Breakfast

La rue des Deux Portes

January 12, 2019 By Allison

While the grandeur of Versailles resides in its Château, its charm is surely in its diminutive streets, passages, and courtyards. Lying in the shadow of the Château, la rue des Deux Portes (The Street with Two Doors) has mixed residental and business since the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Connecting the rue Carnot to the Place du Marché, boutiques and restaurants saturate this short pedestrian way. La rue des Deux Portes is lively, local, and picturesque, well worth a quick visit after your market trip or Château visit. Alternatively, make an afternoon of shopping on this street and in the antique district, le Quartier des Antiquaires, also located close to the Place du Marché.

Allison’s Tips
Access
Leaving the Château, take the tree-lined avenue de Saint-Cloud to the avenue de l’Europe. Take a sharp left on the rue Carnot, where you immediately see the south entrance to the rue des Deux Portes.

Coming from the Place du Marché, the north entrance to the rue des Deux Portes branches off the rue Ducis, on the west side of the Place.

Boutiques
Coffee and Tea Merchant—La Finca 15, rue des Deux Portes

Kitchen Store–Culinarion 13, rue des Deux Portes

Hat and Glove Shop–Falbalas Saint Junien 10, rue des Deux Portes

Toy Store–La Palette de Jeux 12, rue des Deux Portes

Cuisine
Maison Sephaire 17, rue des Deux Portes
Traditional French butcher and caterer that provides high end, traditional French food to go: artisanal charcuterie, pâté, roast chicken, and various sides such as carrot salad

Les Biscuits de Madame Georges 7, rue des Deux Portes
British inspired afternoon tea featuring homemade Bundt cakes

Eléphant d’Argent 6, rue des Deux Portes (Thai restaurant)

Crêperie des Deux Portes 12, rue des Deux Portes

Nightlife
BiBoViNo Versailles 15, rue des Deux Portes
Wine shop and bar featuring high quality « bag in box » wines. BiBoViNo’s liquor license requires that food be served with alcohol, so patrons must also order charcuterie and/or cheese boards to accompany their wine.

L’Equilibre 8, rue des Deux Portes
Trendy tapas bar with more than thirty wines by the glass. Happy hours from 5-8 p.m. Arrive early to grab a table!

Ore: a golden pause

September 8, 2018 By Allison

Visiting the Château of Versailles can make for a long day: lines, crowds, and so much sumptuous history to take in! For sanity’s sake, why not break up the day with a calm, delectable lunch?

Located on the grounds of the Château, Chef Alain Ducasse’s ORE serves carefully prepared, high-end café fare in a light, airy setting. Ore means mouth in Latin and also plays on the French word for gold (or). The gold décor and sunburst tableware speak to the historic setting, and the menus correspond to the seasons. On my last visit I ordered a perfect spring vegetable tartelette resting on a green pea purée, followed by a verbena and raspberry soufflé. Disconnected from the effervescent commotion of the Château, my friends and I enjoyed classic French cuisine graced with touches of modernity, all in a discreet, elegant setting.

At ORE, The service is attentive and efficient, the food beautifully plated and delicious. After a quiet, relaxed lunch, you will be ready to continue your visit of the Château.

Allison’s Tips
ORE teams up with the Château of Versailles to offer breakfast or lunch followed by direct access (no lines!) to the Château and its grounds. Reserve for breakfast + direct access (40€) or lunch + direct access (60€). The set menus vary according to the season.

Make a reservation for breakfast (starting at 12€), lunch (starting at 16€), or afternoon tea (35€)

Make a reservation for evening dinners, offered on select dates throughout the summer

Reserve ORE for a private evening function by calling +33 1 30 84 12 97

Access: ORE is on the second floor of the Pavillon Dufour at the Château of Versailles. From the security checkpoint on the Place d’Armes, enter the Cour d’Honner and hang left as you approach the Cour Royal and the Pavillon Dufour. From the gardens, follow the signs to the Cour des Princes and access the Pavillon Dufour from the Cour des Princes courtyard.

Sydney Tea Scene

August 8, 2018 By Allison

Last year in Sydney, I drank smooth, creamy flat whites, but I also found my way to the city’s welcoming, vibrant tea scene. While coffee is more prevalent in Australia, Sydney’s tea vibe drew me in. The city boasts a warm, diverse, and growing tea community. In fact, the fifth annual Sydney Tea Festival will take place on August 19^th. The celebration of loose leaf tea features a market, workshops, master classes, and a tea pairing dinner. Clearly, I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of Sydney’s tea culture. Here I detail some of my memorable Sydney tea experiences.

The Rabbit Hole Organic Tea Bar

rabbit hole organic shop [DECEMBER 2018 NOTE: The Rabbit Hole’s Redfern location will close after December 23, 2018, but Barangaroo location will still be open.]

