The Gourmet's Guide to Europe Part 3

CHAPTER II

FRENCH PROVINCIAL TOWNS

The northern ports--Norman and Breton towns--The west coast and Bordeaux--Ma.r.s.eilles and the Riviera--The Pyrenees--Provence--Aix-les-Bains and other "cure" places.

I propose to take you, my gastronomic reader, first on a little tour round the coast of France from north-east round to south-east, pausing at any port or any watering-place where there is any restaurant of any mark, and then to make a few incursions inland.

Calais is, of course, our starting-place, and here my experience of leaving the buffet at the Terminus and exploring in the town is that one goes farther and does not fare so well. The buffet at Calais always has had the reputation of being one of the best in Europe, and though the Englishman new landed after a rough pa.s.sage generally selects clear soup and stewed chicken as his meal, it is quite possible to obtain an admirably cooked lunch or dinner in the room off the restaurant; and the cold viands, the cream cheese, the vegetables and fruit are all worthy of attention. The "wagons-restaurants" which are attached now to most of the express trains, no doubt have cut into the business of the buffet restaurant; but as a contrast to the ordinary British station refreshment- and dining-room the Calais buffet deserves to be mentioned.

Boulogne

At Boulogne there is a restaurant in the Casino, but I think it adds very little to the revenues of the establishment. Most people take their meals contentedly or discontentedly in their hotels, but the little restaurant on the pier, which used to belong to the widow Poirmeur but is now the Restaurant Garnier, with its miniature terrace and its windows which look out on to the waves when the tide is up, has an individuality of its own, and is one of the haunts of the gourmet who enjoys a meal with unusual surroundings. In the winter the little restaurant hibernates. If customers appear the wife of the proprietor cooks dinner or lunch for them, and cooks very fairly; but with the advent of summer a cook is engaged for the season, and it is a matter of importance to the sojourner in Boulogne whether that cook ranks as "fair" or "good." He generally is good. Fish, of course, is always fresh at Boulogne and generally excellent in quality, and the sh.e.l.l-fish are above suspicion--at least I never heard of anybody suffering from eating _moules_,--therefore a _Sole Normande_ or any similar dish generally forms part of a _dejeuner_ on the pier, and this with an _entrecote_ and an _omelette au rhum_ makes a fine solid sea-side feast. The buffet at the station, since it was taken in hand by the South-Eastern Railway, is not the dreadful place of ill-cooked food it used to be. At the terminus of the tramway which runs into the forest a little _cabaret_ gives a simple meal, and the trip out and back is the pleasantest short excursion from Boulogne. At Wimille it is wise to inquire what charge the new hotel proposes to make before sitting down to a meal. Ambleteuse is another little watering-place to the north on the coast. Here the mid-day meal at the princ.i.p.al inn is lengthy if nothing else.

Following the coast along, Paris-Plage has not as yet developed any restaurant of note, and the inn at Etaples, which is the town on the railway whence the walk or drive to Paris-Plage has to be undertaken, is more famous for having given shelter to generations of artists, some of whom have paid their bills with sketches, than for its food, though some of the best _pre-sale_ mutton in France comes from the fields over-flowed by the estuary at high tide. A goodly proportion of the shrimps and prawns one has to pay so highly for as _hors-d'oeuvre_ in the restaurants of Paris come from Paris-Plage, Le Touquet, and their neighbour down the coast, Berk. Indeed, if any gourmet has a _penchant_ for shrimps and a.s.ses' milk, Berk would be his paradise. Treport requires no description, but

Dieppe

is a place of importance, and in the days of the Second Empire Lafosse's Restaurant in the Grande Rue used to be one of the very best dining places in the provinces of France. Good cooking is now to be looked for from Cabois, 74 Grande Rue, from Beaufils, Rue de la Barre, and from Lefebvre, Rue de l'Hotel de Ville. M. Ducordet, the proprietor of the Grand Hotel, who was the happy man chosen to supply M. Felix Faure with a banquet when he visited Dieppe, caters for the Casino and the Golf Club. The Casino restaurant is worthy of all commendation. The buffet at the Gare Maritime is above the average of buffets in its cookery.

The restaurant of the Hotel Chateau at Puys, a mile and a half from Dieppe, is owned by Mons. Pelettier of local celebrity, who has collected an excellent cellar of wine.

At Pourville, two miles from Dieppe, Mons. Gras is responsible for the entertainment at the Hotel Casino. The restaurant has a special reputation, made by "Papa" Paul Graff, who was formerly one of the many _chefs de cuisine_ of Napoleon III., and who left the Tuileries to keep the hotel. The proprietor is very proud of his kitchens and larders, and is delighted to show them to visitors.

