關於巴黎、關於甜點、關於工作、關於生活 – part 1

Categories paris
關於巴黎、關於甜點、關於工作、關於生活 – part 1

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(Sorry, this post is in Chinese only! Hopefully I will get around to translating it sometime in the future…:)

花了點時間整理出2012年8月至2015年9月，在巴黎那三年多的微博 (id: sugared_n_spiced)。從原本打算小住，到因爲瘋狂愛上甜點所以年複一年地留下，這些精選出的小小里程碑和碎碎念記錄了有關我對于巴黎、甜點、工作、和生活的感想。回頭去看，都是一步一腳印。

– Prélude –

2012-8-3

Sugared & Spiced 要搬家去巴黎，月底就走。

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2012-8-16

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

– Mark Twain

2012-8-19

看完江口洋介和蒼井優主演的 “街角洋果子店”，感想 1：好吃的甜點的確能感動人心。感想 2：成爲甜點師傅的修業之路真是步步艱辛呀。

2012-8-22

收到朋友送的 Moleskine 巴黎城市筆記本。再過三天就要離開上海前往巴黎，一年的甜點學習生活即將展開，心情興奮之余，不免有些忐忑。

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2012-8-27

前往巴黎。

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– Paris, Enchantée –

2012-9-2

今天在家附近的周日市集買了我到巴黎後的第一根法棍麵包，莫名的成就感…

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[Shanghai 上海] Chop Chop Club

Categories paris
[Shanghai 上海] Chop Chop Club

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Chop Chop Club

Add: 2F, Three on the Bund, 1 Zhongshandongyi Lu
Tel: 5308 5399
Hours: seats at 6:30-7pm and 8-8:30pm
Price: 400~500 rmb/person
Visited: Feb 2017

Please note that this was an arranged tasting.

If you’ve been eating and drinking in Shanghai, you should know the name Paul Pairet (PP). This French chef has created many climaxes in the F&B scene here since his arrival in 2005 – Jade on 36 at Shangri-la Pudong, Mr & Mrs Bund at Bund 18, and Ultraviolet, the all-immersive dining experience that ranked #24 on World’s 50 Best Restaurants (in addition to two Michelin stars) in 2016. His most recent project, titled “Chop Chop Club” in collaboration with Unico, just opened a week ago and immediately became (unsurprisingly) the hotspot on the bund.

常在上海吃喝的人，對 Paul Pairet (PP) 這個名字一定不陌生。這位法國大廚自 2005 年以來在上海創造了各種餐飲界的高潮，比如浦東香格裏拉的 Jade on 36、比如外灘 18 號的 Mr & Mrs Bund，比如名列 World’s 50 Best Restaurants、去年得到米其林二星的全方位感官餐廳 Ultraviolet。最近他和外灘三號的 Unico 合開了一家名爲 Chop Chop Club 的餐廳，開幕才一周，已（不意外地）成爲外灘上最受矚目的新寵兒。

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Decor at Unico has remained largely unchanged, the only conspicuous difference being the addition of two large electronic screens detailing the carvery menu, constantly updated with time, price, and pieces left. Like this:

“18:30｜cote de boeuf｜650/portion, 1300/whole”
“19:45｜grilled seabass｜140/portion, 700/whole”
“20:15｜char-roasted chicken｜180/portion, 320/whole”

You will notice, upon closer inspection, that the first few items had already been sold out. Why yes, the dishes here go fast, so chop chop and order whatever you fancy before they are snatched by other tables, otherwise there’s no choice but to come back another evening.

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走進餐廳一看，Unico 的布置沒有太大的改動，不過架起了兩座電子屏幕。屏幕上寫著每晚更新的 carvery 菜單以及每種料理出爐的具體時間、價格、以及所剩份數，比如：

“18:30｜烤肉眼｜單份650元，整份1300元”
“19:45｜香烤鲈魚｜單份140元、整份700元”
“20:15｜炭火烤雞｜單份180元、整份320元”

仔細一看，前面幾款都已 sold out？！沒錯，這裏的美食不等人， 店名中的 “chop chop” 在英文裏的意思就是 “快一點”，所以在屏幕上看到自己想點的菜別忘了趕緊和服務員下單，一旦賣光就要下次再來吃啦。

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[Hong Kong 香港] Rhoda

Categories hong kong, paris
[Hong Kong 香港] Rhoda

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Rhoda

Add: 345 Des Voeux Rd W, Shek Tong Tsui, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2177 5050
Hours: 6pm-12am (closed on Mon)
Price: 400+ HKD/person
Visited: Aug 2016

I pretty much didn’t leave the area between Wanchai and Sheungwan on this trip to Hong Kong, except for this visit to Rhoda. Located in Sai Ying Pan (which is slightly west of Sheungwan), Rhoda has been opened for only 2 months, helmed by Nate Green of the 22 Ships and Ham & Sherry fame. The food is modern European comfort food, inspired by Green’s memory of his grandmother’s cooking back in England.

