Paris: Kitchenware of Les Halles

Paris holds a special place in my heart having been obsessed with the likes of Edith Piaf, Montmartre and Toulouse Lautrec since my early teenage years and the sight of the light beaming out of the top of the Eiffel tower after sunset will never grow old. Once you've lost count of the number of hops you have made over (or under!) the channel , however, you probably aren't beating a path to the Louvre or Galeries Lafayette anymore. On my most recent visit, I decided to go a little more off the tourist track on this visit to find some very French kitchenware. Les Halles is probably the closest equivalent that Paris has to the Covent Garden in London. Once bustling with porters swerving trolleys around market traders shouting out their colourful array of food wares, for the most part its role as a central food market is consigned to history. Some hints as to the area's alimentary past remain however in the form of a treasure trove of shops. 

E Dehillerin
18 et 20 rue Coquillière 75001 Paris

The ultimate in French stores has to be Dehillerin. This shop is unbelievable. It is like stepping back at least 5 decades in time. It is incredibly dark Aladdin's cave rammed from floor to ceiling with weird and wonderful gadgets. If you are hoping to find a souvenir that you won't find anywhere else then Dehillerin is where you are going to find it. 

Nothing is priced but is instead labelled with a code. At the end of each row are brochures listing prices alongside all the codes. Confusing but I guess some of this stock has been here decades and its easier to change the brochure than the labels. 

Publicis Drugstore; Paris

As the song says; "I love Paris in the springtime, I love Paris in the fall, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles, I love Paris in the summer; when it sizzles....." So when don't I love Paris? I don't love Paris when it is Fashion Week and bars and galleries are blocked up with androgynous, black clad giraffes, eyes cold with a combination of hunger, cocaine and sheer ambivalence. I also don't love Paris when I catch a stinking cold from a man behind me on the Eurostar who spent the journey over snorting like a pig. 

So there I am slumped in bed on Saturday morning when I had planned on being up with the oiseaux meandering my way round a marché aux puces in Montreuil. Still, even in the depths of a cold there can be glimmers of gastronomic pleasure to be found. I had the most fantastic supper in bed the night before due entirely to the cold and I bought it all from a corner shop. No, really, the best corner shop I've ever encountered: Publicis Drugstore.

At first glance the back entrance to Publicis Drugstore looks like most late night corner shops; plastified sandwiches, microwave meals, rows of Coke and Evian and a small baked goods area. Its only when you look more closely that you see the croissants are all by Alain Ducasse, the patisserie from Philippe Conticini's Patisserie des Reves range or from Dalloyau. Petrossian has a small counter of caviar and smoked salmon. Around the corner is a Pierre Herme macaron counter. Dinner for me was a truffle risotto from Maison de la Truffe. At 16 euros probably the most expensive microwave meal ever but by God was it worth it. Rich and creamy with a powerful truffle aroma filling the store as it cooked. It feels utterly wrong to be praising a microwave meal but it was truly very, very right indeed. A dessert of a tarte tatin from Patisserie des Reves and two vanilla macarons completed the meal. 

Continue further into its depths and there is a bookshop with some great food and art coffee table type books as well as international magazines. A beauty area stocked with top brands is next to wines and cigars as well as counters of the sort of expensive fripperies and pretty things that everyone wants but nobody needs. Its like a mini late night shopping heaven and if I hadn't been such a red eyed sniffing mess there's a significant chance that my bank balance would have been further damaged.

If you're not looking to hide in your sick bed like me there are plenty of restaurant options on site. In the basement is a 2 michelin starred branch of Joel Robuchon as well as a see and be seen brasserie on the ground floor looking out onto the Champs Elysee. A steakhouse rounds off the restaurants.

In goods news for my cold it also has a 24 hour pharmacy. Possibly one of the most useful shops in the whole of Paris. We even went back a few days later post cold on the way back to the Eurostar and stocked up on all our favourite brand foodie souvenirs in one place, perfect.

