but my heart and mind is still in France.
I have been dreaming about French museums and chateaus in the past few nights... and wondered where I was when I woke up every morning.
PHDS i think (Post Holiday Depression Syndrome).
Worst was last night... I woke up in the middle of the night and told Mrs Chan that "we need to get out of this museum as the lights are being turned off".
Give me a few more days to bring my heart and mind back to Syd...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Trip highlights
Best restaurant experience - Pierre Gagnaire and Le Cinq
Best value restaurant - Au Bon Accueil and La Table de Joel Robuchon
Best food - tossed up between Gagnaire's food, Herme's Ispahan and Angelina hot choc
Most impressive attraction - Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona
Worst moment - Stolen wallet in Barcelona
Most scenic town - Gordes in Provence
Worst flight - Vueling airlines
Best flight - Air NZ
Most romantic city - Paris
Worst transport - Sydney, hands down.
Best value restaurant - Au Bon Accueil and La Table de Joel Robuchon
Best food - tossed up between Gagnaire's food, Herme's Ispahan and Angelina hot choc
Most impressive attraction - Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona
Worst moment - Stolen wallet in Barcelona
Most scenic town - Gordes in Provence
Worst flight - Vueling airlines
Best flight - Air NZ
Most romantic city - Paris
Worst transport - Sydney, hands down.
Day 28 - PH disaster and Macaron Review. Airline review
When we got home, we found the Pierre Herme macarons we bought from Paris arrived in a very bad shape:
Macaron Review
As promised, here are some thoughts from Mr and Mrs Chan about our Macaron crawl
Macaron lady in Aix-en-Provence
She was trained in a michelin starred restaurant, so her techniques were great. All flavours and tastes were excellent, but the appearance was a little inconsistent (who cares!). Some of them had air pockets. Loved the banana, Earl Grey flavours.
Dallayou
Ordinary macs, so no need to waste your time, money and wasteline.
Fauchon
Slight better, but still ordinary macs. Also no need to go.
Laduree
Appearance not as good as PH, but shells' texture was very good. Tastes and flavours were good too. Their tea rooms were worth going, and it certainly doesn't harm to try a few of their macs.
Pierre Herme
IS THE BEST. Appearance, taste, flavour combos were all the best. Mrs Chan liked the Rose, Jasmin, Choc-passionfruit. Mr Chan loved the salted Caramel - much better than the above brands.
Hope Mrs Chan can imitate some of the flavours :)
Airline review
Just a bit of wrap up for the 4 airlines we travelled. Obviously I can't include Vueling budget airline!!! terrible experience.
Best Seat
1) Air NZ - most comfortable seat and bed
2) Air Canada - also horizontally flat
3) Lufthansa - not bad for a "last generation" seat, but no match for the new flat ones. I found the seat narrow too.
4) SQ - had more slope than LH, but I believe these seats (well.. the 747s) are being phased out in the next few months.
Best Food
1) and 2) NZ and SQ tied because both were great. Only tasted a light meal on SQ, so can't compare with NZ fairly. NZ was consistent in all courses and wine was terrific.
3) Air Canada
4) Lufthansa- crap
Best Inflight Service
1) SQ - very good crew
2) NZ - mostly excellent, barring 1-2 aged males who looked a bit like..... a waiter in a street corner cafe. Sorry... can't find a better description. But this is true! we had a guy like that on both NZ flights.
3) Air Canada - better than US airlines, but still way behind Asian airlines
4) Lufthansa - OK, but unpolished.
Best Lounge
1) SQ Singapore T3 - Huge and luxurious lounge like a 5-star hotel. Excellent food quality and choice. Excellent facilities.
2) NZ Sydney - Nice lounge, decent food.
3) AC Toronto - Nice lounge, just crappy food.
4) LH Frankfurt Terminal C - If I paid full fare for my J ticket, I would have been very disappointed at the facilities and would never fly LH again if I had a choice. Well, even from a redemption tix point of view, I would also avoid them if I have a choice.
Best Inflight entertainment
All airlines had on-demand video and audio, so they were all good. SQ and AC choices were better I felt. But NZ was close behind. LH was average.
Overall
1) Air NZ for an all-rounder
2) SQ - very close 2nd, and would have been first if I was on their new J seats.
3) AC
4) LH
OK... that's it from Mr Chan and hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we do. It's time to get back to work, as well as getting replacement credit cards, lodging insurance claims etc...