Co-founders of the Sydney Tea Festival, Corrine Smith and Amara Jarrett opened The Rabbit Hole Organic Tea Bar in 2010 as a way to bring new, creative sipping options to Sydney’s tea enthusiasts. When I stepped into the Redfern location, studious-looking people filled the tables, mugs of tea placed next to each laptop. I also spied a handful of Instagrammers snapping shots of their colorful tea lattes. The space was open and airy. Thanks to the yellow accents, it felt sunny and warm. I sampled the perfectly pink Turkish Delight Latte and then moved on to The Rabbit Hole’s other tea offerings: Lemon Aid (lemon myrtle, lemongrass, ginger), Grey Goddess (a delicate, citrusy white tea), and Lavender Cream (Milk Oolong with vanilla and lavender petals). The Rabbit Hole organic teas are whimsical, tasty, and thought-provoking.

rabbit hole organic tea counter

rabbit hole turkish delight tea latte

The tea bar offers a full array of hot tea, tea lattes, and tea “mocktails”, but one mustn’t overlook the tea-inspired foods on the menu: Earl Grey infused strawberry jam, Lapsang Souchong mushrooms served on sourdough toast with hummus and basil oil, and avocado toast with preserved lemon freekeh and hazelnut dukkha. Sweets include puffy meringues, pretty nougats, and a daily cake offering. Each food item is listed with a suggested tea pairing.

rabbit hole organic tea customers

Redfern Tea Bar
146 Abercrombie St, Redfern NSW 2016

Barangaroo
Shop 1, 23 Barangaroo Ave
https://therabbithole.com.au/

Teahouse at White Rabbit Gallery

The White Rabbit Gallery features one of the world’s largest collections of contemporary Chinese art. Before spending time with the art, I relaxed for an hour in the gallery’s teahouse, enjoying savory dumplings and oolong tea. I steeped the balanced and slightly floral Ti Kwan Yin several times. Due to jetlag, I spent most of the time gazing at the fabulous birdcage-covered ceiling, but White Rabbit’s teahouse would be the ideal place to spend a rainy day—with a book, a friend, or both!

White Rabbit
30 Balfour Street
Chippendale NSW 2008
Teahouse

white rabbit ceiling birdcages

T Totaler

ttotaler figleaf white tea T Totaler is a homegrown tea business, focusing on Australian grown teas and botanicals. Founded in 2012, Amber and Paul Sunderland make custom tea blends for restaurants, develop tea-based “mocktails”, and teach workshops. At their Newtown tea bar, I sampled a dazzling Teagroni, an iced White Peony tea with rose petals, and a hot Australian grown Sencha with coconut and lemon myrtle. Each one was perfect in its own way, and the tea bar’s decor was charmingly cozy with fiddle leaf figs and apothecary jars. Since my visit, T Totaler has opened a second location in the center of Sydney, which is now their primary location.

ttotaler apothacary

ttotaler teas

T Totaler
555a King Street
Newtown 2042 [Weekends only]

The Galeries Tea Bar
26A, Ground Floor
The Galeries, 500 George Street, 2000
T Totaler Tea

Lotus The Galeries

lotus sydney tea cocktail One of Sydney’s favorite dumpling restaurants, Lotus The Galeries also features a range of teas. I had the privilege and pleasure of sharing dumplings and tea cocktails with Sydney’s own teagramming sisters Neha and Smruthi. This charming and generous sister team marries the art of tea with the art of cocktails on their teatini__ Instagram page. Using tea from small tea companies from Australia and New Zealand, Neha and Smruthi develop tea cocktail recipes that highlight rather than mask the taste of the leaf. Their original recipes can be found on Instagram at teatini__.

Lotus The Galeries
Shop 6, level 1, 500 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
http://www.lotusdining.com.au/

Photo courtesy teatini__

Afternoon Tea at the Langham

Langham sydney afternoon tea 4 Sydney’s innovative and cutting edge tea scene also leaves room for traditional afternoon tea that showcases high end teas and fine pastries incorporating local ingredients. I spent a leisurely and luxurious afternoon at the Langham Sydney. This afternoon teatime is perhaps the most perfect I’ve ever experienced—attentive service, perfectly-infused teas, delightful savories and sweets, a cozy armchair. The pink champagne enhanced my languorous afternoon! I was able to sample a number of teas—a subtle Orange blossom tea, a creamy black Assam, and a white tea with melon. The scones were warm and crumbly, and other sweets were graced with an Australian touch: a hibiscus and guava tart and a cherry lamington. The savories were traditional and spot on: a curried free range egg finger sandwich as well as a prawn, shallot and dill finger sandwich.

langham sydney afternoon tea 3

langham sydney afternoon tea 2

Langham Sydney Afternoon Tea 5

The Langham Sydney
89-113 Kent Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.langhamhotels.com/en/the-langham/sydney/dining/afternoon-tea-with-wedgwood/

Mrs. Kiersey’s Brown Bread

March 8, 2018 By Allison

I am several generations removed from Ireland, so I access my “Irishness” in oblique ways. Little bits come down through language—a sweet prayer to my guardian angel taught to me by my grandmother or my mother’s admonishment to stop screaming like a banshee. A few objects evoke Ireland for me—the delicate Belleek dish at my bedside, adorned in roses, shamrocks, and Irish heather. An understated Waterford bud vase that I pull out in the spring.