So if you're ever looking for an out of hours macaron fix, the ingredients for breakfast in bed or some late night drink you know where to go. Oh and whilst you're enjoying your treats, visit their website, there's an awesome playlist on it.

Publicis Drugstore

133 Avenue des Champs Élysées, 75008 Paris, France

Shopping in Sri Lanka

Despite my London apartment being stuffed to the rafters (minimalist is never going to be my style) I always seem to find myself sitting on top of a suitcase at the end of every trip forcing the zip and praying to the gods of travel that mine will not be the burst bag on the carousel spewing forth knickers for all of Terminal 5 to behold. Sri Lanka was no different and saw me staggering through the green customs channel in a most undignified pack horse fashion. But it was so worth it; there are so many beautiful and very useful things on offer if you shop around.

Shopping in Sri Lanka is a real pleasure since, although haggling is expected in markets and some tourist shops, it is done in a light hearted way unlike many other countries. Whilst there are lots of very touristy shops, a series of more elegant lifestyle/ homeware shops have also sprung up. It's very easy to flag down tuk-tuks to whizz around town between stores (or in my case back to the hotel twice as my arms were full - oops!) 

Tea

One of the great things about Sri Lanka is that all food products have to have a manufacturer's retail price printed on them so you know you are paying the standard price. If you are lucky enough to be travelling up to the highlands you can visit the plantations and buy tea directly from the manufacturers at a decent rate. The downside is that you have to visit each manufacturer to see a spread of products and ranges. 

The Ceylon Tea Board on Galle Road in Colombo is a great place to buy tea from lots of different producers, especially the smaller ones,  but beware it isn't open on Saturdays (as I discovered to my chagrin). The big brands have their own stores in Colombo, Dilmah and Mlesna being the main ones. The main place NOT to buy tea is the airport. A tin of Dilmah loose tea was 500 rupees in the city (about £2.30) but the exact same product was $6 at the airport. In general everything at the airport is about double. 

Textiles

Barefoot is a chain of shops that employ Sri Lankan women who would otherwise be unlikely to have an income. This is no pity party though as the stuff they make is gorgeous and of very high quality. In addition to the Colombo stores there is also a store in Galle Fort that is worth a visit. Definitely buy something you like when you see it though. I left a couple of things behind in Galle assuming I'd find them again at the Colombo branch and ended up kicking myself. 

The Sri Lankans are also big on batik print clothes and textiles - not my thing but there is plenty of choice if it is yours. They also make practical gifts and toys from brightly coloured fabrics- I love souvenirs that have a purpose rather than sitting on a shelf.

I bought beautiful tablecloths and napkins that are already in regular use. The multicoloured make up bags and wash bags were all fallen upon by friends. This shop is a must stop. 

Homeware

Paradise Road truly is a veritable dream of house stuff. Its one of those shops that you walk into and just want to buy the lifestyle in its entirety. Ceramics, tableware, table linen, 

Food

Sri Lanka is pretty self sufficient when it comes to food with a wealth of seafood from the coastal areas, amazing quality fruit and vegetables from the Highlands and spices and cashew nuts from pretty much everywhere else. Whilst you can't bring the jumbo prawns home with you, you can make cooking back at home a whole lot more fun with all the spices.

There's always something fun about walking round foreign supermarkets. Seeing what is the same, what's unrecognisably different or cheaper than home. There are two main chains in Sri Lanka; Cargill's Food City and Keell's Super.  I bought my spices in a small branch of Food City in Hikkaduwa on the east coast. The ground cinnamon was about 40p a pack and from the manufacturing date printed on the pack, had been ground that very morning in a mill less than 5 kilometres away. You can't get fresher than that! A bag of around 20 nutmegs was £1 and cinnamon sticks can be had for around 20p for a bag of 5. It will be at least five times as much if you buy them in fancy packaging in tourist shops or from the spice gardens and the quality will be no better. I also bought a load of sachets of powdered coconut at about 10p a sachet as its much easier than opening a whole can of coconut milk for cooking curries.

