Restaurant Le Vauban
7 bis rue Thuret 06600 Antibes
France

The old town of Antibes. You can see the tower of the Musée Picasso.

View of the Fort Carré in the evening. The marina is largest yachting harbour in Europe.

Antibes is a very pleasant town in the French riviera located between Nice and Cannes. From Nice airport it is about 10 minutes’ drive to get there. Of course, it depends on how crowded the roads are and during the summer things can get pretty busy. The port of Vauban, dominated by the Fort Carré, is the largest yachting harbour in Europe. You can admire some of the world’s biggest luxury yachts while walking there. If you have the time, visit the Cap d’Antibes where you can walk along the coast. You need to park your car at la Garoupe Parking and it is about a 2 hours walk along a coastal path between the sea and beautiful villas. The vegetation is very nice too with tall Aleppo pines.

The restaurant Le Vauban, named after the Marshall of France, Marquis de Vauban who designed the fortification of the Fort Carré (photo above), is quite discreet. It is easy to miss it in the street because there is no terrace and the door is closed because of the air conditioning so it is quiet inside, far from all the tourists. It is nicely decorated but more attention could be paid, for example some flowers were not that fresh, with some dead leaves on the ground.

We ordered the menu of the day at 19.95 euros and the Vauban menu at 27 euros. Both are set menus with several choices. The menu of the day gave a choice between the Tartare de foie gras aux mediants (duck liver) et jus de mangue or the saumon fumé (smoked salmon) et pousses de roquette as starters, between the Filet de lingue étuvée de fenouil (fish) or the Rôti de porc, purée de pommes de terre (pork with mashed potato) as main courses and between the Moelleux au chocolat or the Marinade de fraises as dessert. The Vauban menu offered a choice between 3 dishes for each course. As starters, you can choose between the Foie gras de canard cuit au torchon, confit d’ananas au poivre long or the Asperges blanches, saumon fumé, œuf de poule mollet et sauce hollandaise (white asparagus with smoked salmon and egg) or the Crème de pommes de terre au safran, huîtres et granité au citron (cream of potatoes with safran and oysters). As main courses the choice was between the Filet de daurade, niçoise de légumes, julienne de mange tout et jus de concombre (fish with vegetable and cucumber juice) or the Magret de canard, mousseline de haricots coco, cerises et croustillant de sésame (duck) or the Pavé de cabillaud, crème de petits pois, carottes fanes, et tomates confites (another fish). The choice for the dessert was between the Moelleux au chocolat et glace au yaourt (chocolate fondant with yogurt ice cream) or the Crémeux de mascarpone aux agrumes et chapeau de chocolat blanc or La fraise, en émulsion, en marinade et sorbet fruits rouge (strawberries with red fruits sorbet).
We also ordered a glass of wine (Côte de Provence – 5 euros) which was quite good and a bottle of sparkling water (4.50 euros).

To start, we both got a small plate with two small round pieces of melon in its juice. They were quite good, a nice way to start a lunch. They also provided some slices of a crispy bread cooked with olive oil (crostini) with a pot of caviar d’aubergine. It was quite fresh and tasty and I cannot help comparing it to the miserable tapenade and crostini I had to pay for at Terroirs in London. As in any decent French restaurant, we also had some bread with some butter that had a light lemon flavour. All this came at no charge.

The Crème de pommes de terre au safran, huîtres et granité au citron was excellent. It was like a Vichyssoise, so served cold, with two oysters and both of them wrapped by a cucumber. The Tartare de foie gras aux mediants et jus de mangue was very good too with a nice mix of flavours. It came with warm toast.

The Filet de daurade, niçoise de légumes, julienne de mange tout et jus de concombre was good but the vegetables (cougettes, aubergines, tomatoes cut in tiny bits and sautés) were a little on the greasy side despite the cucumber sauce. The fish itself was very well cooked with a nice taste. The Filet de lingue étuvée de fenouil was delicious with, again, a perfectly cooked fish.

Before dessert, we got some kind of little crème brûlée which was nice, with a good texture. It was complementary also. The Moelleux au chocolat was great, with a real deep chocolate taste while being light to eat. The vanilla ice cream was not too sweet. The fraise, en émulsion, en marinade et sorbet fruits rouge was average. There was a kind of red/pink biscuit with a pink (because of the strawberry) fresh cream inside at the left, a little pot with slices fresh strawberries in the middle and at the right a scoop of strawberry sorbet. I have to say it was very nicely presented but I think a sorbet with strawberries around it and with some fresh cream in a large nice plate would have been easier to eat.

Melons

Crème de pommes de terre au safran, huîtres et granité au citron

Tartare de foie gras aux mediants et jus de mangue

Filet de daurade, niçoise de légumes, julienne de mange tout et jus de concombre

Filet de lingue étuvée de fenouil

La fraise, en émulsion, en marinade

Moelleux au chocolat

Cost and conclusion: it was 56.45 euros service charge included, which is really not bad considering the quality of the meals and the fact you are in the old town of Antibes in the French riviera which is a top destination full of tourists. It is not one of these tourist trap restaurants with a terrasse  and a steak frites menu starting at 13 euros for catching the tourists. It is an elegant place and obviously the chef does pay attention to the food. Having tried for years many restaurants in the area (I used to work in Mougins) I believe this is the best restaurant you can find in Antibes. Highly recommended!

