Restaurants — Paroles de vignerons - Vinparleur

A Zen canteen in the heart of #Paris

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Oh Paris! You may not be the gastronomic capital of France (this title still seems to belong to Lyon), but with your 13,000 to 14,000 restaurants, everyone will somehow find his culinary bliss ...

This time we have decided to introduce you to the restaurant “Zen” in the rue de l’Échelle in the 1^st Arondissement. Guided by the Honorable Japanese Chefs Kiyoshi Aiba (Sushi Master) and Mitsuru Yamada, you may enjoy real Japanese flavors, sometimes surprising, sometimes less ... You can start with some “tapas” for example: Classic Edamame, Tofu with dried bonito flakes or the slightly more unusual grilled eel with cucumber and vinegar.

Continue with a Japanese omelette, gyoza - grilled ravioli stuffed with pork and vegetables - or beef tataki with ponzu sauce made of soy and citrus fruits ... A dream for taste buds!

Enjoy a real sake of the quite varied and original wine and sake-list, served as tradition demands, in a wooden bowl and a cup filled to overflowing.

Generous, tasty, friendly and very well attended. Our recommendation for a successful lunch or a relaxing evening.

Restaurant Zen Paris
Restaurant Le Pastis in #Montpellier - let’s talk about it again...

Permalink, by Dame B.

It’s a true love story that connects us to this restaurant. Over the last few years, we have always returned here with joy and every time we were surprised again by the composition of the menu, the quality of the ingredients, as well as the fine, intelligent cuisine. Being surprised again and again, isn’t this the basic requirement for a long lasting relationship?

On our last visit, we even had a double surprise. The entire restaurant has undergone a successful relooking and has also expanded as an adjoining former art gallery was taken over and merged with the historic restaurant. New, modern tables and chairs, handmade fabulous ceiling lights, as well as bowls and napkin rings carved by a real craftsman of sycamore wood. Clear, pure lines, very pleasing to the eye.

On the table just as much joy and precision as always, such as with a hors d’œuvre of anchovies on celery and puff pastry with olive puree. This culinary kick-off is followed by a soup of grilled bread with an emulsion of old Rodez, a cheese from the Aveyron, and a hint of chive oil. After this, place for the sea, with a fillet of mullet with raw kohlrabi on a little buckwheat tartlet with fresh herb sauce and caviar lemon. A true explosion of taste when the small, fresh pearls burst on the palate! But that is not all! The emotion rises to its climax with the perfectly cooked veal with a black olive-liquorice-coffee puree (just amazing!), with fried fennel, mustard leaves and a fresh cottage cheese with peanuts and black cumin.

We have only one thing left to say: keep it going! Rendez-vous in a few years to celebrate golden wedding!
Exquisite experience: Restaurant “I CUOCHI” in Genoa

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

The children are back at school, the grapes are in the tanks and summer holiday is already far away... No doubt a new season has begun. This is precisely why I would like to invite you here to a wonderful moment of farniente.

Wonderful moments + farniente often means “gastronomic escapade” and this time we will take you to Italy. After a pilgrimage through the luculous regions of Piedmont and Lombardy, a final stopover is on the agenda: Genoa in Liguria. After a day of strolling through the narrow streets of the old town, we are looking for a restaurant and agree on the welcoming”I Cuochi".

After getting lost in the labyrinth of the old town several times, despite a map, we finally reach the desired location. Our eyes and nose are immediately enthusiastic, thanks to the open kitchen. We pass through a spacious but cozy dining room to a smaller room on the first floor where we wait for a free table with a glass of wine and the literary offer of this former postribolo.

For a starter, chili, gorgonzola, onion jam and iced pears accompany a fine beef tartar (cut with a knife!). After that, it becomes even better with a tuna fillet perfectly baked in bread and almond crust, while fresh water and a fine bottle of Pinot Noir from the Alto Adige help us against our thirst. Wonderful!

Conclusion: Genoa is not only an extremely charming Mediterranean city, but also a nice place to get close to one of the many Italian cuisine styles.
If you want veggie-hype in Zürich, go for the restaurant HILTL!

