bring with her a big book of Trivial Pursuit questions and we had several mini tournaments during the few days she spent with us.  Principal among the food moments. was our visit to the Auberge du Vieux Puits in Fontjoncouse, which has recently been granted a third Michelin star.  Gilles Goujon (what a great name for a chef) works his magic in the kitchen - see picture below - in what must be one of the most bizarre locations for a 3 star restaurant.  Fontjoncouse is in the middle of nowhere, albeit very lovely nowhere, has a population of about 130 people and no other shops or restaurants that we could see on our pre-dinner walkabout. Furthermore there is no town within a thirty mile radius nor a motorway within twenty.  Considering there are only 26 three-star restaurants throughout the whole of France, this is a pretty amazing accomplishment, especially as most of them are not situated in a tiny village next door to absolutely nowhere.  We should really have done a walkabout  post-dinner as well, but we were just too full of the most delicious food and wine and we had booked to stay over in one of the lovely poolside rooms that have been added since our last visit.


The circumstances of that visit - six years ago now - are really quite odd and worth a moment or two in this post.  We were staying in a little hotel in Limoux and asked the owner for a restaurant recommendation.  She mentioned that she had heard good things about a little restaurant in Fontjoncouse, and so we tootled off for lunch that same day.  I can't remember whether we booked or not, we probably did give them a call as it was a fair way away,) but we had no problem getting a table.  It was only when we arrived (very casually dressed, with me on crutches post surgery on my foot) that we realised we were in the presence or 2 Michelin stars and some serious culinary greatness.  Fortunately we had brought the credit card, and we made good use of it.


This time, we went with two of our oldest friends, Sally and Bruce, and I think all of us would put this meal in our top five of best meals ever eaten.  There were three particular highlights for me - two of them quite tricksy in the Heston Blumenthal style - but rather more substantial than some of the Fat Duck offerings.  The first of these was the amuse-bouche we were served just after we sat down at the table.  It came in a knickerbocker glory glass, and looked just like a very colourful dessert. In reality, it was a sort of "tomato cocktail" consisting of several different types of tomato - red, green, yellow and black - interspersed with tomato and basil sorbet and tomato fondant.  It was beautiful to look at and tasted just as good as it looked.  We had reviewed the menu on the Internet before leaving and my friend Sally was sure that she would have nothing to do with the truffle based starter, which turned out to be the house speciality - "L'oeuf poule Carrus 'pourri' de truffes melanosporum sur une puree de champignons et truffe d’été, briochine tiède et cappuccino a boire", as she didn't like truffles, but she decided to go with it anyway, and was she glad she did!  Three out of the four of us has this dish, and it was truly amazing.  It consisted of a hen's egg, from which the yoke had been removed and replaced with a black truffle cream, served on a mushroom and truffle puree, accompanied by a miniature buttery and truffle-studded brioche and a little truffly cappuccino in a glass.   Had seconds been available, we would certainly have done an Oliver Twist and asked if we could please have some more.


The third PF (go on, work it out for yourselves or ask an Australian friend) was the fish course.  Bruce and I chose the red mullet, in which a super flavoursome fish soup was poured into a small ladle full of rouille (a garlicky, saffronny mayonnaise)  which then cascaded into a specially designed asymmetric bowl containing the red mullet set over a potato puree. The fish was yummy and the fish soup, combined with the rouille was intense, seductive and truly amazing.


I could probably have stopped there, but as there were three courses still to come, I didn't.  I moved on to guinea fowl served with crystallised shallots and pistachio ice cream, which I couldn't finish, cheese, which I did, and pudding, which I sampled and then passed on to my trencherman companion, Bruce to finish.  

Being in France for a fairly lengthy period made us ponder the main differences between our two "homes" - Singapore and France.  Apart from the very obvious ones like the price of wine and the fact that France has seasons, there are:

• the different fruit and vegetable offerings (while you can get most European produce in Singapore, it costs a small fortune, whereas fresh papaya and baby kailan  are nowhere to be seen in Limoux at any price)
• the relative blandness of French food compared with the spiciness of Asian cuisine 
• the landscape.  We live in a very rural part of France, with vineyards all around, and close to the Pyrenees, while Singapore has almost no agriculture and its highest point is Bukit Timah hill, which stands at a rather pathetic 537 ft. above sea level. 

But leaving these differences aside, perhaps the clearest difference is the approach to life.  Singaporeans are, generally speaking, fairly conforming and respectful of hierarchy.  The French have always seemed to me to be much more questioning and creative than many of the other Anglo Saxon nationalities and their respect for hierarchy can probably be judged by their willingness to cut off the heads  of any of the aristocracy they could lay their hands on a couple of hundred years or so ago.  As my great friend Steve would say, je reste ma valise.