I believe that food also has the potential to connect me to my almost unreachable, virtually unknowable heritage. But how? My family’s “Irish” recipes have been liberally adapted to suit American tastes. In flipping through Irish cookbooks, I am delighted by the names of traditional dishes: Dublin Coddle, Barmbrack, Wicklow Pancake.

Yet I gravitate toward something more basic: Irish Brown Bread. My family doesn’t bake brown bread, so I have no family recipes to reference. A few years ago, I fell into an internet hole of brown bread recipes. Overwhelmed and confused, I abandoned my brown bread quest. But then I thought to pester my Irish friend and colleague. He is a real Irishman with a real Irish mum, and I suspected that she would have a tried and true brown bread recipe. My persistence paid off. When I finally got my hands on the recipe, I knew I had found “my” brown bread.

Over the last few months, I have been playing with this Irish recipe in my Kentucky kitchen. Mrs. Kiersey’s recipe for brown bread is quick and straightforward. Coarsely ground whole wheat flour is key, as it gives the desired texture and density to the loaf. Buttermilk gives it a nice bite. Baking soda does a lot of heavy lifting, so make sure yours is fresh! The resulting loaf is crusty and hearty. Serve it with salted butter or hard cheese. Enjoy at breakfast or for an afternoon snack with a bold, black tea.

Baking Irish Brown Bread has created a subtle, yet moving pathway between my foremothers and me. Were they Irish? Yes! Did they bake brown bread? They may have. I acknowledge that my new penchant for Irish Brown Bread is a tenuous connection to women whose names and stories I do not know. Nonetheless, the gesture of bread making allows me to imagine the invisible women of my distant, yet meaningful history.

…

Luxurious Boredom

February 4, 2018 By Allison

Tea and citrus got me through my week with influenza. When I got sick, I immediately cut myself off from the world and settled in for a week of quiet recuperation. I didn’t have much of an appetite during my bout with the flu, but fluids perked me up. Warm lemon water with honey soothed my throat, sparkling water quenched my thirst, and hot tea gave me warmth and comfort.

Being sick and alone is boring. I hadn’t experienced boredom in years, and so it was odd to get reacquainted with this sensation that I knew so well as a child. I binge-watched The Crown—a welcome distraction. But my mind was too cloudy to read, my voice too shaky to call friends. I spent most of the week wrapped in blankets and scarves, sipping tea.

I’ve long understood that silence is productive, and I now see that boredom is too. Expansive, quiet minutes slid into hours and days. I stumbled upon empty corners of my mind that didn’t house thought. My internal chatter slowed, my anxious mind relaxed, and for a time, I stopped thinking. Spacious boredom replaced my drive to achieve.

The flu drained me, yet my week of isolation revived me. Tea and water were life-giving and clearing, and so too was boredom’s hollow loneliness.

Snowy Day Breakfast Salad

January 27, 2018 By Allison

Here at the hermitage, in deep snow, everything is ordinary and silent.
—Thomas Merton, 1963

Last week, snow slowed me down. After many busy weeks, I welcomed a few quiet, snowy mornings. I moved slowly and intentionally. Minutes and hours seemed to expand. These mornings were ordinary and uneventful. I gave more time to waking up and more time to breakfast.

My “breakfast salad” is so simple that it doesn’t require a recipe. But it does have a few components and is not for busy work mornings.

Here’s how to pull it together:

“Jammy” Eggs

Bring saucepan of water to a gentle boil. As water is coming up to temperature, prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl. Place on counter, next to burner. Once water boils, use a large spoon to ease eggs into the bowl, one by one. Boil gently, for 6.5 minutes. (7 minutes if you want a more solid yolk.) Use spoon to move eggs from saucepan to ice water bath, to stop cooking. When they’re cool enough to handle, remove peels under running water. Set peeled eggs aside.

Bread

Prepare toast and set aside. I made pita toast last week. Use whatever bread you have on hand. No need for butter.

Salad

Chop English cucumber, tomatoes, and radishes in to bite-sized pieces. Place in a small bowl. Toss with a little extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. If you don’t mind onion in the morning, add a little red or green onion. Set aside.

Yogurt Base

For each serving, scoop 3-4 generous tablespoons of whole milk or Greek yogurt into another small bowl. Squeeze juice of ½ lemon into yogurt, more if you’re preparing multiple servings. Add a pinch of salt and stir. Spread onto breakfast plate(s). Set aside.

Assembly

Gently place salad on yogurt. Slice eggs(s) the long way and nestle into the yogurt. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, squeeze a little lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt and pepper (Piment d’Espelette, if you have it.) Serve with toast.

Revel in your slow morning.