Havre

is one of the towns in which the Englishman or American crossing to Southampton or coming thence often finds himself for some hours.

Tortoni's in the market-place has a reputation for good cooking, but judging from the two or three dinners I have eaten there, both _a la carte_ and the _table-d'hote_ one at 5 francs, the cookery is of the good solid bourgeois order, eight courses and a pint of wine for one's money. In days long gone by there used to be this footnote to the _carte du jour_ at Tortoni's, "Les hors-d'oeuvres ne se remplacent pas,"

which was translated for the benefit of the English, "The out-of-works do not replace themselves." Tortoni's Hotel Restaurant must not be confounded with the Bra.s.serie Tortoni quite close to it, which is a bachelor's resort; but which I, as a bachelor, have found very amusing sometimes after dinner.

Frascati's Restaurant, an adjunct to the big hotel on the sea-sh.o.r.e, is the "swagger" restaurant of the place, and many a man who has come over by the midnight boat and has stayed for a bathe and a meal at Frascati's before going on to Paris by the mid-day train has breakfasted there in content. The _Ecrevisses Bordelaises_, the _Crotes aux Champignons_, the _Salade Russe_ here have left me pleasant memories. In the winter the _chef_ retires to Paris or elsewhere, and the restaurant is not to be so thoroughly trusted; and sometimes when a crowd of pa.s.sengers are going across to Southampton by the night boat to catch an American steamer, I have found the attendance very sketchy, owing to the waiters having more work than they can do satisfactorily. The restaurant is in the verandah facing the sea.

So much from my own experience. Other people with larger knowledge all have a good word to say for Frascati's, but all a word of caution as to its prices. It is wise to look at the price of the champagnes, for instance, before giving an order. The official dinners at Havre are always given at Frascati's, and it is here that the British colony holds its annual banquet on the King's birthday. I append a menu of a dinner of ceremony at Frascati's which, though it is miles too long, is a very n.o.ble feast:--

Tortue claire a la Francaise.

Creme Du Barry.

Rissoles Lucullus.

Caisses de laitances Dieppoise.

Barbues dorees a la Vatel.

Selle de Chevreuil Nemrod.

Poularde du Mans Cambaceres.

Terrines d'Huitres a la Joinville.

Cailles de vigne braisees Parisienne.

Granites a l'Armagnac.

Faisans de Compiegne rotis.

Truffes au Champagne.

Salade Chrysantheme.

Pains de pointes d'Asperges a la Creme.

Turbans d'Ananas.

Glace Frascati.

Dessert.

The Hotel de Normandie is another hostel at which the cooking is good and the wines excellent. This is a menu of a _table-d'hote diner maigre_ served there on Good Friday, and it is an excellent example of a meal without meat:--

Bisque d'Ecrevisses.

Reine Christine.

Filets de Soles Normandy.

Nouillettes Napolitaine en Caisse.

Saumon de la Loire Tartare.

Sorbets Supreme Fecamp.

Coquille de Homard a l'Americaine.

Sarcelles sur Canape.

Salade panachee.

Asperges d'Argenteuil Mousseline.

Pet.i.ts Pois au Sucre.

Glace Quo Vadis.

Pet.i.ts Fours. Corbeille de Fruits.

Dessert.

The cooking at the Continental Hotel is reported as being good, but its wine-list does not meet with so much praise. The Burgundies, red and white, at the Hotel du Bordeaux are highly praised.

One of my correspondents sends me an account of Perrier's, a little restaurant, which I give in his own words. "The quaintest and most original place in Havre is a little restaurant on the quay, opposite where the Trouville boats start from. It is known equally well as 'Perier's' or the Restaurant des Pilotes. It is kept by one Buholzer, who was at one time _chef_ at Rubion's in Ma.r.s.eilles. He afterwards was _chef_ on one of the big Transatlantique boats, where he learnt to mix a very fair c.o.c.ktail. The entrance is through a tiny cafe with sanded tiled floor. Thence a corkscrew staircase leads to a fair-sized room on the first floor. All the food you get there is excellent, and _Bouillabaisse_ or _Homard a l'Americaine_ 'constructed' by the boss, is a joy, not for ever, but in the case of the first named, for some time.

The house does not go in for a very varied selection of wines, but what there is is good. Ask for their special roll." The same correspondent goes on to tell me that the proprietor of the Broche a Rotir at St-Adresse, who used to be his own _chef_, and attained much local celebrity, has sold the goodwill, but that the place is still to be commended, and that Bequet of the Restaurant Bequet can, if he likes, cook the best dinner in the department; but that you must find him in the mood.

Of cafes in Havre, the Cafe Prader, near the theatre, and the Paris are the two where the drinkables are sure to be of good quality.