這次香港之旅的活動大概都是在灣仔和上環之間，唯一一次超出這個範圍就是在 Rhoda 的晚餐。位于西營盤的 Rhoda 是間才剛開兩個多月的新餐廳，是不少香港潮人出沒的地方。廚房由 22 Ships 及 Ham & Sherry 的前行政總廚 Nate Green 負責，做的是這幾年來很流行的 modern European comfort food。

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The menu at Rhoda changes daily according to the marketing offerings, and there are no real “signature dishes”. For this new restaurant, Green chooses to use real open-pit fire instead of gas stove tops typically seen in modern kitchens – an interesting decision that affects the flavors of all his dishes.

Nate 的靈感源自小時候在英國祖母家吃到的家常菜，菜單根據市場新鮮的食材變動，也沒有特定的招牌菜。比較特別的一點是他舍棄了現代餐廳常用的煤氣爐，改用更原始的燒炭和杏仁木火爐來料理。

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Beer bread (Suntory dark ale), seaweed butter (28 HKD).

用三得力黑啤做的啤酒面包，搭配海藻黃油（28港幣）。

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Lotus root chips, chicken liver cream (38 HKD).

蓮藕脆片、雞肝醬（38港幣）。

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[Paris] The prettiest Bûche de Noël of 2015

Categories paris
[Paris] The prettiest Bûche de Noël of 2015

Christmas is no doubt the busiest season for pastry chefs. I spent my past three Christmas in different pastry kitchens in Paris, and the most memorable was definitely at Fauchon where we made over 6000 cakes for the season. Imagine: a kitchen filled with pastry chefs in Santa hats working on Christmas cakes until late nights…yup, that was us. “Bûche de Noël” is literally a “Christmas log”, but of course nowadays pastry chefs are going above and beyond the log shape, using Christmas as the opportunity to showcase their creativity. Here are a few of my favorites from the 2015 Christmas cake collection, sharing them with you so we can drool together.

Lenôtre

Name: La bûche à trésors
Flavors: chocolate, yuzu, almond, citrus
Price: 130 €

Lenôtre works with a different brand every year to create their Christmas cake, and this year, it’s Hermes’ petit h. All these little items on the cake are sculpted from chocolate and almond paste, very pretty…too pretty, in fact, that I wouldn’t know where to cut!

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Jean-Paul Hévin

Name: Bûche d’Enfer
Flavors: dark chocolate, nougat, buckwheat honey
Price: 36-77 €

A contrast of red and black, with flames and little demons…this is not your warm and fuzzy Christmas cake. The demons chocolate stand is optional for purchase, but I guess the cake wouldn’t be as interesting with only the red flames. In terms of flavor, it’s JPH’s specialty – chocolate.

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Fauchon

Name: Houx Là Là
Flavors: Bergamot, lemon, milk chocolate, vanilla, raspberry
Price: 100 €

All I want to say is that this cake looks very complicated to assemble…to my colleagues who are still there, good luck. I wonder if this year they are also going to churn out 6000 Christmas cakes?

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[Paris] Cafe Oberkampf

Categories paris
[Paris] Cafe Oberkampf

Cafe Oberkampf

Add: 3 rue Neuve Popincourt, 75012 Paris
Tel: 01 43 55 60 10
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 8:30am-5:30pm [Sat-Sun] 9:30am-6:30pm
Price: [coffee] €2.4-5 [food] €4-12
Visited: Aug 2015

A new addition to the Paris cafe scene. Great coffee, friendly service, banana bread served with salted butter, and freshly assembled sandwiches toasted to order. What’s not to love?

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[Paris] Afternoon Tea at Le Bristol

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[Paris] Afternoon Tea at Le Bristol

Le Bristol

Add: 112, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris
Tel: 01 53 43 43 00
Hours: [afternoon tea] 3-6pm
Website: www.lebristolparis.com
Price: [afternoon tea] €80/tea set for two
Visited: Sep 2015

Before leaving Paris, I wanted to have one last afternoon tea at a hotel. Crossing off the ones I’ve already been to – Le Meurice, Plaza Athénée, Shangri-la, The Peninsula, George V – I decided to try Le Bristol and the delicious creations from renowned pastry chef Laurent Jeannin.