Macaron Review
As promised, here are some thoughts from Mr and Mrs Chan about our Macaron crawl
Macaron lady in Aix-en-Provence
She was trained in a michelin starred restaurant, so her techniques were great. All flavours and tastes were excellent, but the appearance was a little inconsistent (who cares!). Some of them had air pockets. Loved the banana, Earl Grey flavours.
Dallayou
Ordinary macs, so no need to waste your time, money and wasteline.
Fauchon
Slight better, but still ordinary macs. Also no need to go.
Laduree
Appearance not as good as PH, but shells' texture was very good. Tastes and flavours were good too. Their tea rooms were worth going, and it certainly doesn't harm to try a few of their macs.
Pierre Herme
IS THE BEST. Appearance, taste, flavour combos were all the best. Mrs Chan liked the Rose, Jasmin, Choc-passionfruit. Mr Chan loved the salted Caramel - much better than the above brands.
Hope Mrs Chan can imitate some of the flavours :)
Airline review
Just a bit of wrap up for the 4 airlines we travelled. Obviously I can't include Vueling budget airline!!! terrible experience.
Best Seat
1) Air NZ - most comfortable seat and bed
2) Air Canada - also horizontally flat
3) Lufthansa - not bad for a "last generation" seat, but no match for the new flat ones. I found the seat narrow too.
4) SQ - had more slope than LH, but I believe these seats (well.. the 747s) are being phased out in the next few months.
Best Food
1) and 2) NZ and SQ tied because both were great. Only tasted a light meal on SQ, so can't compare with NZ fairly. NZ was consistent in all courses and wine was terrific.
3) Air Canada
4) Lufthansa- crap
Best Inflight Service
1) SQ - very good crew
2) NZ - mostly excellent, barring 1-2 aged males who looked a bit like..... a waiter in a street corner cafe. Sorry... can't find a better description. But this is true! we had a guy like that on both NZ flights.
3) Air Canada - better than US airlines, but still way behind Asian airlines
4) Lufthansa - OK, but unpolished.
Best Lounge
1) SQ Singapore T3 - Huge and luxurious lounge like a 5-star hotel. Excellent food quality and choice. Excellent facilities.
2) NZ Sydney - Nice lounge, decent food.
3) AC Toronto - Nice lounge, just crappy food.
4) LH Frankfurt Terminal C - If I paid full fare for my J ticket, I would have been very disappointed at the facilities and would never fly LH again if I had a choice. Well, even from a redemption tix point of view, I would also avoid them if I have a choice.
Best Inflight entertainment
All airlines had on-demand video and audio, so they were all good. SQ and AC choices were better I felt. But NZ was close behind. LH was average.
Overall
1) Air NZ for an all-rounder
2) SQ - very close 2nd, and would have been first if I was on their new J seats.
3) AC
4) LH
OK... that's it from Mr Chan and hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we do. It's time to get back to work, as well as getting replacement credit cards, lodging insurance claims etc...
Day 27 - Singapore transit and heading home
Singapore transit
We had about 6 hours in Singapore, so we headed out for some nice Chilli Crab at Clarke Quay. Sorry, forgot my camera.
We still had a few hours left and we headed to the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge at the new T3. Stunning!!! Best (biz class) lounge I've been to and it's even better than the CX lounge in HKG.
Needless to say, free WiFi was there. Lounge was huge and beautiful. Lots of food in the buffet bar, including old-school chinese style soups and dessert soups. Showers were fantastic too.
Flight 7: SIN-SYD
What set SQ apart was the service and food. You really feel like a VIP from start to finish, and nothing was too much trouble for the crew. All requests and questions were handled with grace, the "Singapore girl" image.
My supper - satay chicken/lamb with rice cakes, onion and cucumber. Very good.
We had about 6 hours in Singapore, so we headed out for some nice Chilli Crab at Clarke Quay. Sorry, forgot my camera.
We still had a few hours left and we headed to the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge at the new T3. Stunning!!! Best (biz class) lounge I've been to and it's even better than the CX lounge in HKG.
Needless to say, free WiFi was there. Lounge was huge and beautiful. Lots of food in the buffet bar, including old-school chinese style soups and dessert soups. Showers were fantastic too.
Flight 7: SIN-SYD
- Airline: Singapore Airlines
- Flight #: SQ231
- Plane: Boeing 747-400
- Departure Time: 16/5/09, 00:25
- Duration: 7 hrs
- Seats: 17H and 17K
What set SQ apart was the service and food. You really feel like a VIP from start to finish, and nothing was too much trouble for the crew. All requests and questions were handled with grace, the "Singapore girl" image.
My supper - satay chicken/lamb with rice cakes, onion and cucumber. Very good.
