There are places I walk into and instantly know I’ll be a regular. Soul Kitchen was one of those places.

I first headed to this little behind-the-butte café due to a recommendation from Jackie and I can’t thank her enough. I’m here at least a couple of days a week now, leeching off their wifi and churning out some work while the restaurant bustles around me. I’m sitting in my usual corner seat as I type this, actually, listening to their awesome soundtrack which today includes Alt-J, Rufus Wainwright, Woodkid, and Regina Spektor.

Charming without being cutesy, hip without being pretentious, Soul Kitchen is run by the Anzel sisters, the sweetest restaurateurs you’ll ever meet. They serve simple, homemade food that’s often vegetarian, using fresh, seasonal ingredients. I realized last week that I had accidentally been eating vegetarian for three days because of this restaurant — and if you’ve been to Paris, you know what a feat this is.

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Posted in: dining out, paris | Tags: 75018, behind the butte, brunch, cafe, food, lunch, lunch montmartre paris, montmartre, montmartre brunch, montmartre restaurant, paris, restaurant, soul kitchen, soul kitchen paris, travel, vegetarian, vegetarian restaurant paris | 14 COMMENTS

[Note: No, I didn't give in to the temptation to jump on a plane and head back to Corsica so soon after my trip in May. My computer had a meltdown recently, and I thought I had lost a good portion of my photos from the island. Thanks to the miracle workers at Apple, such turns out not to be the case. So, here we are -- with some out-of-order posts from Corsica. I hope you enjoy them anyway, despite them being a bit later than expected.]

I think that there’s an instinct in those who travel frequently to avoid the restaurants with the best views, because we assume that they’re inevitably going to be tourist traps with sub-par food. Or be extraorinarily expensive. Or, likely, both. So it’s always a refreshing surprise to find a restaurant with a stunning view, delicious food, and reasonable prices like Chez Vincent in Bastia.

With an unbeatable view overlooking the old port and food that includes Corsican specialties such as veal stewed with chestnuts (above, served as a savory millefeuille) and a catch of the day served en papillote, as well as a page full of pizzas, Chez Vincent manages to have a dish for every craving, without being sycophantic.

Additionally, I will always be grateful to this restaurant for introducing me to my new favorite apéritif: Cap Corse, a fortified wine with a quinine base.

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Posted in: dining out, travel | Tags: bastia, bastia restaurant, best restaurant bastia, chez vincent, chez vincent bastia, corsica, food, food photography, france, photography, restaurant, south of france, travel, view | 4 COMMENTS

I was fortunate enough to eat a lot of home-cooked meals while I was in Brittany, but there are certain things that a food-obsessed girl needs to go out and find when in the region: seafood, cider, and crepes.

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Posted in: dining out, travel | Tags: brest, bretagne, brittany, cider, crepes, food, france, oysters, plougastel, restaurants, seafood, travel | 10 COMMENTS

There are some restaurants that do just one thing, and do it so well that every person who visits the town it graces is compelled to visit.

You see that plate of langoustines? €22. For serious. And they were head-sucking, finger-licking good. Simply grilled with some mystery herbs and seasonings, served with a big pile of hot fries.

I mean, there are other things on the menu. These mussels were good, too. But every single person in that fully-booked restaurant was there for one thing.

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Posted in: dining out | Tags: bastia, bastia restaurant, corsica, dinner, food, france, langoustine, langoustine restaurant bastia, langoustines, restaurant recommendations bastia, seafood, shelllfish, travel | 17 COMMENTS

I’ve had a mild obsession with Jamie Oliver for years — I used to come home from school and watch him on Food Network. It’s cooks like him that started me on the road to being the food-obsessed girl I am now. So, I couldn’t go to London without visiting one of his restaurants.

Barbecoa is on prime real estate with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on Saint Paul’s Cathedral, specializing in dishes centered around meat and fire, whether it’s steak on grills, chicken roasted in wood-fired ovens, or pit-smoked beef. It’s a testosterone-filled menu, though with the occasional delicate touch like my cocktail: a Death in the Afternoon with a rose petal for garnish.

Honestly, I felt a bit out-of-place. We went during lunchtime and were quickly surrounded by suits. Not that there’s anything wrong with suits, but the folks around us were clearly more interested in closing the deal than the (quite good) food in front of them.

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Posted in: dining out, travel | Tags: all the meats, barbecoa, barbecoa london, bourgeois, england, food, jamie oliver, jamie oliver barbecoa, london, london restaurant, lunch, meat, o, restaurant, suits, travel, uk, united kingdom | 0 COMMENTS

Duck Soup is the little wine bar I mentioned on my last post about London. We passed by it on the street and I did a double-take: I was sure I’d read about this place somewhere. The menu looked good. We walked in, and were immediately seated at two empty bar stools.

It’s in the same vein as some of my favorite spots in Paris: mostly natural wines and seasonal cooking with smallish, shareable plates. I would eat like this every day if I could. Serendipity, right?

But it was our first meal in London, so it felt wrong to get a glass of Bordeaux. We went for beer instead.

Wikipedia says that hipsterism “fetishizes the authentic.” Well I guess that makes this a hipster bar, what with the hand-written, daily-changing menus (with both smaller “bar” plates and larger “kitchen” plates), the wine menu scrawled on the wall, and the bring-your-own-vinyls policy for the record player, which was spinning Nirvana and the B-52s that night. Not to mention how of-the-moment the plates are.

Torn bits of rich, milky mozzarella atop warm sweet peas and a puddle of olive oil. Spring on a plate.

Wee olives for snacking are always appreciated with a beer or three. Continue Reading

Posted in: dining out, travel | Tags: duck soup, duck soup london, duck soup soho, england, food, hipster london restuarant, hipster restaurant, hipster wine bar, hipsterism, london, london restaurant, neiman marcus chocolate chip cookie, o, restaurant, soho london, soho restaurant, travel, uk, united kingdom | 5 COMMENTS

My new go-to lunch spot is conveniently the same as my go-to wine spot: Verjus bar à vins, which is now serving up excellent sandwiches during the day.

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Posted in: dining out, paris | Tags: food, france, paris, travel, verjus, verjus sandwich, verjus sandwich paris | 6 COMMENTS