Restaurants | The Rambling Epicure

Venetian Hours: Looking for a Home

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, May 3, 2017 Permalink 0

I’ve come home. No, I should state that differently. I’ve had to redefine home.

Bacino Grand Canal San Giorgio Maggiore Venice

We have decided to spend winters in Venice and summers in France and Switzerland. I have been absent from The Rambling Epicure over the last year and a half only in body, not in spirit. I continue living like a nomad, often not taking time to unpack my suitcase, hopping from Venice to Chartres and occasionally landing in Switzerland, which is still officially my home.

I am alive and I even kick from time to time just to make sure I still can. During this long absence, I fought an unnamed virus. Italian, French and Swiss doctors agreed that it would pass and it finally has. It was, in principle, an entirely physical ailment, yet became trying to the spirit.

Venetian Hours: How Not to Visit Venice

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Permalink 0

two gondolas with blue and red cover venice venezia travel italy

Venetian Hours: How Not to Visit Venice

by Jonell Galloway

There are many ways to visit Venice, but if you want a real Venetian experience without disappointments, here are some tips.

Don’t stay near Rialto or San Marco. There’s nothing at all wrong with the neighborhoods, but they are more expensive and more touristy.
Don’t eat in restaurants with colored photos of all the dishes on a plastic sign outside. They tend to be touristy and unauthentic.
Don’t take the vaporetto everywhere. The vaporetto is good for seeing the palaces on the Grand Canal on a sunny day or at night when they’re lighted, but walking lets you fall by chance on hidden palaces, churches, bridges, canals and cafés. These are the great joys of Venice.
Don’t take Alilaguna if you’re coming from the airport. You can’t see a thing through the windows, and the trip takes about twice as long as the No. 5 airport express bus to Piazzale Roma (20′), which leaves from directly in front of the main airport exit.
Don’t walk the streets looking for a restaurant. Choose restaurants in advance instead of walking in spontaneously when you’re hungry. Venice has its full share of tourist traps, especially around San Marco and the Rialto. Note: there are good restaurants in these neighborhoods, but do your research and reserve ahead of time and you’ll have a happier experience.
Don’t go to just any shop or restaurant. Try to frequent places run by Venetians and Italians. This is not racist or chauvinistic; it simply means you’re more likely to have an authentic experience and support the economy in Venice.
Don’t set out on your day’s sightseeing without studying where the major landmarks in Venice are located. Know where San Marco, Rialto, Accademia, Ferrovia and Piazzale Roma are in terms of north, south, east and west and your day will go much more smoothly. It’s also good to memorize the vicinity of major landmarks and the names of the sestieri or six city districts: Castello, Cannaregio, San Marco, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce and San Polo.
Don’t think you can get everywhere like you do in a city with a grid layout. Maps are not always the best way to get around. Let yourself get lost. When you’re really lost, look for the arrows near the street names marked San Marco, Rialto, Accademia, Ferrovia and Piazzale Roma.
Don’t buy tickets each time you get on the vaporetto. Buy a Venezia Unica Citypass for one, two, three or seven days. Yes, it’s expensive, but so are individual tickets at 7.50 Euros a shot.
Don’t go to Venice uninformed. Do your homework before arriving. No matter what, you’ll spend a lot of wonderful hours getting lost, but you’ll make better use of the restricted opening hours.
Don’t sleep in. Museums and churches tend to close early and some even close for lunch.
Don’t rely on your guide books for opening and closing hours. They’re invariably out of date and times tend to change according to the season and the budget. Web sites are not always up-to-date either, but they’re more reliable. City museum opening times can be checked on the MUVE site. Otherwise, look at websites for individual museums.

Interactive map of Venice.

La Semaine du Goût Geneva – Sept. 12, 2013

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, September 11, 2013 Permalink 0

La Semaine du Goût Genève – Geneva Tasting Week

Swiss tasting week, referred to as “La Semaine du Goût” in the French-speaking part of the country, starts on Thursday, September 12, and runs until the 22nd. Each producer, restaurant and farm participating offers events. I will list a program of events, by day, in the Geneva area.This event is sponsored in part by Slow Food Switzerland. Here is the schedule for Thursday, September 12.

Continue Reading…

Switzerland: Café Berra: Restaurant Review

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Permalink 0

Switzerland: Café Berra: Restaurant Review

From the archives

In the hills above Monthey, Jean-Yves André and Josiane Raemy, who worked for many years in Asia, offer a pleasant mix of a solid classic French cuisine with notes of Asia here and there. Portions are generous and they only use high-quality local ingredients and wine producers, including Marie-Thérèse Chappaz and Marie-Bernard Gillioz

Listen to the podcast review of the Café Berra in Monthey, Switzerland.

