The European Compass : A Food & Travel Podcast

Gifted: the three-hour afternoon tour with Lyon Food Tour was provided free of charge. I did not pay for the tour, and I made no promise of coverage or of a positive review. All opinions are my own.

In this episode, I take an afternoon food tour through Lyon’s Old Town and the Presqu’île to find out whether the city deserves its reputation as the gastronomic capital of France, and whether a food tour is worth the money.

Along the way we taste pink praline syrup at Sirop de la Rue, rosette and jésus sec in a cellar, Fourme d’Ambert, Comté and Saint-Marcellin, and finish with praline brioche. I also share the story of the Lyon pot, and how the city’s silk workers lost a glass of wine a day to their bosses.

I also talk about who food tours suit best, why they work so well for solo travellers, and why comparing the price with a restaurant meal misses the point.

Tour prices at the time of recording: three-hour afternoon tour, €70. Four-hour tour, €80.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:21 Why Lyon, and why a food tour
1:56 Full disclosure
2:47 What food tours cost
4:24 The Old Town, the rivers and the Presqu’île
8:05 Sirop de la Rue and Lyon’s pink pralines
11:08 Charcuterie in the cellar
13:04 The Lyon pot and the silk workers
15:27 Why food tours are sociable
19:02 Cheese on the Presqu’île
24:32 Walking the traboules
26:29 Praline brioche and ice cream
28:15 Is a food tour worth the money?
30:48 Food tours for solo travellers
32:01 Coming up next

The European Compass: https://theeuropeancompass.com
Lyon Food Tour: https://lyonfoodtour.com/en/

#Lyon #FoodTour #FrenchFood

Belgium is famous for its frites, and Antwerp has a strong claim to being where the story began. In this episode of The European Compass, I go back to Belgium, where I first learned to love frites with tartar sauce as a student in 1992, to find out where to eat them in Antwerp today.

I start with the history. Why are they called French fries when the rest of the world doesn't call them that? I also look at Jean-Frédéric Krieger, known as Monsieur Fritz, who sold fried potatoes at the Antwerp fair in 1845, and at Fritkot Max, which traces its history back to 1842 on the banks of the Scheldt.

Then I compare two very different places. Frites Atelier was opened by Sergio Herman, the Dutch chef who won three Michelin stars at Oud Sluis before opening The Jane in Antwerp. He spent 18 months finding the right potato, and the result has become an Instagram favourite. I went to see whether it lives up to the attention, and then tried Fritkot Max, the traditional frites shop on Groenplaats, to see how the two compare on price, sauce, setting and the frites themselves.

To finish, I explain why I think Antwerp is one of the most underrated cities in Europe, and how easy it is to reach by train from Paris.

Wine importer Lyle Fass of Fass Selections joins me to talk about food memory, the kind that outlasts even a photograph. From a Sunday lunch of blanquette de veau in Tain-l'Hermitage to the best strawberries of his life, Lyle shares the meals that have stayed with him after two decades travelling and buying wine across Europe.

Find Lyle at fassselections.com or on Instagram @fassselectionswine and @grapeylyle.

Kelly Groehler built The WTAF Show around a simple complaint: women make up the majority of the travel market, yet almost every food and travel show on air is hosted by men. In this episode, the founder of The WTAF Show (Women. Travel. Art. Food.) joins The European Compass to talk about telling food and travel stories through women chefs, women artists, and women entrepreneurs across Europe.We talk about her most memorable meal in Europe, a market day in Uzès, France, why Athens has displaced London as the place she cannot stop thinking about, and what she found filming at Varvakios Agora market and Caravin Wine & Wanderlust. Kelly also explains why she refuses to film inside restaurant kitchens, how Greether is changing solo female travel safety, and what is next for the show in Iceland, including the Bocuse d'Or and a very specific comparison of Icelandic and American hot dogs.If you plan your trips around food, and you are tired of travel content that treats women as an afterthought, this conversation is for you.Chapters (approximate, based on the raw recording; please re-check against final edit):00:00 Introduction to Kelly Groehler and The WTAF Show01:00 Kelly's most memorable meal in Europe: a market day in Uzès, France13:43 Why London keeps pulling her back15:24 Athens overtakes London as her next obsession19:54 Why women in midlife are missing from food and travel media22:13 Anthony Bourdain, Laurie Woolever, and the new film Tony27:32 Evidence, not inspiration: the philosophy behind WTAF31:03 Why WTAF is anchored in Europe and North America36:53 Wine stories from Bordeaux, Napa, and Champagne39:56 Inside the new Athens episodes: Varvakios Agora and Caravin Wine & Wanderlust44:29 Greether: the network helping women travel safely47:20 Why Kelly will not film inside restaurant kitchens51:18 What is next: Iceland, Björk, and the Bocuse d'Or57:20 Begoña Rodrigo, La Salita, and why the same ingredients taste different in Europe1:01:33 Seasonality, terroir, and what Europe still gets right about foodKelly Groehler and  @thewtafshow  Website: thewtafshow.comSubstack: wtafshow.substack.comFeatured in this episodeGreether, safe travel for women: greether.comGlobe Thrivers: globethrivers.comCaravin Wine & Wanderlust, Athens: caravin.grLa Salita, Valencia: anarkiagroup.com/inicio/la-salitaemotivo, Porto: emotivo.ptFröken Reykjavík: frokenrvk.isThe European CompassWebsite: theeuropeancompass.comThe European Compass is an independent editorial resource for planning European food and travel. No commission is taken on hotel or restaurant recommendations, and we link directly to properties rather than through booking platforms.

