Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 7...From Zurich to LAX

I was going back to Los Angeles today. From Nice Airport, I first flew to Zurich and there was just a little over 1 hour connection. I barely made it to the flight leaving Zurich for LAX.

I had a pleasant flight with Swiss Air.


For lunch, I had Veal Salad, and the main course was Fried Trout with Mint Rice.


Before the arrival, I had the Duck and Cold Thai Noodle.

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 6...Another Moroccan Night

All my crazy work was finally over today! I am going back to LA tomorow. I got together with two friends for dinner tonight. We went back to the Moroccan restaurant, Le Riad, again tonight!


We had exactly the same appetizers as the last time...Oriental Mixed Salad and Fried Mixed Bricks.


For the main course, I tried their Cous Cous plate. My course came with a plate of mixed meat (lamb, chicken, meat balls, and merguez), a huge bowl of cous cous, and the soup with stewed vegetables. What a feast! The waiter first put the cous cous on the plate, topped it with the vegetables, then poured the broth over it. Wow, it was very nice. The meat was all very tender and very flavorful, and the vegetables and couscous soaked the nice broth well.


Densely flavored Cotes du Luberon was a great pairing with my dish.


It was a delicious, fun, and entertaining evening with fun people. We enjoyed the belly dancing show, too!

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 6...Lunch at Cafe Lenotre

I got off the hook from the consecutive lunches at the beach restaurant today. So, I went to Cafe Lenotre, which is one of my favorite casual lunch spots in Cannes.


I had the Pan-fried seabass and "bayaldi" of zucchini and tomatoes. It was a tasty lunch.

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 5..."Japanese Mediterranean" Dinner at Restaurant Saison

After the super-busy day of so many meetings, we took a taxi all the way to Nice (about 35-45 minutes drive from Cannes) to dine at Restaurant Saison, which is Keisuke Matsushima's new "Japanese-Mediterranean" restaurant opened just 2 months ago.

We originally found out about his opening a new Japanese restaurant, when we dined at Keisuke Matsushima, last April. Keisuke told us about it and he said it was going to be a Japanese restaurant with Mediterranean twist. So, we were very curious.


It's a cute small restaurant with the modern interior. Their menu has typical Japanese diner dishes, such as tamago-yaki (omelet), Buta no Shoga-yaki (ginger pork), tempura, soba, udon, and donburi (rice balls), etc. which are made with local ingredients.

We started the evening with Sake. We had Junmai-Ginjo from Aichi (I forgot the name of the producer).


I was actually most impressed by the wine list! The list has a very good selection of Champagne and Bourgogne, for unbelievably reasonable prices (almost like French retail price)! Domaine Leroy, Leflaive, Dugat, Comtes Armand, Dujac, etc. etc. And, they even had a lineup of Jacques Selosse! So, we ordered Jacques Selosse, Champagne, Brut Initial (Blanc de Blancs). I couldn't believe my eyes...it was only 86 Euros. So, it's basically the same price as the retail.


This wine's degorgement date was January 18, 2008. So, it's given over 1.5 years of time after that and it's still in its "young" stage. The color was beautiful light golden. The mouse was lively and fine. It took 5-10 minutes for the wine to open up in the glass. It's a refined and complex wine with tons of minerality, spice, herb, citrus, and distinctive acid. Beautiful!


For the dinner, we all did their "Menu" (Dinner Course).


Amuse-Buche was Mushrooms, Tofu, and Tamago-yaki (omelet).


Carpaccio of local snapper. Very nice.


Salmon "Oshi-sushi" (pressed sushi), and "Japanese-style" Seafood soup.


Kisu Tempura was so nicely cooked with the thin crisp crust and the very fresh taste fish. It was followed by Soba.


Foie Gras and Duck Donburi (rice bowl). Both the seared foie gras and the duck were tasty. I only wished that they cooked the rice with my donabe rice cooker!


My dessert was Warm Chocolate Cake and Poached Pear. My colleague had the Marron (chestnuts) Creme Brulee.

Our waiter (there was only one waiter at the restaurant) was very sweet and professional. He was a young Japanese guy and fluent in French and English also.

We all had a nice time tonight. It's always great and also encouraging to find other Japanese people trying to bring something good in different cultures and become successful!

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 5...Salmon Salad Lunch at the Beach Restaurant

We are coming back to the same beach restaurant three days in a row. I pretty much know their whole menu by heart now. It was such a warm...almost HOT day, just like a summertime. I saw many leathery skin people hanging out in bikinis at the beach.

I had their salmon salad, which consists of salmon tartare, salmon rillettes, and smoked salmon. Tartare and smoked salmon were pretty good. The dish went naturally so well with the Provence Rose I had.

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 4...Seafood Dinner at Restaurant de Bacon

We got to go outside of Cannes for dinner tonight.


We went to Restaurant de Bacon in Cap d'Antibes, which is about 20 minutes by taxi. Restaurant de Bacon is known as one of the best seafood restaurants in Cote d'Azur! It's a beautiful building located in the peninsula right by the ocean.


Our table was by the window and I could see the illuminations in Nice across the ocean from there.


2002 Romanee-Conti for EUR 13,500!! We ordered a bottle. Just kidding.


After enjoying the amuse-buche (onion tart) and Champagne, we ordered a bottle of 2008 Domaine du Paternel, Cassis.


I tried their course menu. I was so excited to try their specialty dishes.


Salade de Poisson Cru aux Herbes...Freshly caught local snapper, slightly marined in lemon juice, olive oil and herbs. This was so outstanding! The fish was extremely fresh and had the very nice firm texture. It was definitely Mediterranean. I enjoyed every bite of it.


My colleague's foie gras pate was very nice, too.


As a main course, I tried what's this restaurat is most famous for...Bouillabaisse!! I loved the simple authentic presentation. It was just the soup, a few slices of boiled potatoes, and several varieties of local fish. The soup was served with traditional rouille with croutes. You rub the fresh garlic on a slice of croute, and top it with a spoonful of rouille. You can also soak the croutes in the soup.

My bouillabaisse was so amazing. I liked it even better than the bouillabaisse I had at Teteu, which is another famous seafood place in the region. The broth was so deep and elegant. I even got the refill of the soup!


My colleague's Médaillon de Langouste à la Nage (Sliced spine lobster with a light buttered sauce).


Dessert...Millefeuille Chaud was really well prepared also. It was so flakey and light in the mouth.


What a wonderful dinner I had! Both the food and service were refined. The ambience was relaxing. I was so glad that I got to come here tonight.