The Supremacy of French Cusine
French Supplies French Cuisine
As French idea of restaurant changes, so does law

Introducing our new “TRE Quality Label”

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, July 25, 2013 Permalink 0

Introducing our new “TRE Quality Label”: Healthy, Homemade Meals Delivered to Your Door, Geneva

The TRE Quality Label

Introducing our new “TRE Quality Label”

In this complex world of industrial food, where even organic food is sold by agro food conglomerates, it is important to know the quality and origin of what we eat. Thus the importance of a quality label that has been tested by people like us who are experienced in the real-food business. When we give the TRE Quality Label, we know where the ingredients came from, we know how the food was processed and treated — and most of it is entirely local, allowing you too to eat locally. We also know how it tastes, because we’ve tasted it all.

All the important criteria make up part of the TRE Quality Label: quality, origin, and taste. You can be sure of what you’re buying if it has a TRE Quality Label.

Today, we’d like to introduce the first product to which we’re giving our label: panbeh, a Geneva grassroots operation that makes every attempt to meet all these criteria, and to put something healthy, natural and tasty on your plate.

panbeh‘s meals are delivered straight to your door in Geneva. Most of the ingredients are from Geneva or nearby in the countryside.

It is the perfect solution for those who are home bound and for the elderly, as well as for those who simply don’t have the time to do the shopping required to cook a healthy, well-balanced meal. It’s great for those weeks when your work schedule is heavy, and ensures that you’ll get a home-cooked, healthy meal every day, delivered straight to your door.

Geneva: Healthy, Homemade Meals Delivered to Your Door by panbeh

panbeh describes itself:

panbeh means “pure cotton” in Farsi: the purity of a healthy, home-cooked meal

Panbeh’s very own cotton plant in Geneva, Switzerland

As we all know, what we eat is important for our daily activity and well-being, so we are introducing our new concept: the pleasure of eating healthy, natural, homemade food while fully enjoying the taste of what you eat, delivered right to your door.

No additives and no pesticides, no hormones and no chemicals — only the real, natural flavor of top quality, artisanal ingredients, the origin of which we systematically list. And you benefit from the real taste of the whole, untreated, unprocessed food, prepared fresh every day in a high-fiber, low-fat manner.

Whenever possible, we use only organic ingredients.

We propose a daily lunch menu and will deliver it to you at your home or your office, free of charge. Please find below are our daily menus for the month of July.

Delivery to your home or office
Order the night before (before 6 pm) for next day’s lunch, or order for the whole week
Orders are delivered between 12 and 1 pm

Order by email:
panbeh@servge.ch
or by phone:
076 630 79 56

Free delivery for Petit-Saconnex, Grand-Saconnex, Grand-Pré and Nations.

It is our right to know where our food comes from:

Bread: Eric Emery bakery, Geneva.
Vegetables, fruits and mountain herbs (organic): Marché à la Ferme de Budé, Geneva.

Cheese (organic) : Casa Mozzarella, Geneva.

Salmon: Wild from Alaska or Scotland, sold by Francesco Drago, Halle de Rive covered market, Geneva.

Tomato sauce (organic): Marché a la Ferme de Budé, Geneva.

Spaghetti (organic): Marché à la Ferme de Budé, Geneva.

Rice & Quinoa (organic): Marché de Vie, Geneva

Olive oil: Greece, sold by Marché à la Ferme de Budé, Geneva

Eggs (organic): Marché à la Ferme de Budé, Geneva.

Chicken (organic) : Swiss origin

Wheat (organic) : Swiss origin

Bon appétit!

MENU for July 2013 (24.00 CHF)

Monday
Mixed salad
Quinoa balls, oven-baked Homemade
panbeh cake

Tuesday
Shirazi salad (tomato, cucumbers, onion, fresh mint)
Indian Tilda rice with safran, berberis (barberries) and chicken, or wild rice with chicken and vegetables
Fresh fruit salad

Wednesday
Potato salad, onion, eggs
Eggplant and tomato sandwich
panbeh homemade crème caramel

Thursday
Tomato & mozzarella & fresh basil
Spaghetti, tomato sauce & mushrooms
Watermelon or melon

Friday
Salad (ricotta & tomato covered with aromatic herbs)
Wild smoked salmon sandwich
Homemade panbeh cake

Large portion of mixed salad: 12.00 CHF

Drinks: kefir, mineral water, or fruit juice.

Order by email:
panbeh@servge.ch
or by phone:
076 630 79 56

‘UN would like Iran in Geneva confab’

Geneva more expensive than Zurich for expats

Switzerland: Brasserie Lipp Geneva: The Brasserie of all Brasseries

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, July 25, 2013 Permalink 0

Switzerland: Brasserie Lipp Geneva: The Brasserie of all Brasseries

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

The Brasserie Lipp in Geneva even tops the one in Paris. Some may say that’s not difficult to do in a sleepy, provincial town like Geneva, but it is not so simple as that.