Some of the better quality shops like Barefoot also offer spice mixes to recreate curries back at home and they are great value.

Cashews are surprisingly pricey but generally very good quality. Watch out for the devilled ones though; they're hot!

Beauty

There are lots of spice gardens littering the route from Kandy to Colombo. Someone will guide you round extolling the virtues and purported benefits of various herb and spice combinations before sitting you down for a massage to ease you in the most relaxing way into looking at a price list. The alleged restorative and curative qualities of various tonics and balms are explained. Each to their own, some of the group I was with thought they were fantastic but to me it was a very lengthy sales pitch peddling snake oil. 

If you are interested in good quality Ayurvedic products using the same local ingredients then look out for a range called Spa Ceylon which, although not super cheap, is beautifully packaged and definitely less costly than its nearest equivalent back home. They have several spas where you can get treatments as well as products in Colombo although their products are also stocked in Barefoot and Paradise Road if you're running short on time.  They deliver globally via their website but the prices are about double those charged in Sri Lanka (cardamom rose nail and cuticle balm is $16 online but was around $7 locally).

Gems

Finding somewhere to buy gems that you can trust is a total minefield. I'm told that some of the big touristy gem places pay up to 40% commission to drivers and tour guides for bringing punters through the door. Therefore although it might feel safer buying from a big shop you will be paying through the nose for it.

I went into my hotel jewellery shop (a branch of Zam) to get a ballpark figure for a pair of small sapphire studs and was loosely quoted "not more than $1000". With a mere raise of the eyebrows and a quiet snort the price had come down to under $350 within seconds. The price I finally paid from an independent gem dealer was considerably less than that again. Moral of the story is avoid hotels shops and try to get recommendations from someone you trust; not your driver/ tour guide. 

I went to Sena Gems on the corner of Marine Drive and Ridgeway Place. It doesnt have a glossy shop front and you have to go through two security gates to get in but they were recommended by people I know with family in Sri Lanka who I trust and I was happy with both the price and the quality of the final product ( I picked stones and designed the settings). 

Wooden carvings

Quality of wood carving is extremely variable and they are less practical as presents but if you find a good one it makes a pretty and good value souvenir.

I challenge anyone to go to Sri Lanka and not come back with a suitcase at least a third bigger than when you arrived. Hopefully the above will help direct you to some lovely things.

Zeal Two Step Waiter's Friend Corkscrew

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to take the time to resolve the small, seemingly insignificant obstacles in life that annoy me to an unnecessary degree but ought not to. You know the sort of things I mean, those loops they put in clothes to 'help' hang them up but which stick out when you're wearing them- snip them out. Never having a friend's address to hand when you need it because you haven't saved it into your phone and its on a bit of paper at home - spend an hour programming them all in. Small changes that make every day life a little easier.

It's not often that I post on here about gadgets and home ware but one little wine gadget has made such a New Year's change to my wine drinking that I thought I'd share.

People have always (rather unreasonably in my opinion) scoffed at my complete inability to use a waiter's friend to open wine. I could never quite get the leverage or the strength to pull the cork all the way out without using a big double armed creation and I always ended up feeling like a lemon having to ask a 'big strong man' to do it for me. No more, my friends, no more…..

 

Some little genius has come up with the Two Stepped Waiter's Friend Corkscrew  so that the levery bit (that's a technical term by the way) which you lean on the glass bottle rim is stepped. You use the longer one whilst the cork is further in and then switch to the shorter one once its half way out. For around seven pounds its a game changer. 

 I realise there's a significant chance that I may be coming to the party rather late on this one and preaching to the converted as since I bought mine I have seen others on offer (from Le Creuset and Vacuvin although at well over double the price) but it was a complete revelation to me. Add to the fact that mine is pink and I'm very happy indeed (you don't have to have a pink one by the way!)

The people ("The Hardware Place") that I bought it from via Amazon were also utterly lovely, I ordered it on Boxing Day and received a personal email confirming my colour choice and that it would be posted the following day, now that is service! 

So, who's for wine?