Off The Shelf #7: Daylight Robbery
No, literally. This is actually about a robbery in broad daylight.
Switching things up a bit this week, and not by choice. I had sketched out a rundown of the UK government’s food strategy, which was criticised in the press this week for being inadequate. I was hoping to summarise it all in a pithy and punchy digest.
But now I’m not going to, because I lost all my notes on a work trip to Paris on Thursday night. I say lost - they were stolen, along with my laptop, iPad, spare pants and everything else in my overnight bag. The oldest trick in the book: one lanky teenager distracting me at my table on the pavement with some garbled nonsense about the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, while another unseen assailant swiped the backpack from next to my legs before quietly making off with it. Before I knew what had happened, they were gone.
C’est la vie. I hope they enjoy learning about the government’s plan to back British farmers and make us a less obese society.
I’ll resume normal service next week. But for now, I want to give a big shoutout to an absolute gem of a restaurant, outside which this crime of the century took place.
Once we’d all realised I’d been fooled and robbed, the team at Bonhomme on Rue Du Faubourg Poissonnière couldn’t have been more supportive. They offered as much as they could to help - an exclusive place by the bar for me to sit and stew while I used their phone charger. Compensatory wine with a comforting follow-up offer of a good old pint. Scrapping the bill for the whole meal. A real class act.
And that’s not to mention the food and wine, which had been truly excellent. Crusty bread, warm and fresh. A simple pan-fried tuna steak, with a refreshing quinoa and pea medley, and an ever-so-slightly spicy vinaigrette which packed just the right punch. Have a look at the menu below. A refined trio of choices for each course - this was all about quality, not quantity. Wholesome and healthy ingredients, and the menu changes daily. Their Instagram stories show deliveries of amazing looking produce - seasonality is obviously the name of the game here. I can’t recommend this place highly enough.
‘All products have been carefully sourced according to the season and our philosophy’
So there’s your sustainable food story for this week: a restaurant with a focus on local, seasonal, perfectly cooked food, with impeccable service and boundless compassion for a distressed customer. Stop by when you’re next in Paris. Who knows what will be on the menu by then?
Just keep an eye on your luggage. Or better yet, strap it to your leg.
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