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Lounge ambience and music, high ceilings and windows, activity as in an ant colony ... as well as a fresh, tasty and completely meatless kitchen. This awaits you during lunch time at the HILTL in Zurich, a culinary institution for over a hundred years.

It is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe, founded in 1898 as a “Vegetarian Home and Abstinence Café”. A not really inviting name ... Perhaps for this reason but mainly because of the bad image of the vegetarians in the 19^th century and the difficulty of finding imaginative cooks, the restaurant actually soon had financial difficulties. Vegetarian were at that time shrieked as “grass eaters” and one called the new restaurant also “the root bunker”. Ambrosius HILTL took over the vegetarian home in 1904, gave it his name and made a lasting success from it. Soon the restaurant moved to a place outside the city, into the Sihlstrasse, where you will still find it… but located in the middle of the city center of Zurich.

Today, the fourth HILTL generation manages the “temple of healthy food”. During the day, the huge buffet is a big success: various salads, all sorts of bratlings, pasta dishes, fruits, desserts and pastries, all vegetarian or vegan. Purchased is locally, ecologically aware and mostly (but not exclusively) organic. All products are processed in the kitchen of the HILTL into tasty, delicious dishes. Inspiration for the recipes is found in the culinary culture of no less than 60 different countries, which leads to a range of dishes that is just as varied and cosmopolitan crowd, which fills the restaurant and terrace of the HILTL during lunch: Tofu salad, soup of the day or HILTL tapas plattern, but also tagliatelle with asparagus and saffron, Thai curry and “Riz colonial” and even vegetarian hamburgers and Cordon Bleu! And just next to the restaurant you will find the HILTLs delicatessen shop and the vegetarian butcher’s shop.

On the menu you may find some wines - vegan, organic or “normal” - Swiss and partly local beers, a variety of juices and fruit cocktails and still water is available in self-service from a fountain. In the HILTL all the prerequisites are created for a rich, tasty and surprising lunch menu, which your body will absorb with pleasure!
The WAWA restaurant in #Berlin - A short trip to Korea @I_love_Berlin @BerlinTourism

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Asian cuisine has found increasing popularity in Europe for years. Thai, Japanese or Korean, their different dishes tempt us with their spices, exoticism and precision of preparation. Often also with its simplicity and sincerity. Personally, I take every opportunity to dive into this universe of strange flavors and textures. On the condition to find a certain authenticity and quality.

If you like exotic cuisine, I warmly recommend the WAWA restaurant in Berlin, a small, modest but very authentic Korean restaurant in Schöneberg. Nibble a little Edamame (steamed soybeans) and tofu-kimchi (fermented cabbage with chili) while waiting for your Mandus (Korean ravioli), your Bul Gogi (marinated meat, which is served with lettuce leaves and rice, to eat with your hands) or Bibim Bap (stewed pot of rice, vegetables, kimchi and, optionally, meat)... Everything is extremely tasty and of powerful flavours. However, I recommend you to keep a bottle of mineral water ready, as Korean cuisine may be strongly influenced by chili. But just then it’s interesting. As besides its power and its fire, good chili is above all a rich source of aromas. A true flavor enhancer that adds strength to the other spices leading to a long lasting finish. A culinary delight, accompanied by a friendly and cheerful service.

A few words on the wine list. The selection of the wines is rather small, which, however, is not very inconvenient. You may be better off with beer (a loyal ally when eating chilli) or tea (an amazing table companion). Also interesting are the various Korean drinks made of rice. Although their flavors seem to originate from a different world, they are very well suited to the different dishes: warmly served sake, milky and cloudy but velvety textured makgeolli, more or less strong soju ...

A short trip to Korea’s kitchens, which is definitely worth a stop.

Bon appétit ! Doyo wihayeo ! 도요 위하여
Restaurant “Les 40 degrés” in Montpellier - a great place for fine food.

Permalink, by Dame B.

It wouldn’t be so difficult to find forty good reasons to go to this restaurant. We will give it a start ...