Day 26 - Final moments of Paris. Frankfurt transit
Final minute major sites – Invalides, Notre Dame, Ile St Louis
Mrs Chan was great in waking me up at 7am this morning... and we had a very productive final morning in Paris.
Invalides – site of Napoleon’s tomb
Notre Dame
We then headed to the small island adjacent to Notre Dame - Ile St Louis. My cousin recommended an ice creamery there - Berthillon. Although it was only 10am, I just had to try it given how close I was. My verdict - very worth trying.
What the?! Pierre Herme again!!!
After what I wrote yesterday, it was no surprise that Pierre Herme was to be revisited. Mainly because of the Ispahan. Also bought a few macarons to eat on the way back to Aus.
PH shop at Rue Bonaparte
Parisien taxi
ICE train (the german version of high speed train) to Frankfurt
We walked the length of the platform to reach our carriage – the 1st carriage and the 1st row of seats!!! There’s only a glass wall separating us from the driver’s compartment:
Time to enjoy the Ispahans:
Flight 6: FRA-SIN
We were in a brand new wing of the airport dedicated to LH and probably the A380 as well. There's a "Business Class priority lounge" for EACH gate, so you can board directly from the lounge. But when I asked about shower and free Wi-Fi... both were "NO"s to my great surprise. I couldn't believe such basic facilities were not accessible for J class passengers, and you can only get these (and more) in the "Senator's lounge" which was reserved for F class passengers and higher-level frequent flyers. Anyhow, LH does have a "normal" J lounge in another terminal, but we were not going to walk 20mins each way to get there for a shower and wi-fi.
We were in the "nose cabin" because first class is upstairs. Seats were "lie flat" but slanted at an angle. Not too bad, just like the last generation CX J seats. Cushioning was actually better than CX, so I managed about 7-8 hours sleep.
Service was very average and clumpsy and food was very "economy" like. So I won't even bother uploading photos for the food.
Mrs Chan was great in waking me up at 7am this morning... and we had a very productive final morning in Paris.
Invalides – site of Napoleon’s tomb
Notre Dame
We then headed to the small island adjacent to Notre Dame - Ile St Louis. My cousin recommended an ice creamery there - Berthillon. Although it was only 10am, I just had to try it given how close I was. My verdict - very worth trying.
What the?! Pierre Herme again!!!
After what I wrote yesterday, it was no surprise that Pierre Herme was to be revisited. Mainly because of the Ispahan. Also bought a few macarons to eat on the way back to Aus.
PH shop at Rue Bonaparte
Parisien taxi
ICE train (the german version of high speed train) to Frankfurt
We walked the length of the platform to reach our carriage – the 1st carriage and the 1st row of seats!!! There’s only a glass wall separating us from the driver’s compartment:
Time to enjoy the Ispahans:
Flight 6: FRA-SIN
- Airline: Lufthansa
- Flight #: LH778
- Plane: Boeing 747-400
- Departure Time: 14/5/09, 21:55
- Duration: 11 hrs
- Seats: 4A and 4C
We were in a brand new wing of the airport dedicated to LH and probably the A380 as well. There's a "Business Class priority lounge" for EACH gate, so you can board directly from the lounge. But when I asked about shower and free Wi-Fi... both were "NO"s to my great surprise. I couldn't believe such basic facilities were not accessible for J class passengers, and you can only get these (and more) in the "Senator's lounge" which was reserved for F class passengers and higher-level frequent flyers. Anyhow, LH does have a "normal" J lounge in another terminal, but we were not going to walk 20mins each way to get there for a shower and wi-fi.
We were in the "nose cabin" because first class is upstairs. Seats were "lie flat" but slanted at an angle. Not too bad, just like the last generation CX J seats. Cushioning was actually better than CX, so I managed about 7-8 hours sleep.
Service was very average and clumpsy and food was very "economy" like. So I won't even bother uploading photos for the food.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Day 25 - Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg, Le Cinq, Champs Elysees
Pierre Herme “breakfast”
The PH shop next to our hotel only sells macarons and choc, so we had to go to another shop to buy his famous cakes. This one is at Rue Bonaparte.
Cake 1 – Glass of strawberry compote, spaghetti, vinegar. Topped with some sort of double cream. This was “OK” as I don’t like sour desserts. Mrs Chan found it good. Interestingly, they use real glass for take away desserts.
