Chez Francis

Was in Brive to meet my accountant today and before the meeting J and I had lunch in one of my favourite restaurants - Chez Francis.  It is the most frequented restaurant in town during the weekend of the book fair (salon de live), which is the 2nd biggest in France, after Paris.  All the great French writers and cartoonists and politicians have eaten here (we met and shook the hand of French President François Hollande in Chez Francis), and left their scribbles upon the walls or ceilings (mine are to be found to the left of the door to the kitchen).  We received the warmest of welcomes from Francis' wife, Dominique, and had a wonderful lunch.  I snapped this adjoining table to try to capture a sense of the literary graffiti which adorns the place.  But going into Chez Francis is also like stepping back 100 years, and I tried to capture something of its atmosphere with my extra.

By coincidence, Francis had just published a cookbook, with favourite recipes of his dishes chosen by 50 French celebrities.  I bought a copy and he signed it for me, and laughed saying: "Makes a change for a chef to be signing a book for an author!"  I hope to start trying them out soon.