Bon appétit! How I rediscovered the joys of French cuisine
Like many Britons, Felicity Cloake lost her passion for steak frites and creme brulee when more exotic options appeared – so she embarked on a tour of France to find it. Plus: five recipes that fanned the flame
I can measure out my childhood in creme brulee. Every special occasion in the early 90s was celebrated with a trip to the same Soho brasserie in London for onion soup and steak frites, always culminating in the same pièce de résistance, a little pot of custard with an eminently smashable sugar top. In the summer, we would go over on the ferry and eat the same thing at the source, to a Johnny Hallyday soundtrack.
In this, we were part of a fine British tradition. Long before Elizabeth David shook up domestic cuisine with French Country Cooking in 1951, 19th-century cookbooks were peppered with recipes “in the French fashion”, while the continental restaurants of Soho and Fitzrovia in London were a magnet for Victorian artists and bohemians.