I booked a Eurotunnel ticket just after we came back from Switzerland after realising how much I missed French food. That love was rekindled during the 2000km odd drive from London through France to Zurich.
Lots of people believe in the stereotype that the French are passionate people. Now I couldn’t agree any more with that than when it comes to their food.
So it came to pass that Friday 8th May, the husband and I with just the 4 yr old son, drove through peak hour traffic after work to Folkstone. We arrived in time for our 7:20pm check in for the 7:50 pm train to Calais. We were staying at a friends’ house (another English-French mixed marriage couple) while they were away in the US.
We were very hungry but didn’t have a clue where we were going to eat once we have arrived. All hubby and I knew was that we wanted to eat ‘really good’ proper French cuisine. And since Calais is a port city, some seafood involved.
Furious searching online, while in the 30 mins high speed train, yielded some results. Now, when the Google reviews are all in French and glowing, you know you’re on to something. Not that I don’t trust English reviews but it’s like when you hear amazing feedback from Chinese people themselves about a local Chinese restaurants, you tend to believe them more. ?
So we made our way to “Le Grand Bleu” restaurant along the harbour hoping there’s a table for us. We arrived around 9:30pm so we were ravishingly hungry by then. To see a restaurant quite full when the neighbours around the area were looking only half full was certainly a good sign.
This is where I found that French passion again. Knowing our 4 yr old was very hungry (and so were we of course!) the manager was very apologetic that the food will take time to come as everything is of course prepared fresh from scratch.
And here was what we ordered and served:
