French Food Discovery Tour
Date: 27/08/2011
Start Time: 8:00 am
End Time: 4:30 pm approx.
Price: $165
Chef Sarah La Touche will take us on an insightful discovery
tour of French cuisine to be discovered in Auckland. We will start
the day with an early visit to a specialist market, then visit
boutique creators and suppliers of French-style food, including a
behind a the scenes visit at a French-style bakery. Lunch will be
at a cafe run by a brother and sister team with French/Algerian
heritage. We will complete this French food "immersion" day
with a wine and cheese tasting.
During the tour, you will have the opportunity to shop at the many
specialist food suppliers and at the wine importer. Of course,
Sarah will share her knowledge of France and of French food with us
during the day and is happy to answer your
questions.
This tour has an early start of 8:00 am and finishes at 4:30pm
latest. Tour includes professional guiding by Chef Sarah La
Touche, lots of tastings, delicious lunch, wine and cheese tasting,
transportation and information pack. The cost for this
premioum tour is $165 per person.
About Sarah: Sarah and her husband Denis lived in
France for many years and ran the guest house and cookschool "Les
Mimosas" in Languedoc. She is a contributor to Dish
magazine and has a regular column in Waiheke Island's Gulf
News.
Here is last year's tour.....
"Magnifique! A great day out!" Joanne
Cole
"I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day - it was as good as being in
France for the day. I would certainly recommend it to friends
and recommend the places we visited to friends." Gillian
Harrison
Sarah and I love offering our annual French Food Discovery Tour and
we agreed that this was our best tour yet. Seems our happy
group of "francophile foodies" did, too!
We started out early at the market, where Sarah pointed out some of
the freshest and unique produce. We got tips on what to look
for when shopping and how to prepare the produce.
The key message from Sarah, "Go with what is in season".
Now, this is what to look
for....
Not all carrots are orange
Cucumbers and
courgettes
Macaroons of every colour
Photo: Shona
Colebrook
and flavour
Photo:
Shona Colebrook
Time was all too short before we had to leave. We had a
date with a croissant!
Photo courtesy of Shona Colebrook
Dominique and Madeleine welcome us...and then we give it a go!
Ooh la la! These freshly baked croissants taste divine!
Next stop, a great French deli where we had...more
tastings! Sarah briefed us on some of the authentic French
products here, and we bought up large!
Our exquisite tasting platter
Merci Beaucoup!
Now that we had our appetites thoroughly whetted, we travelled a
short distance to a charming brother-sister run French/Algerian
cafe in Sandringham. Verdict on the food: Absolutely
delicious!
One of the
lunches
Lily pours the French cider
Bon Appetit!
Fortunately we had a pause from food in store. Our next
discovery was at the importer of French mineral waters, where we
learned about their benefits and enjoyed a tasting of Badoit.
Just what we needed!
Our day in France ended on a very relaxing note....a guided tasting
of French cheeses matched with French wines. We were very
lucky to be among the first to taste these newly imported
unpasteurised cheeses. The charming and knowledgeable
Jean-Christophe transported us with his descriptions and we
all had a new appreciation of what we were eating and
drinking.
Photo:
Shona Colebrook
We were ready and willing to eat and drink to the last!
Thank You - Merci to our wonderful host Sarah La
Touche and the food suppliers and makers who made our French Food
Discovery Tour such a perfect day. You really did transport
us to France for the day. We will return to all of you!
Most of all, thank you to our group of foodies for joining
us. It was fun for all of us.
"Amazing day. So friendly and informative.
Great group. Sarah gave such good knowledge." Kathy
West
"Wonderful (tour) again. Annual Christmas treat for my Mum
and I." Rebecca and Sharron
Ready to book? Click
here for our online booking form.