Pizzeria San Cezari
4 Place de la Tour
06530 Saint Cézaire sur Siagne
France

The village of Saint Cézaire sur Siagne

The village

Beautiful panoramic view from the village

Henri watching the landscape from the village

Henri in the Siagne river

Pizzeria San Cezari

Saint Cézaire sur Siagne is a nice old village of the Alpes Maritimes perched on a mountain above the Siagne river. From its panoramic point of view you can see the sea and even cities like Frejus or the bay of Saint Tropez on a clear day. It is really in the countryside whilst still being only 45 minutes drive from Nice airport, 30 minutes from Cannes or Antibes, 25 minutes from Mougins and Sophia Antipolis… the Saint Cézaire area is full of olive trees and the village is well known for its award winning olive oil. It is also know for the remains of fortification of its 14th-century castle and its very interesting caves. The river Siagne is extremely nice with cristal clear water. It is quite physical to get there from the village. It takes about 30 minutes to go down but about 1 hour to come back. It climbs steeply. The village is at 500 metres high. I know it quite well having lived in the area for several years when I worked for a startup company located in Mougins.

The pizzeria San Cezari is the main restaurant of the village. It is just in front of the church, behind the place du village. It has well priced set menus as most restaurants do in France but we decided to take pizzas today. We ordered two pizzas, one Cannibale made of minced meat and cheese (11 euros) and a Calzonne 4 fromages  (13 euros). We also had one salad (3.50 euros), a glass of wine (1,90 euros) and a 50cl sparkling water (3,10 euros).

The two pizzas were good, but nothing outstanding. The base was good but the topping, especially the minced meat, could have had more taste. They were quite large pizzas so do not take a starter unless you are very hungry! The chilli oil was fairly hot. You can see all the chilli in the bottle in a photo below. What I like there is the knife. I wonder why more pizzerias don’t adopt them because they are really efficient.

Excellent knife for cutting pizzas

Pizza Calzone

Pizza Cannibale

Chilli oil

Cost and conclusion:  it was 32,50 euros service charge included. Not cheap but then it seems everything has become expensive in France in the last years. That said, it was a pretty decent lunch, the service friendly and the location is nice

If you visit Saint Cézaire sur Siagne on Saturday, there is a market in the morning. Below are some photos of it.

La place du village

The Saturday market. Here some hats for sale...

Paella, cheese, wine, olive oil etc can be found at the market

Herbes de Provence

The florist

Franco Manca Pizzeria
4 Market Row, Electric Lane, Brixton
SW9 8LD London
Open from Monday to Saturday 12-5

A revisit to Franco Manca was needed to compare it again to Pizzeria Rustica, since we have been to the latter recently. At our last visit we learnt to come there for about 11:40 to secure our seats (you cannot book) and indeed the restaurant got quickly full by 12 with a queue already starting to be long at 12:20, creating some congestion to that end of the market.

We sat on the opposite side of the fishmonger to avoid the fish smell (read the previous review here) and it was better indeed but unfortunately it was quite windy and we were even feeling cold. They must have read our thoughts as they put the heater above us on

We ordered their pizza #1 (Tomato, mozzarella, basil) and their pizza special of the day which was like the Bianca we had last time but without the ham, and with aubergines instead. Last time we ate here we were quite impressed by the quality of the organic sourdough. This time it was not really the case. The base was not very moist on the inside and not crispy on the outside either. It was not bad but it was average. We were a little disappointed by that, since it is their only selling point for us. To be fair, it is still great to have organic food that cheap: organic tomatoes from Italy, organic cheese from Somerset, organic oil from Spain and Italy, organic sourdough etc and even a homemade organic lemonade (£2.80) which was ok (served cold and not too sweet), and certainly better than the Hepworth organic beer I had last time (it has been replaced by another beer by the way).

Organic lemonade

Pizza #1

Pizza "Special"

Overview of the two pizzas

Cost and conclusion: for about £14 in all for two people it is still a great value for money. The only problem for us is we had better value for money last time when the pizzas were better, even fantastic! The service was still friendly. My preference for pizzas in London still goes to Rustica in Richmond. We have been there about 10 times and they consistently have excellent pizzas. Recommended if you are in Brixton but I would not do the trip just for the pizzas.

Thai Restaurant The Pepper Tree
19 Clapham Common Southside
London SW4 7AB
Tel 020 7622 1758

The Pepper Tree

Located close to Clapham Common tube station, the Pepper Tree is quite a popular Thai restaurant by judging the queues outside of it. Inside, it is like a canteen with long tables and benches you share with other people. A little like at Wagamama. Not much privacy, and it is very noisy. There must be some kind of bad acoustic in the room. Anyway, we had to yell to have a conversation.

