Art du Fromage

I had a reunion with some old colleagues at Art du Fromage in Chelsea.  We all used to work together in France so it was nice to meet up again in a French restaurant.   

Art du Fromage offer an all you can eat fondue and between us we managed to eat a lot.

14 juillet

The French celebration of 14th July is marked each year in London.  This is hardly surprising when you take into account that London is considered to be France's sixth biggest city in terms of population.

2012 is the first year since I moved to London where the Bastille Day fun has been on a Saturday.  Since I don't work Saturdays I was able to finally go along.  Unfortunately this year some bad weather also decided to show up.  This didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits although it did damage our free white paper hats somewhat.

 The event I went to was at the Physic Gardens in Chelsea, worth a visit in themselves for a quiet stroll amongst plants and sculptures.

 People queued to buy hot crepes covered in chocolate.

 The event was sponsored by Ricard so there was plenty on sale.  For those who have not had the pleasure (or misfortune, depending on your tastes) of trying Ricard, it's an aniseed drink a bit like Pastis or Uzo.

There was also a pétanque tournament taking place in several locations in the gardens

International Cheese

International Cheese is run by an Irish/German couple and has three outlets: in Liverpool Street, Victoria and Marylebone stations.

They have a range of cheeses from around Europe including from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

I stopped for a look and ended up chatting for about 15 minutes with the owner about the differences between life in Germany and the UK.

You can also check out a selection of the cheeses that they have on their website: www.internationalcheese.co.uk/

007 Around the World

The Barbican is currently hosting a James Bond exhibition until September 2012.  These posters advertising the films around the world decorate the entrance hall.

French conversation in an Italian Restaurant

I'm getting quite into Meetup these days!

I joined the London French Rendez Vous group and signed up for one of their French conversation workshops.  They've been running for a while in London Bridge at a former French restaurant which is now an Italian one called L'Azzurro.

Pierre Jean the organiser was really friendly and lead the group well.  The evening was a really good chance for me to practise speaking French without being worried that I was going to show myself up in front of my French colleagues.

www.meetup.com/london-french

Mouth Watering Deli

L'Eau a La Bouche in London Fields is a cafe/deli that sells French and Italian products.

http://www.labouche.co.uk/

Borough Market

Borough Market has a lot of different stalls from around the world with plenty of choice of products from Spain, Italy and France as well as a few things from Germany, South Africa and the Caribbean. I wasn't expecting to see a Grenadan stall though.  I bought some Grenadan liquer to warm up the rainy afternoon.

South African Biltong

Supreme Courts of the World

There is currently a small display at the Supreme Court in Parliament Square about how Supreme Courts compare to each other and to the UK systems in 9 different countries around the world.

Contested Terrains

Contested Terrains is an exhibition in the Level 2 Gallery at the Tate Modern.  It will be running until 16th October so you still have plenty of time to catch it.  In 2012 it will relocate to the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria.

I had never even noticed the Level 2 Gallery on my previous visits to the Tate Modern, it's easily overlooked if you simply follow the crowds in through either of the main entrances.

Contested Terrains featured work from 4 African artists.  According to the programme the artists examine ideas of 'history and identity that in Africa have long been shaped by the claims and disputes of conflicting ideological and economic needs.'

I'm going to split the exhibition by country to save ending up with one massive long post.

Kader Attia, from France had a slide show of images playing in a loop.  The images were a mix of before and after photos of repaired archaeological artifacts and then before and after photos of early cosmetic surgery performed on injured soldiers who had fought during the First World War

L'Auberge

Country: France

Location: Waterloo
Cost: £15 for a main

Another trip to a French restaurant with Sian and her Taste Card, this time in Waterloo and wilth a couple of other friends I made whilst I was working in France.  Our four meals came to about £35 with the taste card.   Hooray! I had magret de canard.

Bouvelard Brasserie

Country: France

Cost: £10 to £14 for a main, though they have a pre and post theatre menu during the week

Location: Covent Garden

A perfect location to catch up with my friend Sian, since we first  met in the gastronomic capital of France (Lyon) nearly 5 years ago.  Sian has a taste card so we got 50 % off the bill.  The food was delicious: I had venison and gratin dauphinois, Sian has tartiflette and we both had creme brule for dessert. Mmmmm.

www.boulevardbrasserie.co.uk/