We return to 1881 with it's bargain lunch time meal deal and water views.
It's an easy one bus trip from Anse Varta via the No 10. It's an interesting trip giving a good gawk at the working harbour and, if you're lucky, the prison.
You can tick off some sites at the same time.
Ah, this is how we roll.
Like our last visit some dishes were better than others. We learnt it's probaby better to stick to the lunchtime meal deal menu which is 2,950/3350 XPF for 2/3 courses, a sweet dealio. We generally find with French food, because we are still learning all the dishes, if we go for three courses we will probably hit at least one dish we love. You gotta throw a few things to the wall and see what sticks. We found this to be the case in Paris too.
Tabouli prawn and mussels - turned out to be a very plain dish, a small mound of couscous flecked with seafood and parsley.
Crevettes panees au coco - deep fried prawns - three of three of us who tried this rated it as sub par - the thick batter and the prawnies were dried out, reminding us of baked up fried food that has been sitting in bainmarie in a takeaway joint.
Goats cheese tarte had Mr Shawn excited - a thin flaky pastry spread with a dark-sugary sweet fig puree and goats cheese. It's a new and unusual flavour that we love. Every time we've ordered savoury tart in Noumea it has been fantastic.
Supreme to pintedau - this grilled spatchcock was the best of the mains, the orange sauce giving it a real zing.
We can't remember what the heck this one was - probably mahi mai fish!
Papilotte de lotte - monkfish cooked in foil. Very nicely cooked — the foil keeps the fish nice and moist - we didn't taste a lot of thyme but the clean, plain flavours were appreciated after a week of bigly eating.
Monkfish closeup.
Crab farci - Mr Shawn lashed out on this one but felt he did his dough. No complaints about the cooking, but just this particular dish is plain and homely, kind of like a fancy fishcake, nice but not enough wow for the price, a reflection on our tastebuds. When learning French food you get some dishes you love and some not so much, though many of the latter we learn to love over time.
Cafe gourmand - another corker.
Tartlett de frais - strawberry tart - a crunchy pastry base with a big dollop of mascarpone mousse, which tastes like the best cream ever, and fresh strawberries. This is our favourite of the desserts. The desserts here are always a winner. throughout the trip we've wondered if we can just have entree and dessert.
Creme brulee au chocolate - a choccy version of Noumea's favourite dessert, or most common restaurant dessert. It's like chocolate Yogo with a crunchy toffee top - awesome.
There's a whole club thing going on here, but we're too old and farty to know anything about it. The university is right across the road so we reckon it must be a hit with students.
Le 1881 is at 98 Ave James Cook, Noumea, New Caledonia.
We walk off our lunch waddling from Centreville to Anse Varte along the water, with a break at our favourite pitstop, La Case.
La Case is a cafe/restaurant/bar with water views and a very laidback local vibe.
Pussycat album cover.
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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)
Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).