Goin home...

The way home

Hong Kong airport after a traveling from Copenhagen, Berlin and Frankfurt.
Again what a buzz, the airport is packed with friendly people, a huge choice in food outlets and shopping stores, most of which are a little out of my league monetarily wise, just window shopping today.
We decide on crispy eel with miso, rice and pickeled vegetables for lunch, the food was ok on the flights, nothing to write home about, so I won't.
The next flight leaves Hong Kong in another two hours, so ill try and have a snooze, the seats on the Auckland Leg are in the back of the bus, so no room to stretch on this trip.
Our leg to HK gave us the exit rows so the feet could go up against the wall, great stuff.

Well, that is about it....
From the perfect madhouse that is Tokyo, being blown away to stay at a castle in Austria and having the opportunity to deliver a paper at an international conference, Vienna, stunning, Prague - ancient and a little scary, Berlin,  lunch at a two star, and so much to see we didn't even scratch the surface, Paris, loved it, and the Parisians - great people, be sure to wear an All Blacks shirt, Dijon, one of the highlights for me, a truly beautiful place, the real France. Copenhagen for Noma, an unforgetable experience, finally this mamouth trip home. A true whirlwind tour of some of the best places and food on the planet.
Has it "All been about the Food?" of course not.....the food in the most part has been fantastic, (coffee excepted) this trip has been about experience, personal development, meeting and delivering too like minded people who wish to take food to a new level....and to coin a fraise from Richard, "Time and Place"

Thank you again to Richard Mitchell who sorted and planned this amazing trip to further extend our research participation. Also to the Team at Otago Polytechnic, a passionate and dedicated group of professionals.  

 

Paris to Noma

A day of travel stretches through to when we dine at one of the best restaurants in the world - Noma.

The shuttle takes us from Orly hotel to the airport, then back to Berlin. A few hours of mindlessly walking around the airport, again drinking horrible coffee in the hope the "next one" will be better than the last - nein!

From Berlin to Copenhagen is a short 45 minute trip and we are treated to great weather again.

The first impressions of Copenhagen is how clean and efficient everything is. The train station is spotless, not crowded, and everyone specks English but appreciates "Takk" or thank you in Danish.

Again a beautiful city to walk around. We try a traditional bacon wrapped sausage in a  hotdog bun with onion, fryed shallots, mustard, and ketchup topped with dill pickles, yummmm, I could live on them. The franchise that sells them is called "steph's" we need one in Dunedin.

Wondering down the canal following the barges and weaving through the outdoor restaurants was a treat again, beautiful.....Karen we need to come here with the kids too.

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It's 1.00 am in the morning now and have just settled back from a night at Noma.

Here's the link below to a quick photo vid of the food.

http://youtu.be/cFMdh9Cg0L0

The menu goes something like this:

Gooseberry and elderflower

Nordic coconut

Rose hip berries and roses

Moss and Cep

Cheese cookie, rocket and stems

Pickled smoked quail eggs

Caramelised milk and cod liver

Ebleskiver @ greens

Sea urchin toast

Burnt leek

Berries and grilled veg

Shrimp and rhubarb root

Onion and fermented pears

Beets and herbs

Cauliflower with pine and horseradish

Potato and bleak roe

Wild duck, pear and kale

Blueberry and ants

Potato and plum

All this matched perfectly with wine or spirits, just amazing. The service was perfect without being formal. They work the room like a ballet. The chefs dive in and out of each other, 30 cooks flying in time, magic!!!

Click on the link if you want to see the photos, I can't do this place justice by writing or trying to cobble a video together. It is an experience, one that I am privialiged to have been a part of.

The night ends with beautiful coffee and a glass of Danish aquiver that will paralyze your liver with three sips, strong....bloody hell.

We also get a personal tour of the kitchens, out the back were they BBQ, test kitchen, production kitchens, even the pot wash and staff areas.... Brilliant staff, a few kiwis and Aussies.

They seem very open for people to starge, food for thought, all you budding Three star chefs.

We are meeting at Noma again tomorrow to go through the Nordic Food Lab, that will cap off this end of the trip then it's the thirty hours flying home.

Copenhagen, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Auckland then Dunedin.

No dought I will check in along the way.

Dijon to Paris

Dijon to Paris.

Today starts with a walk around Dijon on the hunt for breakfast.
Since the camera is broken I had the vein hope of trying to get it fixed, bloody impossible without the warranty card, and then it would take six weeks, no joy there. So my photos are on my phone and I'll rip them off my card when I'm reunited with my computer.
Breakfast eased my mood  a little when I found a fantastic chocolatier on the Rue de Liberty so that was my first course, six individually flavoured chocolates taken with a double espresso at one of the dozens of cafés in Dijons centre.
Richard had a meeting with his colleague at the university so I got to do some
"observational research " on the markets and eateries in this area, what a pleasure!
The food market is the only thing open till 10.00a.m. as the normal shops don't open till then. With food like the French have, I would stay home and eat breakfast everyday too.
The market is the hub for early Dijon, fresh fruit and vegetables ring its outside while inside, under cover all forms of charcuitiery, cheese, fish and of course mustard are traded.
By the time I had picked my way through all the stalls it was well after 10.00 so more exploration was called for in the form of pastry items. I couldn't keep up with the amount of Bolongaires, butchers, fromagiery, patisserie, and chocolate shops there were in two kilometers, spoilt for choice but again willing to take them on.
Photos here would be great....sorry....a little later.

I meet up with Richard and we walk around for another hour, it's time to leave Dijon and head back to Paris. I would love to return one day and spend more time. One of the locals commented, "The real France" We buy some rind washed soft cheese, chorizo, crusty bread and fruit for the train...magic.
The bullet train takes us back to Paris, not as comfortably as the first trip, the car is crowded and people are in the wrong seats for better views, upsetting a few but it all works out and we are soon speeding toward Gar de nord.

The first stop is to lighten the load by dropping off some of our gear at the train lockers again, a very good move as the trek begins exploring new highlights in this super city.
Paris is hurried and crammed full of people, they say Parisians are rude, I didn't find that at all, they just have somewhere to be and know how they want to get there. Pardon, Excuse moi, etc etc....is heard constantly. I like these people, because if you don't like their way, no problem, go somewhere else, they don't care.
The all black jersey is a passport to open conversation on the tube, metro and on the street, where one when you come to Paris.
The rest of the food for today is split up in bite size chunks, literally. Millfuille, Tart au Citron again with the pane au chocolate with coffee.

We see the art quater at the top of the Sacred Heart Church, that's a good climb. And views to die for of the whole city. We walk down to "moulin rousse" interesting part of town. We see the Effiel tower light up from the hill, along with every monument we didn't get a chance to pass by two days ago. All this time water, lots of it and food is a focus....for me anyway. By the way people do think your nuts photographing your food with your phone every five minutes. But there is a lot more eccentric people in this town than one cookie taking a few pics on his phone of lunch.

Come to Paris, it will leave you breathless, discover places like Dijon and enjoy great food, wine and brilliant people.