Cakes 2 and 3 – “Ispahan” is PH’s most famous cake and I can “see” why!!!! This is composed of a pink large macaron shell, sandwiched with some lychee and raspberry pieces, and glued with a rose/lychee cream. Half an Ispahan per person was nowhere near enough. The choc/praline cake was also awesome as it contained many textures and strong flavours.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Lunch – Le Cinq at Four Seasons Hotel
Went to Le Cinq with our Aussie friends S and B. They were on their honeymoon and it’s wonderful to see familiar faces in a foreign country. They were just arriving into Paris that day, so I hope their jet lag did not affect their dining experience.
This is a 2-star restaurant highly recommended on chowhound.com due to its palatial dining room and wonderful food. This hotel exemplifies luxury – gold, marble, orchids, paintings, ornaments ....
Amuse bouche – deep fried prawns and calamari.
More amuse bouche
My entree – duck foie gras with cherry sauce. Very rich and intense. Non “organ” eaters should avoid such a dish.
Mrs Chan’s entree – huge oysters in an asparagus veloute. Wonderful dish and she was impressed.
Main – Brill fish with onion ravioli, lemon-flavoured foam and light butter sauce. Love the al-dente ravioli. Fish was firm and tasty, but not as good as the one I had at Pierre Gagnaire. Portion was quite big.
Dessert – sorbet and soufflé of passionfruit and chocolate. Very filling but nicely executed.
We had no room left for tea and coffee, but they wheeled their chocolate cart to us and encouraged to try some. I had a tiny piece of Opera cake. Mrs Chan and I thought this was the real McCoy Opera cake. Very good.
Thoughts on Le Cinq
Food - 9. I find their food consistent with the 2-star level. If anything, their portions were too big. Still prefer Pierre Gagnaire's food.
Ambience - 9.5-10. A dining room cannot possibly be any more beautiful. I think Le Meurice may just be slightly more elaborate in terms of the decor. Both palatial and grandeous.
Service - 8.5-9. Still not a restaurant to rival Le Meurice's level of service. There were misses here and there, but you still get a sense of being treated like VIPs.
Value - 9. At 89E/pp, not cheap at all, but you get a lot of well made food and a top-level dining environment.
Overall - 9.
Will I return? probably. But will more likely spend my money at Joel Robuchon (34E less expensive), or pay a little more to get better food at Gagnaire, or pay similar amounts to go to Le Meurice for the best service and equally good food and ambience.
After lunch, we went up and down Champs Elysee and L’arc de Triomph and then the thunderstorms came. Our solution was to head to Lafayette to do a bit of shopping.
Our lunch finished at 4:30pm, so we only needed a light meal at 9pm in a cafe bar next to our hotel. A salad was all I needed.
Fauchon
Fauchon is a major brand in Paris selling cakes, macarons, pastries, wine, deli, coffee/tea etc... we had to get some cakes/macarons to try.
the green cake was OK, but nothing special apart from the looks. The chocolate cake was fantastic. Very very good chocolate ganache coating.
Also tried their macarons, but Pierre Herme is still the best.
The PH shop next to our hotel only sells macarons and choc, so we had to go to another shop to buy his famous cakes. This one is at Rue Bonaparte.
Cake 1 – Glass of strawberry compote, spaghetti, vinegar. Topped with some sort of double cream. This was “OK” as I don’t like sour desserts. Mrs Chan found it good. Interestingly, they use real glass for take away desserts.
Cakes 2 and 3 – “Ispahan” is PH’s most famous cake and I can “see” why!!!! This is composed of a pink large macaron shell, sandwiched with some lychee and raspberry pieces, and glued with a rose/lychee cream. Half an Ispahan per person was nowhere near enough. The choc/praline cake was also awesome as it contained many textures and strong flavours.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Lunch – Le Cinq at Four Seasons Hotel
Went to Le Cinq with our Aussie friends S and B. They were on their honeymoon and it’s wonderful to see familiar faces in a foreign country. They were just arriving into Paris that day, so I hope their jet lag did not affect their dining experience.
This is a 2-star restaurant highly recommended on chowhound.com due to its palatial dining room and wonderful food. This hotel exemplifies luxury – gold, marble, orchids, paintings, ornaments ....
Amuse bouche – deep fried prawns and calamari.
More amuse bouche
My entree – duck foie gras with cherry sauce. Very rich and intense. Non “organ” eaters should avoid such a dish.
Mrs Chan’s entree – huge oysters in an asparagus veloute. Wonderful dish and she was impressed.
Main – Brill fish with onion ravioli, lemon-flavoured foam and light butter sauce. Love the al-dente ravioli. Fish was firm and tasty, but not as good as the one I had at Pierre Gagnaire. Portion was quite big.
Dessert – sorbet and soufflé of passionfruit and chocolate. Very filling but nicely executed.
