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By Jeff and Judy

Fish Fit for Napoleon

Last week I revealed my long-held secret desire to write restaurant reviews lightly braised with romantic overtones and promised a report on a meal in the French Alps that unexpectedly led Jeff and myself from one thing to another.

Let’s settle the “one thing to another” issue first. Put discreetly the food was so unusually good we checked into a hotel in nearby Grenoble immediately afterwards to, let’s say, simply celebrate being alive, healthy and together.

Now all this happened long before France had high-speed highways when optimistic motorists hoping to cover the 300-odd miles from Monte Carlo to Geneva in a day would pray for no farmers' markets on the main road called the Route Napoleon alongside which shepherds have tended their flocks for centuries.

Because slothful woolly creatures may contribute significantly to accident prevention on these narrow mountain passes but they also reduce travel to a sheep-walk.

Of course, you’ve guessed it, some almost trapped us too.

But fortunately lunch was already calling and with the urge to eat far stronger than our desire to mingle with four-legged locals Jeff turned the car around and drove us back to an inauspicious eating establishment we’d seen a mile earlier.

“Today’s fixed lunch is either lamb or trout,” the sweet lady running things told us, handing us two welcome glasses of crisp sparkling champagne.

We both understandably chose the fish – too many sheep mothers were too close for comfort – fully expecting good solid home-cooked food but nothing to write home about.

Well as you can see we got more than we bargained-for because almost forty years later I’m still writing about it.

A mouth-watering vegetable pâté was followed by the most delicious grilled fresh mountain trout that Jeff or I (and Napoleon) ever tasted.

Since then I’ve ordered the same thing in extortionately-expensive French restaurants in London and New York and nothing has come close.

The sensation of removing that crispy baked skin and having soft tender meat fall effortlessly off the bone remains with me to this day but sadly my budding restaurant reviewing career probably ends here because apart from the “Café Restaurant” on the window I can’t recall the exact name or address.

But if you do decide to retrace our tracks I can positively guarantee you one thing and hope for another.

Some darned bleating sheep will delay you but you may get lucky too and also enjoy a night of unforgettable French Alpine pleasures.

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Just who are Jeff and Judy? Judy and Jeff Sellers are a US couple who love sunsets, world travel, fine wines, good food and each other. As often as possible and not necessarily in that order. They currently seek a congenial publisher for their "Frisky after Sixty" book ('A Good in Bed Read') and after many requests from friends all over the world waiting impatiently for their local newspapers to carry this column. To find out more go to Frisky After Sixty.

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