We ordered the Chicken Satay (Chunks of barbecued chicken on a skewer with peanut dip– £3.15) and the Dim Sum filled with minced pork, prawn and water chestnuts with soy and ginger sauce (£2.95) as starters. The main courses were the Red Chicken Curry (a creamy Thai curry cooked with coconut milk, bamboo shoots and sweet basil – £4.80) and a Pepper Tree Curry (a vegetable curry with Thai aubergines, krachai, fresh chillies, lime leaves and sweet basil – £4.50). We also ordered two portions of steamed rice (£1.80 each) that could be useful in case of seriously hot curry, and two great Singaporean Tiger beers (£2.90 each). Talking about the curry and how hot they can be, the red chicken curry was rated as medium hot while the pepper tree curry was rated hot.

The Chicken Satay with peanut dip was very good. The chicken was nicely barbequed with a crispy outer, but still nice and moist inside and the peanut satay sauce was an excellent accompaniment – not too heavy, nor sweet as is sometimes the case with peanut sauces. The three chicken skewers were quite a generous portion. The Dim Sum were quite good with nice flavours. I quite like Thai cuisine and its abundant distinctive aromas.

The Thai red curry was excellent – one of the best I’ve had. It was lightly spicy, and very nice and creamy – just the way I like it The chicken in this curry was very tender, and had been well marinated in the coconut milk. The dish had many subtle flavours, which were well balanced. I’d certainly order this again. The pepper tree curry was seriously hot! I am into hot food but that one was hot to the point it was difficult to eat. I managed to eat all of it but I suffered. Even two hours after lunch my stomach was still burning. That said, the waiter did warn about it and now I know at the Pepper Tree that hot really means hot! Just as well we had the rice!

They had interesting desserts like yellow beancake (home-made Thai beancake served warm with vanilla ice cream – £2.95) or sliced bananas in warm coconut milk (£2.50) but we did not try them because it was becoming too noisy. It was nice to go out to the Common just in front of the restaurant for enjoying some peace.

Tiger (Singapore) beer

Chicken Satay

Dim Sum

Overview of the two starters

Red Chicken Curry

Pepper Tree Curry

Overview of the two main courses

Details of my plate with a mix of the two main courses

Cost and conclusion: for about £25 (service charge not included) it is a great place for a quick lunch. The food is good and well priced. The service was fine too. Despite the rush, everything came in time and they were attentive. No need to yell to get the bill 😉 Recommended if you are looking for a quick meal in the area!

Japanese restaurant Tokyo Diner
2 Newport Place
London WC2H 7JJ

Tokyo Diner

Tokyo Diner is probably the largest Japanese restaurant located in Chinatown. At first it looks small but there are rooms downstairs and upstairs. I used to go often there, especially from 2005 to 2007, then I had 3 not so good experiences and decided to go to Zipangu next door. I still go to Zipangu now named Akasiro but I wanted to check how Tokyo Diner was doing.
We ordered 2 Asahi beers (£3.80 – that is a very good price) and 2 Kara Fry Bento boxes (£31.80). I used to take the Kara Fry Bento box in the past so it was a good way to use it as a benchmark. I was quite disappointed and it is sad to see this place going down. In the past the pieces of chicken were so large that I could have trouble eating it all. They were also freshly cooked with a nice crispy skin. Now they were not really warm with a chewy texture (even the skin) which makes me wonder how long ago were they cooked… The salmon sashimi used to be 3 larges slices. Now it was ridiculously small, like the size of a single slice in the past divided into 3 pieces. Worse, they were room temperature instead of being on the cold side. The only thing that did not change size was the rice but it was dry, and was long grain rice which really isn’t suited to Japanese cuisine. The pickles and the aubergine agé bitashi were good while the su-no-mono was not. The beer was not very cold too. They used to do so much better.

On the upside: the service is friendly and I like they give you the bill when they serve your meal so after eating you do not have to wait and can go directly to the counter to pay. Also, they give you green tea for free and refill it too. If you like green tea, you do not have to order any drink. They have a no tipping policy, like in Japan, which is nice.

Asahi beer and green tea

Kara Fry bento

Details of the bento box

Pickles and aubergine agé bitashi

Cost and conclusion: it was £35.60. The Kara Fry bento is way overpriced at £15.90 for what you get now. It is the price for two pizzas and two drinks at Franco Manca (in Brixton), it is currently the price for a two course set menu at Bellevue Rendez-vous (in Wandsworth Common) where the quality of food is high. It is also a lot more than the other Japanese restaurant Akasiro next door. It is now the 4th consecutive time I have had a bad experience at Tokyo Diner in the last 2 years. I have also friends who have noticed the same problem and we did not eat together. Also, they do claim they are open 365 days a year from 12 till 12 but we got refused at 11pm one night. There were still people eating and it was far from being full.