Rouen

At Rouen the gourmet has a right to expect the _Caneton Rouennaise_ and the _Sole Normande_ to be cooked to perfection; and outside the hotels, some of which have excellent cooking, there is a restaurant, the Francais, in the Rue Jacques le Lieur, a street which runs behind the Hotel d'Angleterre, parallel to the Quai de la Bourse. Of course the Rouen duck is not any particular breed of duck, though the good people of Rouen will probably stone you if you a.s.sert this. It is simply a roan duck. The rich sauce which forms part of the dish was, however, invented at Rouen. The delights of the _Sole Normande_ I need not dilate on. A good bottle of Burgundy is the best accompaniment to the duck. The Restaurant de Paris, in the Rue de la Grosse Horloge, is a very cheap restaurant, where you get a great deal to eat at dinner for 2 francs, and where you will find the _Choux Farcies_ and other homely dishes of Normandy as well as the excellent little cream cheeses of the country.

Crossing the Seine, one is in the land of cider and Pont l'Eveque cheese. At Honfleur you will find a very good _table-d'hote_ at the old-fashioned Cheval Blanc on the Quai; and at the Ferme St-Simeon up on the hill, in beautifully wooded ground, there is to be obtained some particularly good sparkling cider. Honfleur has a special reputation for its shrimps and prawns.

Trouville Deauville

During the Trouville fortnight, when all the world descends upon Trouville, the various big hotels and the Casino have more clients than they really can cater for. At the Roches Noires one is likely to be kept waiting for a table, and at the Casino a hara.s.sed waiter thrusts a red mullet before one, when one has ordered a sole. The _moules_ of Trouville are supposed to be particularly good, and also the fish. There are _table-d'hote_ meals at the restaurants of the Helder and De la Plage, the second being the cheaper of the two, and food is to be obtained at the little Cafe Restaurant on the edge of the _promenade des planches_. But Trouville in the season may be taken to be exiled Paris in a fever, half as expensive again, and not half so "well done."

Of the little bathing-places immediately east of Trouville--Houlgate-Beuzeval, Dives, Cabourg--there is little or nothing to say. At Cabourg the Hotel des Ducs de Normandie has some kiosks with a full view of the sea, where it is pleasant to breakfast, and the Casino can always be taken for granted as a _pis aller_ at all these little bathing-places. The quaintness of the old inn Guillaume le Conquerant at Dives counts for something, and the 5 franc _table-d'hote_ dinner there is good of its kind.

Caen

_Tripes a la mode de Caen_ may be a homely dish but it is not to be despised, and it can be eaten quite at its best in the town where it was invented. I have eaten it with great content at a bourgeois restaurant, opposite to the Church of St-Pierre, the Restaurant Pepin, if my memory serves me rightly, and a _Sole Bordeaux_ to precede it. The proprietor, M. Chandivert, was very anxious that I should add a _Caneton Rouennaise_ to the feast, but I told him that "to every town its dish." He gave me a capital pint of red wine, and impressed on me the fact that he had obtained a gold medal at some exhibition for his _andouillettes_. Caen is the town of the _charcutiers_, and you may see more good cold viands shown in windows, in a walk through its streets, than you will find anywhere else outside a cookery exhibition. Caen is an oasis in the midst of the bad cookery of Western Normandy; and the restaurant at the Hotel d'Angleterre and the Restaurant de Madrid are very much above the average of the restaurant of a French country town. In both restaurants you can dine and breakfast in the shade in the open air, the Madrid having a good garden, the Angleterre a great tent in the courtyard,--a welcome change from the stuffy rooms, full of flies, of most Normandy hotels. I have a most pleasant memory of a _Homard Americaine_, cooked at the Hotel d'Angleterre, which was the very best lobster I ever ate in my life. The old _chef_ who made the fame of the Angleterre has retired, but his successor is said to show no falling off in the art of preparing a good dinner. I would suggest to the wayfarer to breakfast in the garden of the Madrid and dine at the Angleterre. There is a little restaurant, A la Tour des Gens d'Armes, on the left bank of the ca.n.a.l which is much frequented by students, and where an _al fresco_ lunch is served at a very small price. The food is good for the money, and there is always a chance of finding some merry gathering there. A note of warning should be sounded as to the cider and _vin ordinaire_ supplied as part of the _table-d'hote_ dinners in Caen, and indeed everywhere in Normandy. There is almost invariably good cider to be had and good wine on payment, but the cider and wine usually put on the table rival each other as throat-cutting beverages. Vieux Calvados is an excellent _pousse cafe_. It reads almost like a fairy-tale to be able to recount that the delicious oysters from the coast-villages of Ouistreham and Courseulles can be bought at 50 centimes the dozen or very little more.