I have a routine. Early in the morning, myself, or my travelling entourage of various whanau make our way to the Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras.
The station has a great brasserie with large windows looking towards the check-in zone - they serve the best soft boiled eggs in London - you know what I’m talking about - ‘The Goldilock’s egg’ - the yolk is neither too runny nor too hard - ‘just right…’
We stroll onto the train - travel out to the white cliffs of Dover - zoom under the chalky bedrock and alight in Paris - Gare du Nord. Feeling brave we wheel our suitcases the 700 metres or so along the twists and turns of French alleyways to the Gare de L'Est.
Here resides another of my favourite cafes in the world - because it is just so archetypal French.
You know - a hundred small wooden tables and chairs crammed outside - baguettes in the window - large ashtrays abound, randomly placed advertisements for beers and wines from yesteryear, and a coterie of staff who seem a bit irritated at your arrival.
I’ll start my French experience with a croque monsieur or maybe a steak tartare and a carafe of ‘vins de table rouge’, delivered together with small round bottomed wine glasses. I often look back and think of this as one of my favourite food and wine pairings.
You have the ‘joie de vivre’ sitting so free at the café. It is irrelevant where the wine came from, its variety blah blah blah. All that matters is that it's French and you’re drinking it with the most classic of French cafe dishes.
You see, that is the secret of the pairing - the ‘holy trinity’ if you like - the almighty tessellation of the food, the wine, and the environment. If you take out the Parisian cafe and try the exact same pairing at home, it will be difficult indeed to experience the same intensity of joy.
From the Gare de L’est onto the TGV to Champagne. Outside, the now grassy fields roll by as I try in vain to imagine the soldiers, English, Kiwi, Indian and many more, knee-deep in mud battling out the Great War at these fronts over a hundred years ago.
We alight in Champagne, and then I confess my little secret. Whilst the hoards head for the Avenue de Champagnes, we pop into a taxi and head to a tiny village in The South - Mareil-sur-Ay. We arrive heading past the locals playing boules on the sandy village square, down a dusty lane and through the largest gate into a priceless Maison.
In front of me is the most pristine garden with a majestic horse chestnut tree towering at its centre. For this is the home of Billecart-Salmon - the most exquisite of Champagnes. You see, in 1818 Nicolas Billecart fell in love with Elisabeth Salmon.
They were gifted the prized possession of the Maison and the accompanying vineyard - The Clos St Hilaire - one of the greatest single vineyards in Champagne. Two hundred and three years later - Billecart-Salmon remains family owned - recently transitioned to Mathieu, its eighth generation custodian.
Their production is miniscule - just one ninth of Dom Perignon. They don’t advertise at all - you simply discover Billecart in the best restaurants, resorts and establishments around the world; for example, Billecart is served by the glass at pretty much all of the twenty-seven three-star Michelin restaurants in France.
And that brings me to the point, I’d like to raise a toast to Mark Wallbank, Nigel Shanks, Chef Che, Leroy and the many others, who together are the extraordinary team behind the sumptuous Blue Breeze Inn on Ponsonby Road.
A decade ago, Mark and I sat together, “Puneet” he said, “...I need something fabulous for my new restaurant - tell me what you’ve got.” ”Mark,” I said, “for a place of this stature, on a road of this stature, in a city of this stature, you need something, of stature,” and history was made.
Billecart-Salmon became the house pour champagne for ‘The Blue’ and has remained so to this day. The champagne fits so well there. It's the perfect wine to just enjoy on its own or pair with almost any of the dishes on the menu.
For me, the signature dish with the Billecart Brut is their legendary steamed dumpling of pork and black truffle. I tell you, when you pair those, you hit the ‘holy trinity’ of food pairing. Try it for yourself this festive season - you’ll instantly be transported into ‘la joie de vivre’. (Puneet Dhall)
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