A Delightful Little Find - Strasbourg

As we bid goodbye to Salzburg and headed west across Germany, I realised we knew very very little of Strasbourg apart from it was highly recommended by my uncle to visit as "un recognised Gem of France." Our arrival in the city could have been a lot later as we grinded to a halt on the motorway about 16 KM out. However a very kind non English speaking truck driver directed us into a field and according to the GPS on a back road through to Strasbourg. As we were followed by numerous other cars in an Italian Job type scene, we sped across the lanes and popped up on the Motorway junction in the city within minutes.


Rather easier than every other city we had driven into we found the hotel, parked the car and headed off to the pharmacy to top the Bald Man up with anti man flu medication. Strasbourg has the most beautiful old town centre and we did what we do best and pottered around. On request the concierge has suggested a restaurant behind the hotel A La Tete du Lard. And boy what a recommendation! We started with a Tarte Flamme - a very thin pizza style base with a cream cheese and creme fraiche top. Ours had some beautiful Munster cheese with some bacon added. It was mouth watering, creamy, salty, savoury, delicate..... just devine. We quite honestly wanted more and had to through greed and gluttony aside to make space for the next course. My second course was a stunning confit du canard, much better than the one in Paris served with a very fresh salad. 1/4 carafes of local Reisling accompanied the meal and we finished with a fresh cherry tarte and coffee. On collapsing in bed we had a fabulous night sleep.


The following day we found breakfast in a cafe, coffee, croissant and pain au chocolate. You just can't beat it! The weather was foul but we sat outside under an awning and watched the world go by. I had read about a flea market i wanted to explore so we went in search and found a very cool couple of rows of market stalls. The difference in the butchery to Paris and Lyon was quite impressive. The scents of the charcuterie sections were fresh, fragrant and herbal. The cuts of meat were slightly different, redder and brighter, even on such a dreary day.


One of the stalls had a Spaetzle maker which is still in a container being shipped to me. Spaetzle it turns out, became something The Bald Man and I are slightly partial too. We had it in varying forms, fried, boiled, in sauce, plain. It makes a very nice alternative to pasta, chips and rice! I'd had Spaetzle in Auckland before but it was good to have it in such


The canals in Strasbourg are serviced by a tourist glass boat fleet which we decided might be a good idea in the rain. These boats packed the people on at least 100 each and were manned by two iPhone obsessed men who said nothing and pressed buttons in the appropriate places and occasionally steered the boat.


Our lunch in a restaurant called La Corde a Linge by the canal consisted of a very good carafe of wine and lots of spaetzle. I had mine with ham and cheese and the Bald Man had amazing meatballs with Mustard Sauce. Just fantastic! We watched the world go by for an hour soaking in the joys of Petit France. 
For the only time on the trip we went back to the same restaurant for dinner more out of laziness and shear exhaustion. Again we had a fabulous meal and fell into a wonderful sleep before our trip back to Paris.


The following day, we up sticks for the last time and drove the 4 hours back to Paris for our last night back in the cafe we started in, an early night and a trip back on Eurostar to London (along with 72 kgs of little bits and pieces I just  HAD to have!)


We had the most incredible few weeks and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to enjoy so much wonderful food.