Flô Café Brasserie

Ripon, North Yorkshire (12/15/2011)

 


http://www.flocafebrasserie.com/


Who knew you could find a little piece of Paris in North Yorkshire? And right under the nose of a 12th Century Cathedral? I went to a new local (well, "local" if you happen to live in Sharow or Ripon, that is) breakfast place, Flô Café Brasserie, with my Christmas holiday hosts, Greg and Cindy Kipe. They had not eaten at this place before, neither for breakfast, lunch, nor dinner, so it was a new experience for all of us. It is located in downtown Ripon just across the street from historic Ripon Cathedral.
 


http://www.riponcathedral.org.uk/
 

Now, I am not so sure why they felt the need to call it both "Café" and "Brasserie", but that is the French for you ~ always with the snooty pretentiousness. They did have a nice frenchified décor going on with some nice furnishings, several photos of French stars on the walls (e.g. Brigitte Bardot, et al), and current editions of Paris Match magazines on most of the tables.
 



This was actually a pretty nice little place. Their Petit Déjeuner menu isn't really that extensive, but what they did offer were pretty decent. I talked Greg into trying the Croque Monsieur[1], Cindy had the Oeufs Bénédicte, and I simply went with the Petit Déjeuner. We all shared a basket of the Corbeille du Pâtissier (which was just a freshly baked assortment of croissants, small baguettes, and pastries served with some homemade jams).
 




I didn't take a picture of either Greg's or Cindy's meals. Let them start their own damned 'blogs if they want pictures of their own damned food.

Actually, Cindy's dish was nothing special to photograph; it was your just standard looking Eggs Benedict.

I probably should have taken a picture of Greg's dish. This was an open-faced sandwich deal, not quite what I was expecting. Most of the times that I have seen a Croque Monsieur, it was basically a sandwich of cheese, ham, and egg covered with a béchamel sauce and grilled on both sides. This did not look anything like that.

My Petit Déjeuner was really nothing much special either, but I had never had duck eggs before and was curious to see what they tasted like; tasted just like chicken eggs to me… (I have been waiting for a week to be able to use that joke). I liked that they grilled the tomatoes to a nice char burn. I gave the dead, decaying porky flesh to Cindy, though.

As for their condimentaires supplémentation, there were no hot sauces offered or asked for, I just enjoyed their homemade jams on the fresh-baked goods, which were all very tasty. I particularly liked their marmelade d'oranges, Lady.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Petit Déjeuner ~ 6.3; Corbeille du Pâtissier (avec confitures)~ 7.0 (I probably should have asked Greg and Cindy for their GBS Ratings, but, again, let them write their own damned 'blogs.)


[1] Not to be confused with that Australian breakfast sandwich, the Croque Dundee.