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The Thé Complèt (€48/person, or €80/for two) includes two beverages and a three-tier stand of savories and sweets. Though it’s designed for two people, it can easily satisfy three people in terms of the amount of food that’s served. Details to follow.

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[Paris] Sébastien Dégardin

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[Paris] Sébastien Dégardin

Sébastien Dégardin

Add: 200, rue Saint-Jacques – 75005 Paris
Tel: 01 43 07 77 59
Hours: [Tue-Sun] 9am-8pm (closed on Mon & Tue)
Website: www.sebastien-degardin.com
Price: €4-5/patisserie
Visited: Sep 2015

I didn’t know about Sébastien Dégardin until I read the latest Fou de Patisserie magazine, where I found out that this ex-pastry chef from the legendary Troisgros now runs his own pastry boutique in Paris 5eme near the Pantheon. Where have I been?!

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So I went straight away to sample a few pastry creations from the chef, starting with Mara (€5.50), composed of a dacquoise with almonds, light vanilla cream, and red fruit compote, all wrapped around by a soft biscuit, then topped with hazelnut streusel and fresh fig.

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[Paris] Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse

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[Paris] Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse

Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse

Add: 40 rue de la Roquette, 75011*
Tel: 01 48 05 82 86
Website: www.lechocolat-alainducasse.com
Hours: [Tue-Sat] 10:30am-7pm
Price: €14+/chocolate bar, €25+/discovery box
Visited: Sep 2015

The first bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing facility in Paris, opened by none other than THE Alain Ducasse himself. Unfortunately photos are not allowed inside the shop so I can’t show you the fun things happening inside the factory, so do go and see it for yourself. Together with Patrick Roger, this is on the top of my chocolatier list in Paris.

*Additional locations available, details on their website.

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I took home a discovery box (€28), which includes:

  • 5 single origin chocolates: Java, Madagascar, Venezuela, Peru, and Trinidad.
  • 7 ganache chocolates: raspberry, lime, tonka, mint, passionfruit & coconut, coffee, and vanilla.
  • 9 praline chocolates: hazelnuts (black and milk chocolate), almonds (black and milk chocolate), coconut, peanut, hazelnut and almond (black and milk chocolate), and pistachio.

You can also choose boxes with only single origins, ganaches, or pralines, and you can pick your own combinations at a higher price.

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[Paris] Neige d’Eté

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[Paris] Neige d’Eté

Neige d’Eté

Add: 12, rue de l’Amiral Roussin, 75015 Paris
Tel: 01 42 73 66 66
Hours: Tue-Sat 12-2:30pm, 7:30-10:30pm (closed on Sun & Mon)
Website: www.neigedete.fr
Price: [lunch] €40 / €70 with wine pairing [dinner] €70 / €107 with wine pairing
Visited: Sep 2015

Japanese chef Hideki Nishi, previously at George V, now runs this discrete restaurant on a quiet street in the 15th arrondissement. As is typical of Japanese establishments in Paris, the design of Neige d’Eté is minimal and monotone – white walls, white chairs, white table clothes…so that the only colors that pop out are the fresh flowers, and of course the vibrant dishes that come out from the cuisine. We were there for lunch (€40), composed of amuse bouche, appetizer, fish course, meat course, dessert, and petits fours – a light and agreeable meal.

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[Paris] Le Chateaubriand

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[Paris] Le Chateaubriand

Le Chateaubriand

Add: 129 Avenue Parmentier, 75011 Paris
Tel: 01 43 57 45 95
Hours: Tue-Sat 7:30-11pm (closed Sun & Mon)
Website: www.lechateaubriand.net
Price: €70/menu
Visited: Sep 2015

Le Chateaubriand was one of the first restaurants I’d heard about when I arrived in Paris. It’s a hot restaurant, ranked #21 on S. Pellegrino’s The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, higher than many other prestigious establishments in Paris such as Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee and L’Astrance.

Rankings aside, I’ve heard both extremely positive and extremely negative comments from friends who have gone…and it took me 3 years to eventually come and try it for myself. The fixed price is €70 for a flurry of small dishes, mostly very delicious on the evening of our visit (menu changes daily according to the market). It started with some gougeres (savory cream puffs) and liquid ceviche (basically, the taste of ceviche in a shot).

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Little shrimps, fried and covered in plum powder.

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An assortment of sliced tomatoes with oysters.

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Fennel broth with passionfruit.

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