Читать книгу One More Croissant for the Road онлайн

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There are a handful of seasonal specials – a crêpe with wild asparagus, locally cured coppa pork and Parmesan, and one with abalone (ormeau, a new piece of vocabulary for me), purée of chervil root and more of that asparagus – on top of the standard menu, which offers 48 different possibilities, from ham and egg to seaweed and scallops. I feel panicky, much as I did when confronted with all those oysters, and briefly flirt with the idea of ordering them all in the name of research.

Fortunately, help is on his way, in the form of Christophe himself, who is doing the rounds of the rapidly filling restaurant to greet his guests and show off the ingredients of the moment – the spindly asparagus and fleshy abalone, a sea beast popular in Asia, though these hail from nearby Plouguerneau – ‘€75 a box, shell-on!’ – and a box of the chervil root: ‘Very, very rare!’ he says excitedly. ‘Not common at all.’ I agree I’ve never heard of it. Should I have it? Well, he says, abalone is abalone (unarguable); me, I’d have the asparagus and coppa. It’s made by a friend of mine up the road, and it’s really good.