First, ther is the location, which was certainly not chosen by chance. The dining room, consisting of natural stone walls and vaulted ceilings, already indicates that the emphasis is on nature. The same is also to be found in the aesthetics of chef Antoine Floch’s cuisine. But watch out not to be mislead by his angelic face, for everything that comes to the table is good as hell!

The cuisine follows the seasons and the fresh offer on the market. It is refined in a masterly way by precise and genuine application of spices and beautifully dressed plates, such as the low-temperature cooked quail on a puree of red lentils with lime guacamole. The skilful mixture of different spices and cultures, testify to a multitude of trips by the chef on his constant search for inspiration and aromas. Another example: Turbot filet with tandoori spices, coconut milk and Peruvian Oca cream served with deglazed carrots in oyster sauce and orange ... Divine or diabolic, it’s difficult to decide with this skilful mixture of different tastes.

Lovers of sweetness also get their money’s worth. We recommend the chocolate, almonds and coconut pastry with yuzu cream, vanilla whipped cream and pineapple baked in spices.

At the table, the cooking of Antoine Floch is presented in a pleasant way by Lionel Adams, with a lot of elegance and humor. We leave it to you to find the remaining 32 reasons which inevitably will lead to this restaurant. We are already sure that we will be back soon.
El Xampanyet – Great Tapas and Cava in the heart of #Barcelona

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

You may have to struggle a little to get a table in this tapas bar, located in Barcelona’s El Born district. But if you like an authentic atmosphere, it will be worth the effort: El Xampanyet is crowded, colorful and popular... and its popularity is well-deserved. Tourists and locals mingle here in a colorful Catalan bar atmosphere, decorated with bottles and pictures, the place is small and noisy, a real mess! But before all, the tapas are fresh and excellent!

We’ll leave you no choice, you’ll have to try everything! From the simple tapas classic Pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato and olive oil), to mussels, serrano ham, fresh olives, papas bravas, omelettes and cod fish, marinated in olive oil with tapenade and sun dried tomatoes (our favourite!). Just try them all , even if you do not understand everything on the menue, because every bite is worth it. Do not forget to enjoy this delicious moment with few glasses of cool sparkling Cava. You will leave the El Xampanyet with the a feeling of having tasted “real” Barcelona, and you will also have improved your skills in Catalan language. At least for a few hours…

Fins aviat!
Restaurant Le Naka in #Avignon: Zen #Food in the papal city

Permalink, by Dame B.

There are several ways to discover a restaurant.

A) By listening to friends and colleagues, who praise the ambience and the food of a place they went to last weekend.
B) Through an extensive analysis of comments and pictures on the Internet. Just like it suits in the third millennium ...
C) You drop rather casually into a restaurant, because the business meeting of this morning drags on and you change, for practical reasons and for the purpose of food, to a nearby location.
D) By chance (rare).

For us, the Naka, a Japanese restaurant in Avignon, is a typical C-case. And since then we can’t let go.. First of all there is the place, a room full of poetry. Natural stone walls, fine silk kimonos and large, zeppelin-like lamps, hanging like glowing bubbles over heads and tables, instantly driving the mind into a certain state of peace. We advise to settle in the back room of the restaurant, at one of the two spacious tables, where you actually may take off your shoes (which is not an obligation any more) in order to feel a little more “like at home”.  

As to the composition of the food, the kitchen focuses on the essentials, setting accents of flavours and treating the ingredients with respect: Perfectly cooked rice accompanies the sweet, stewed eggplant “Naka-style”, seemingly simple Sushi hide surprising flavours, exemplary tempered sashimi melts on the tongue. With three words: simple, light, good!  

For your thirst, there’s fresh beer, even iced in summer, but also a beautiful, manageable list of wines from the Rhône Valley. Those who like to keep it authentic may also opt for Sake, warm or cold, or choose one of the various teas on the menue. Afterwards you will be pleasantly satieted and feel relaxed, a nice break during a normal day. Please smile, you’ve just savoured a delicious meal...