4 Places You Should Eat In France.
Call us crazy but we thought it would be a riot to head to Europe as a family a month before we would take the leap to start a new life in Papua New Guinea.
We’ve never done things in halves over here, so true to nature, we moved out of our house, put our stuff in storage, sold our car then jumped on a plane to Europe! Nuts huh? Though we would argue that we’re only half nuts as Ngaire’s team had already booked her a writing trip to France and a few shows in Germany before our big move to PNG so Dan and Dovey decided to tag along and make it a working family holiday.
From Paris, to Provence to Berlin and Hamburg, here are a few places we ate and things we did that we think you’d be crazy not to do the next time you’re in any of these places.
1. Double Dragon, Paris
Elevated Pan-Asian street food with French finesse.
HK Pick: Tartare De Cerf Fumé, Piment, Jangajji - Herby smoked Montbéliard beef tartare
Paris is a great place to experience alone, especially when it comes to solo eating expeditions, which is exactly what Ngaire did for a few days while Dan and Dovey made their way from Zurich. It’s not uncommon to see someone dining alone here and there’s something sacred about discovering a great meal by yourself - especially in Paris.
Double Dragon is in the 11th Arrondissement, a vibey part of Paris that attracts both fashionistas and foodies alike and as with the rest of the city, it truly comes alive in the evening. Double Dragon is the brainchild of two sisters, Tatiana and Katia Levha, with head chef Antoine Villard (also partner to Katia) at the helm, dishing up food that is as fun and homespun as it is sophisticated.
Traveling in places like France, the brain can get fatigued when trying to stretch whatever rudimentary high school French you learned into advanced territories. So when Ngaiire swanned into Double Dragon after a full day of navigating Paris, she felt instantly at home. Her host was a spry Filipino man who spoke fluent English and French.
Filo culture feels like an extension of Pacific Islander culture though some would argue that it practically is.The food at Double Dragon is inspired by Thai, Filo, Korean and Chinese cuisines with obvious French finesse. Their KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) is a stand out as well as their melt-in-your-mouth smoked beef tartare.
Ngaire and a fellow solo diner both had the best seats in the house, seated at opposite ends of the bar overlooking their buzzy open kitchen. Though appealing, such an offering as Double Dragon’s would be best enjoyed with a group of loved ones who are all in on a long delicious (and boozy) degustation. We recommend booking in advance.
2. Ippon, Marseille
French bistro cuisine to cry to.
Our first ever dining experience in Marseille was at Ippon, and it was one of those meals we’ll remember forever. What made this even more memorable was that we were taken here completely blind by our friends (and proper Merseillais) who were determined to show us the best of what Marseille could offer in one meal. And boy did they knock our little Aussie socks off.
HK PICKS:
Venison tartare | Fish roe whip | Crumbed fried eggplant
Marseille’s juxtaposition of limestoned turquoise beaches, laundried buildings, graffitied laneways, pizza trucks, Arab markets, and countless synagogues presented a city that has a lot to say. It’s an eternal melting pot of North African, Italian, Jewish, Arab and of course French cultures, and a city that you could just as easily misinterpret as you could be swept up in its magic. Lucky for us, we were of the latter, quickly understanding that these beautiful contrasts are the heartbeat of what has kept this city thriving continuously since the Greeks settled it in 600 BC.
The evening we went to Ippon, our friend Jack picked us up from our château and drove us up the stunning Chem. des Goudes to pass time before our dinner booking. We rolled through Bd Alexandre Delabre round a few picturesque calanques (or coves) right up to a seaside bar with no seats, where we indulged in some pre-dinner pastis consumed happily standing up. Pastis are a Marseille specific aniseed based liqueur usually diluted in water to make a cloudy aperitif. Few drink it pure as it has a high alcohol content of 40-45% and as one bartender told us, they call a pure drinker a ‘mummy’ as you can end up…well - dead. Very much valuing our joie de vivre we sensibly consumed ours diluted under that 6pm Mediterranean sun well primed for an unexpected out of body experience at Ippon.
Ippon initially boasted a Japanese French fusion menu with rotating chefs until Brusseleer Löik Tonnoir (previously starring at other popular establishments around Marseille) took over the reigns, transforming it into a refined French bistro fantasy. We hardly looked at the menu as we very willingly forfeited our fate into the French speaking ordering hands of our friends Soraya and Jack. Being a small menu and one that changes every week, they ordered every item on it. What came out was a collection of emotive dishes that completely floored us and gave us a masterclass in how to make produce sing through the art of the saucier. We have dined at too many places that master one or two flavor profiles then run variations of it throughout the entire menu.
With Ippon, every dish and sauce that it was married in told its own unique story, much like Marseille itself. And with every swoop of spoon it became apparent that we were peeling back more layers of what it truly meant for a chef of Tonnoir’s experience to still be madly in love with cooking for people. The icing (or the jus) on top, needless to say, was very much having two of our most favorite people carefully curate a food and wine order of this kind of offering with the utmost love for us. Could this not be the ultimate dining experience?
3. Tuba Club, Marseille
Seafood that’ll make you forget you’re arguing with your dining partner.
If you’re planning a trip to Marseille for the European summer, you’ll most likely see Tuba on many a ‘must eat’ list from the Condé Nast Traveler to Time Out - and for good reason. The location in and of itself is astounding to the point that you would be forgiven for assuming that the extravagant menu pricing means ‘tourist trap’ and therefore a bill that would most likely reflect payment for view and a sub par offering of local cuisine. Rest assured, it did not disappoint. In fact, I would go as far to say that it was some of the best damn seafood I’ve had since the last time I was in my village in New Ireland, PNG, hoovering up roe from a lobster tail caught fresh for breakfast.
