Bonjour French Market friends in Cape Town,
This week on 1st December, 10 years ago, we opened our shop at the Gardens Centre and we haven’t looked back. We have redecorated several times. We have expanded our product range dramatically and now have access to the best gourmet products and French bake-at-home pastries, that we could wish to supply to our clients, although the core product remains our French cheese.
Over the years we have progressed gradually from writing sales in a notebook and adding up with a calculator, to our latest Lightspeed Vend Point of Sale system which is fully integrated with the internet and such a pleasure to use.
During his time I have been supported by friends and family and have a wonderful group of young people who assist me. During the Pandemic my daughters helped us to turn our business into an online shop and we delivered throughout the Peninsula. My daughter Nicky whom many of you met in the shop, migrated back to the States and is currently busy assisting with the launch of restaurants in New York. My daughter Juliette gave me strong support throughout and added good advice from her indepth knowledge of SEO.
Our business survived and we are developing steadily. This is thanks to you, our loyal clients, for your continued support over these years and even further back to the Biscuit Mill Market. I am deeply grateful to all of you. I love chatting to you when you pop in and catching up on all your news. It really feels like being in a little French village market and is much more fun than real work.
We are all hoping for a really great Xmas season in Cape Town this year, after 2 hard years due to Covid. We have just received a massive shipment of cheese for the Season’s festive parties and entertaining. We have back in stock the favourites: Brie with truffle, Vacherousse, Delice, Brie de Meaux, Camemberts from Normandie, Reblochon, Crottins de Chavignol, Mini Delice with truffle, Mont D’Or, Pouligny St Pierre and so much more. We also have stacks of other treats, beautifully packaged panettone from Italy, Christmas puddings from England, fresh porcinis. Fresh truffles from Italy, fresh black mussels and oysters (must be pre-ordered)
Come along and see what we have.
We are open every day except 25 and 26 December and 1 Jan. On 16 December we will be open 9-2. We know we get hectic as we approach the big Festive days, do please remember to pre-order then you won’t have to wait. Of course, we can also deliver to you. We should have enough cheese to last us through the whole season and hopefully won’t run out.
One of my favourite festive season recipes for a dessert is a Marquise au Chocolat. This is a completely decadent, very rich chocolate mousse, which I first tasted when I stayed in France as a teenager and I loved it. It was made for me by my hostess, Chantal, Vicomtesse de la Salle and I have never forgotten it. This is a beautiful desert to serve at a festive dinner. I found a recipe in my traditional Good French Food Cooking book by Mapie, Comtesse Toulouse Lautrec which I adapted slightly. It is not too difficult to make but I found it quite messy and ended up with chocolate all over me, which was very tasty. I added some fresh berries to decorate the desert when I served it. I found their freshness balances the richness of the mousse and they make a beautiful colour against the white cream. I recommend serving this with champagne to really enjoy it. Click here to view the recipe.
Wishing you a great weekend,
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team.