The Walrus and the Carpenter

My home town Southend is many things, none of which are genteel or refined.  It has an edge to it.  Lots of cheeky chappies and kiss me quick hats.  But things have started to change including on the culinary front.  Mainly for the better too.

A short while ago, my brother Jan suggested we go to a newish restaurant called Toulouse on the western esplanade on the Southend sea front, just down from the pier.  They'd converted the former public toilets into a restaurant so this I just had to see.  Typical Southend indeed!

Former public loos

They did a pretty good job too as the restaurant was sleek and nice with no evidence of its former history either!  Mind you the Southend sense of humour remains.  The following is a note on the menu for patrons.

Following advice from the Food Standard Agency we feel it our duty to warn you, that by consuming raw seafood, there is 1 in 1000 chance of it causing a tummy upset. We also advise not to eat oysters and drink spirits as it can also cause a tummy upset.

Did that deter us? Not in the slightest!

On the menu were Maldon Oysters yet again!!  And of course we just had to have them by the dozen this time.  Jan is a big fan and Viv helped me out too.  The waiter asked if he could produce just one big tray but knowing my brother, I asked him to keep the orders separate as Jan's counting is notoriously patchy at times.

The evening was splendid and the restaurant did a great job of keeping all happy!

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?"
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Thanks of course to Lewis Carroll for the magnificent inspiration!

Toulouse Restaurant

Western Esplanade

Westcliff-on-Sea

Essex SS0 8FE

Tel: 01702 333731

http://www.toulouserestaurant.co.uk

French Restaurant in East Chinatown??!!

I take off my hat to Viv (yet again) for this.  I don't know if you've heard of Living Social -- a really good deal of the day website which offers really neat and sometimes off the wall adventures each day.  All you have to do is sign up and say which town and country you're interested in.  And you get daily emails forever (and I do mean forever) telling you what's 50% off in your town that day.  Its perfect for when you travel to another town and you want to try something new.  I guess its pretty decent too if there is coverage in your home town too and you feel like an adventure but as we're based in Bermuda where LS doesn't reach, that's tough for us.  But this week we were in Toronto and Viv found 3 things, one of which was a chic French bistro in East Chinatown in a 'burb called Riverdale to be precise.

This was Batifole and Viv bought the voucher because she spied one of my favourites -- which is cassoulet.  A magnificent dish based around white beans and the fattiest meats imagined by man -- pork belly, duck confit and white Toulouse sausage.  Combined in a casserole and baked, this is a dish to make you smile for a year.

Getting there was a breeze too once you skimmed the website and found the very precise instructions but the district it is in is not one where you'd expect to find a quality French bistro owned and chefed by  Jean-Jacques Texier (the name sounds Basque to me), the chef and manager of Sassafrass, the swanky Yorkville eatery (he lives nearby apparently and liked the lot when it came up 5 years ago when he pounced).  It is not a chic area at all.

The boss

However when you enter, things brighten up considerably and it becomes a lovely spot.  Tables and chairs are simple bistro furniture and the waiter was a charming guy (not French, I don't think) who was quite understanding when I explained I wanted to vary from the LS voucher fare (glass of wine, table d'hote menu) and have a bottle of the Grenache (very nice it was too) and the cassoulet.  Viv stayed closer to things with the savoury souffle but we both blew it on the dessert -- another favourite of mine being souffles, this one with marmalade and Grand Marnier.

Forgot to mention nearly the aperitifs -- Viv had some bubbles whilst I had a pastis.  Well you just have to in a French bistro, don't you?

So ticking off boxes as we go along: 1) cassoulet -- very, very nice; 2) souffle -- very, very nice.  Also the nice ambience, nice cold Grenache, pastis to start .... that makes for a very lovely dinner indeed!  And the bill even with my variations was exceptionally reasonable.  What more could you want?

We met a couple of guys there too who were restauranteurs themselves as Viv wanted to know how the Horse Tartare was.  I've eaten that before in France and it certainly looked great, a fact that the gentleman in question confirmed.  In fact both waxed very lyrical about their experience too.  I just wish I remembered which restaurants they said they owned.

Not sure the play button works.  But don't let me stop you.

Batifole
744 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, ON
M4M 1Y3
(416) 462-9965

www.batifole.ca