We had no room left for tea and coffee, but they wheeled their chocolate cart to us and encouraged to try some. I had a tiny piece of Opera cake. Mrs Chan and I thought this was the real McCoy Opera cake. Very good.
Thoughts on Le Cinq
Food - 9. I find their food consistent with the 2-star level. If anything, their portions were too big. Still prefer Pierre Gagnaire's food.
Ambience - 9.5-10. A dining room cannot possibly be any more beautiful. I think Le Meurice may just be slightly more elaborate in terms of the decor. Both palatial and grandeous.
Service - 8.5-9. Still not a restaurant to rival Le Meurice's level of service. There were misses here and there, but you still get a sense of being treated like VIPs.
Value - 9. At 89E/pp, not cheap at all, but you get a lot of well made food and a top-level dining environment.
Overall - 9.
Will I return? probably. But will more likely spend my money at Joel Robuchon (34E less expensive), or pay a little more to get better food at Gagnaire, or pay similar amounts to go to Le Meurice for the best service and equally good food and ambience.
After lunch, we went up and down Champs Elysee and L’arc de Triomph and then the thunderstorms came. Our solution was to head to Lafayette to do a bit of shopping.
Our lunch finished at 4:30pm, so we only needed a light meal at 9pm in a cafe bar next to our hotel. A salad was all I needed.
Fauchon
Fauchon is a major brand in Paris selling cakes, macarons, pastries, wine, deli, coffee/tea etc... we had to get some cakes/macarons to try.
the green cake was OK, but nothing special apart from the looks. The chocolate cake was fantastic. Very very good chocolate ganache coating.
Also tried their macarons, but Pierre Herme is still the best.
Day 24 - Paris - La Table de Joel Robuchon and Versailles
Lunch – La Table de Joel Robuchon
Amuse bouche
Entree – Pig’s trotter (diced) on top of crusted bread
Main – Roulade of chicken – Another “explosion” of flavours. Can chicken taste any better??
Cheese course – nice soft cheese with nut/raisin bread, but we are definitely not “cheese” people... only managed a few bites
Pineapple and passionfruit sorbet and cream. Wonderful balance of sweetness and sourness.
Mrs Chan’s strawberries with basil+lime sorbet. She loved it a lot!
Thoughts on LTdJR...
Food 9-9.5. All excellent of course, but I liked Pierre Gagnaire a little more.
Ambience - 9. A bit more casual than PG, but very attractive with the black/gold scheme. Nice crockeries too.
Service - 9. English was excellent and service was a little less formal than PG.
Value - 10. At 55E/pp for a 2-star restaurant, this was terrific value (in Paris' sense). The price also included wine and coffee/tea.
Overall - 9.5.
Will I come back? I would think so if the price stays. Very enjoyable meal that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Mac – Pierre Herme again
Flavours – Choc/Passionfruit, Jasmin, Salted caramel and Rose.
Versailles
One of the most well-known Palaces in the world, I just had to go there to have a look. I didn’t get to see this in my last 2 visits to Paris. It took about 30mins on the RER train.
Hall of mirrors
This golf cart saved our legs in such a massive garden. I highly recommend this if you want to see more of the garden than your sore feet.
The Orangerie
Amuse bouche
Entree – Pig’s trotter (diced) on top of crusted bread
Main – Roulade of chicken – Another “explosion” of flavours. Can chicken taste any better??
Cheese course – nice soft cheese with nut/raisin bread, but we are definitely not “cheese” people... only managed a few bites
Pineapple and passionfruit sorbet and cream. Wonderful balance of sweetness and sourness.
Mrs Chan’s strawberries with basil+lime sorbet. She loved it a lot!
Thoughts on LTdJR...
Food 9-9.5. All excellent of course, but I liked Pierre Gagnaire a little more.
Ambience - 9. A bit more casual than PG, but very attractive with the black/gold scheme. Nice crockeries too.
Service - 9. English was excellent and service was a little less formal than PG.
Value - 10. At 55E/pp for a 2-star restaurant, this was terrific value (in Paris' sense). The price also included wine and coffee/tea.
Overall - 9.5.
Will I come back? I would think so if the price stays. Very enjoyable meal that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Mac – Pierre Herme again
Flavours – Choc/Passionfruit, Jasmin, Salted caramel and Rose.
Versailles
One of the most well-known Palaces in the world, I just had to go there to have a look. I didn’t get to see this in my last 2 visits to Paris. It took about 30mins on the RER train.
Hall of mirrors
This golf cart saved our legs in such a massive garden. I highly recommend this if you want to see more of the garden than your sore feet.
The Orangerie
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