It’s l’ensemble, the “package” with all its details, that makes it work to perfection: the top-notch French-style service, the professionalism, the decor, the reliability of the food, the atmosphere, its late opening hours, even on Sunday.

You can watch them in action on their site!

I love their site, which gives you a glimpse of all the qualities above through a short video.

The menu includes classic brasserie fare, such as choucroute, souris d’agneau confite or lamb’s shank – one of the tenderest parts of the lamb, steak with Béarnaise sauce, leeks ravigote and shellfish platters. They offer Gillardeau oysters as well as the usual selection of shellfish found in a brasserie. It is always impeccably fresh.

But unlike many brasseries, they also have a menu that changes with the seasons. It invariably offers an assortment of tartares, cold or hot soups, salads, and dishes that often have North African and Asian accents. One of my favorites that they have been doing for 3 or 4 winters, is the vegetarian couscous. It’s like no other couscous I’ve ever had, a modern, up-to-date “revision” that I never tire of.

Service

If you listen to their video, you’ll understand what I mean about the professionalism of the service. They will never get annoyed with you if you ask questions about the dishes or if you change your mind 3 times. They are old-fashioned, but in the good sense of the term. The servers are always polite and patient.

Club Prosper Montagné’s List of Top Restaurants and Food Shops in Geneva, Switzerland
The Top 10 Restaurants in French-Speaking Switzerland
Le Jardin, Le Richemond, Geneva
Swiss Cheese Fix @ Cafe Du Soleil Geneva
Switzerland: Swiss-style Knepfle Pasta

Gareth Jones: Memories of Old Belgium & Malmedy’s Gooey Kisses

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, July 3, 2013 Permalink 0

Memories of Old Belgium and Malmedy’s Gooey Kisses, including Recipe

by Gareth Jones

IMG_0047 (250x188)

When two chewy, gooey meringues come stuck together either side of a slather of butter cream or crême chantilly, the pâtissiers of Malmédy call this a ‘kiss’. Their description is obvious – it’s a fond embrace. Such is its fame, the Baiser had a place in the original Larousse Gastronomique compiled by Prosper Montagné in 1938.

The story goes that the Baiser de Malmédy started life in the late 19th century in this region of the Eastern Ardennes that many still prefer to call ‘Old Belgium’. The name appreciates that here, in the small towns like Malmédy, Stavelot, Bastogne, Spa and Francorchamps, the old ways continue and courtesy comes before all else – much as continues in Norfolk and Suffolk, Dorset and Somerset, where people living here still have time for each other.

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Switzerland: Best Meat Restaurants and Steakhouses in Geneva

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Permalink 0

Switzerland: Best Meat Restaurants and Steakhouses in Geneva

Au Carnivore, French cuisine, 30 place du Bourg-de-Four, 1204 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 311 87 58, open 7 days a week.

L’Auberge au Renfort de Sézegnin, French cuisine, 19, route du Creux-du-Loup, 1285 Sézegnin (Athenaz). Tel. (+41) 022 756 12 36.

Bistrot du Boucher, French cuisine, 15, avenue Pictet-de-Rochement, 1207 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 736 56 36. Closed Wednesday lunch, Saturday lunch and Sunday.

La Broche, French cuisine, 36, rue du Stand, 1204 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 321 22 60. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday dinner.

Restaurant Café de Paris, French cuisine, 26 rue du Mont-Blanc, 1201 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 732 84 50. Open 7 days a week, non-stop from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Restaurant/Café de l’Ecu, French cuisine, 65, route de Rougemont, 1286 Soral. Tel. (+41) 022 756 33 50. Open 7 days a week, non-stop from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.

L’Entrecôte Couronnée, 5, rue des Pâquis, 1201 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 732 84 45.

L’Entrecôte Saint-Jean, French cuisine, 79 boulevard Carl-Vogt, 1205 Geneva. Tel. (+41) 022 321 99 41, Closed Saturday lunch,, Sunday, and Monday.

Culinary Travel: Jonell Eats her Way through Paris in June, a Photo Essay

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, June 7, 2013 Permalink 0

There’s no better time to eat your way through Paris than in June. It is abundant with local fresh fruits and vegetables, sunshine and flowers. It’s a sensual experience that one must experience at least once in a lifetime.

This slide show gives you a glimpse of just how beautiful and sensual it is. Enjoy.

Culinary Travel: Jonell Takes a Jaunt to Petite France in Strasbourg, a photo essay

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, June 6, 2013 Permalink 0

Culinary Travel: Jonell Takes a Jaunt to Petite France in Strasbourg

Husband Peter and I recently took a jaunt to Strasbourg with our German “family”, the Joerchels, to eat in a cozy little bistro in the heart of Petite France, the canal district of Strasbourg. Here’s a sample of the architecture and atmosphere of Petite France.