HK PICK: Spicy Nduja Shellfish
Perched on an idyllic slice of limestone cliff, you have the choice of dining indoors or outdoors at a table staked by white retro tasseled umbrellas. In my opinion the views are just as amazing wherever you’re seated as they both open up to a spectacular view of a sparkling Mediterranean ocean hugged by a sprawling limestone escarpment. Outdoor seating, however, has the added advantage of being able to slurp up a plate of their mouth-watering spicy nduja shellfish then jumping off the cliff for a dip in the Mediterranean before coming up for a sip of some insanely good French Rosé. This is the type of fodder that gets an influencer hot under the collar so advanced bookings are a must.
I was lucky to get a table having booked weeks before I boarded my flight to France thanks to becoming a parent and forcing this late- to - everything Leo to stay a little bit more ahead of the ball. As Dan and Doves aren’t big seafood eaters my dining companion was an old friend who had flown in from London to spend time and as 15 year friendships can go, we spent the first hour on that magical cliff arguing whilst sipping vermouth. At one point an old French guy walked into the restaurant grinning proudly clutching two live lobsters and we knew immediately that whatever we were arguing about was about to get mopped up in some citrusy oily buttery seafood juice - albeit with a pillowy hunk of naturally leavened bread to do the mopping.
It’s here at Tuba that I became aware of how the profile of seafood changes with varying ocean temperatures as the oysters and the prawns tasted unlike anything I’d had from the warmer Pacific ocean. The oysters were without that minerally aftertaste and the prawns had a slight creaminess that was balanced beautifully by the herby pickley oil it was served in.
As plates of seafood traveled out, my friend and I took stock, agreed to disagree, apologies were made, and lines were drawn. And if there’s one thing that we both did agree upon was being able to pause and appreciate a once in a blue moon moment like that, even if it involved some light to heavy dueling to get the heart pumping before ingesting seafood from heaven. Tuba is not suitable for non-seafood eaters, however should one require, they will happily throw a steak on the grill for a cool 100 Euros. The club also offers luxury accommodation that celebrates the same iconic view as its restaurant but as mentioned, get in quick.
4. Soraya & Jack’s house (aka Maison Lysiane), Digne-Les-Bains
It goes without saying that some of the best meals you will have in a foreign country are at someone’s house. Maison Lysiane is an artist residency and home to our friends Jack and Soraya. Located in the village of Digne- Les-Bains in the south of France, Maison Lysiane (named in honor of Soraya’s mum) lies in the middle of the French Alps and Provence, making it a dream location for artists to escape and write. Historically the property was vibrant farmland though we were told that at some point the hay bales in the goat shed were used to hide Jews in the war. Later it became the home that Soraya and her sister were raised in, tobogganing down the mountain in the winter to get to school before roads were carved in. Soraya then inherited it with the passing of her late step father Pierre, and now it has become a haven that has inspired countless new works including the completion of my 4th studio album.
HK Pick: That French red wine Jack paired with the steak which we have no idea the name of but know it was made by a friend of his in short runs and tasted like blueberries.
Jack and I have worked on four bodies of work and on our 3rd, he left the band to follow his heart to Paris where he would then marry his child-hood sweetheart Soraya. Initially the countless trips to Paris left my band in disarray though if you meet a good woman, these are the kinds of things you have to do. And I can attest that a good woman Soraya is. In fact, I am relieved to say that she has genuinely become family to the point that it made our hearts sore to say goodbye to her on this trip just as much as Jack.
So let me tell you more about the type of people Soraya and Jack are. Even though they’d curated one of our most favorite restaurant experiences in France already (see #3), they still had intentions of throwing Dan a birthday dinner. Initially they had planned to take him (us) to a restaurant near the gorge though the weather had turned sour and thus decided a home cooked meal for him would suffice. And if there’s anything Dan loves the most is when people cook for him - something I quickly found out on one of our first dates.
The Maison Lysiane acreage is breathtaking and Jack and Soraya live further up the hill where you can see the sunlight turn the mountains into a work of art which I can only imagine is just as magical when covered in snow. We stayed in the artist's residence about 100 meters down the hill from theirs and every time they would venture down it was never empty handed. They brought baskets of goods from freshly picked prunes, which Jack apparently had just ‘shook’ from the tree outside their home, fresh pressed juice from fruit off the property, bottled water from their mountain spring, cheese on cheese, wine on wine, toilet paper, fresh milk, bread and whatever else we needed.
This time, nevertheless, Jack brought a steak the size of two of our heads which we gawked at as he unraveled it from its butcher’s paper on the kitchen bench. He then uncorked a knock out red he had selected to pair with the steak and set it aside to breath while he baked the steak in the oven before chucking it on the bbq cooking to medium rare perfection. While this is all happening Dan flung some floured whitebait into a hot pan which Jack and I inhaled standing up over the plate, as he pulled the tiny fish out of the sizzling oil. Soraya then arrives with her gratin in hand and we are on that rare occasion watching as other people are scurrying around the kitchen making us food for a change.
At the end of the night they presented Dan with a birthday cake made of choux pastry and cream with adorable little French gifts of cheese, biscuits and liqueur. And if that wasn’t enough, Soraya had prepped delicious little ramekins of homemade chocolate mousse which were devoured along with the cake. The night fell at the end of our stay at Maison Lysiane and it was honestly the cherry on top to an already dream filled experience. A fairytale memory with people who work as hard as we do but also love to enjoy life to its absolute fullest.