The Michelin Red Guide, recently accused of losing touch with the changing world of French cuisine by influential Le Figaro critic François Simon, seems to have taken the criticism to heart and has given a coveted star to Yam’Tcha, a tiny restaurant that does not fit the usual Michelin bill of fare: it opened only a year ago, is run by a young woman chef, specializes in Chinese-influenced dishes and – blasphemy of blasphemies in France! (except that tea is currently très à la mode) – serves tea with food. Chef Adeline Grattard has worked in Hong Kong and at gourmet French restaurant Astrance. Otherwise, few radical changes were made to the guide. Most notably, L’Auberge du Vieux Puits in the southwestern village of Fontjoncouse was elevated to three-star status.
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One-minute Paris: Birdsong on the Canal Saint Martin at dusk.
If you find the Paris flea markets too pricey then try walking around the marketplace when traders are packing up and more than happy to give you items for nothing so they don’t have to take them home again. I was offered an office desk and chair at the last market on the boulevard Voltaire. Don’t be scared to rummage around in the discarded piles of “rubbish” either, where among other things I found a copy of the complete works of Henrik Ibsen. Nick Woods Click here to send your contribution to C'est Logique! or C'est Magnifique (maximum of 50 words, subject to editing).
