A bit of France right here in Cebu

It is also called “Petite France” and it is a group of structures which houses the Alliance Française de Cebu (www.alliancefr.ph), a language center where you can study the French language and culture,  La Maison Rose Restaurant where you can dine on authentic French cuisine and the latest to open, the La Vie Parisienne, a boulangerie or French Bakery and Pastry Shop. It is located at 371 Gorordo Avenue Lahug, beside the Cebu Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.

Last May 4, 2013, your favourite food columnist was invited to the Grand Opening and Garden Party of La Vie Parisienne where live cooking stations were in place to welcome guests to taste all the freshly baked bread and pastries, deli items and refreshments like newly introduced French wines, the Shanpelino Sparkling Wines collection.

Imported from France, these wines come in several flavours like grape, apple, strawberry raspberry and peach, designed to match the Filipino’s preference for a sweet tasting wine with a bubbly taste. It should have been named Chanpelino but it sounds like champagne and French law requires that only grapes harvested in the Champagne region can be called champagne. It is the perfect entry level of new disciples to the wonderful world of wines. Very popular among many lady guests!

There were several food and drink stations with the more popular destinations: the bread, cheese and beer stations. Live cooking stations were in place to served Foie Gras, sausages like the Merguez, Andouilette and Chipolata and desserts like crêpes. Many of the guests formed long lines for a taste of that very delicious foie gras.

Popular French breads like the Mini Stick Chocolate, Flute Sesame, Flute Pain Elegante, Mini-Pain Choco and the quintessential French bread, the Croissants, were in abundance.

The most well-liked bread variety is the baguette with a length of around 26 inches and a crispy crust made popular in animated movies like Sleeping Beauty and Ratatouille. In areas of the world where French culture had been exported like Vietnam, baguettes are even considered street food. The best way to consume baguettes is to reheat it in those portable small ovens for about 3-5 minutes (without the tray so heat is applied on both surfaces) and this makes the crust and the insides of the bread very crispy. Paired with a slice of cheese, butter (preferably, coming from Normandy) or a slice of ham, will be a complete meal.

What makes the La Vie Parisienne an “authentic” French Bakery and Pastry Shop is the fact that all the dough for the bread and pastries are imported all the way from France and the modern technology of refrigerated/freezer vans make it possible. Remember that French law is very strict and requires that no preservatives are used in bread and this makes bread stale in under 24 hours and this is the reason why baking is a daily occurrence. Photos for this article came from my camera, as well as those of Patrick Pangilinan and Kim Manzo.

Finally, this bit of France was made possible, excuse me, because one man took the giant step to give reverence to the culture of his ancestors, the Honorary Consul of France in the Visayas Michel Lhuillier.

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