Season 1 : Eating Europe | Episode 10 | England, Derbyshire

What does a plate of bacon, eggs and sausages say about a country? In this episode, recorded after a trip to the Peak District in Derbyshire, I look at the full English breakfast — its disputed origins, its contested ingredients, and why it still defines how the world thinks about British food.

I cover the five pillars of the full English according to the English Breakfast Society, the three components they left out, the hash brown controversy, and why beans in a ramekin divides opinion more than you might expect. I also compare the breakfasts I was served across three very different places in Derbyshire — from a five-star spa hotel to a Peak District pub — and what the differences revealed about quality, sourcing, and what a full English actually takes to do well.

We also look at why half the British population ate a cooked breakfast every morning in the 1950s, and why that number has fallen so dramatically — and why it might be coming back.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Peacock at Rowsley, Derbyshire
• Champneys Buxton Crescent, Buxton
• The Old Hall Inn, Chinley

Most people go to Crete expecting gyros and Greek salad. I did too. What I came home cooking was something quite different.

In this episode I share everything we ate during a trip to the southeast corner of Crete, staying near Makrigialos, a quiet bay that feels like Greece in the 1970s. We talk about why the most traditionally Cretan dishes on the menu were the vegetarian ones, the stuffed courgette flowers at George's taverna that no Michelin-starred kitchen could match for sheer beauty, and the courgette fritters I have been making ever since, including exactly how to make them properly (the key is getting all the water out).

We also cover dolmades, the Cretan version and why the rice goes in raw; dakos, Crete's answer to tomato bread; the Greek salad that has nothing to do with lettuce; gemista, the stuffed vegetables baked with white wine and potatoes; a revelation about tzatziki and why you should add the garlic before you squeeze; deep fried aubergine; spinach pies both baked and fried; and what eating watermelon like a cucumber did for my understanding of the fruit.

Plus raki at the end, complimentary, because that is just what they do.

Further reading:Makry Gaillos travel guide: https://theeuropeancompass.com/which-part-of-crete-is-best-to-stay-makry-gialos/All podcast episodes: https://theeuropeancompass.com/podcast/

Burgundy is famous for its wine. But walking into a restaurant in Beaune and being handed a book-sized wine list would challenge any wine lover.

In this episode I visit Burgundy's wine country as an enthusiastic amateur rather than an expert, and come back with a much better understanding of what makes Burgundy wine so particular, and so expensive. We start with a cellar walk at Patriarche et Fils in Beaune, one of the oldest négociants in the region, where 5km of underground cellars hold wine at every stage from barrel to bottle. From there we cover the difference between Pinot Noir and the bigger Bordeaux-style reds, why Burgundy Chardonnay behaves differently from the Chardonnay you find everywhere else, and the aligoté grape that most people overlook and I have always quietly loved.

We also visit the Clos du Moulin aux Moines, a small grower whose Chardonnay genuinely changed my mind, and finish with a €60 red at Bistro de Beaune chosen by the sommelier, who turned out to know exactly what he was doing.

Burgundy is one of Europe's most celebrated wine regions, but the food is just as remarkable. I travel to Beaune and returns with a full account of what I ate, including a dish I had never encountered before that turned out to be one of the best things I have ever eaten.

The episode covers oeufs en meurette - the classic Burgundian poached egg dish with a history that goes back centuries and now has its own world championship - along with beef bourguignon, escargot de Bourgogne, truffles found on a Beaune side street, Dijon mustard and why it is not actually a protected category, crème de cassis, and the story of the French Resistance canon whose name became one of France's most iconic aperitifs.

I went to Porto expecting to drink port. I came home with a bottle of pink port, a new appreciation for Vinho Verde, and a firm opinion about a farmer's rosé served from a tap in a 100-year-old tasca.

In this episode I cover everything I drank on my recent trip: Vinho Verde at the Mercado do Bolhão paired with sardines, the Alvarinho from the Dão region that I'll be seeking out at home, and Espadal — the slightly sparkling farmer's rosé on tap at Tasca da Badalhoca, known locally as the wine of the poor and considerably better than that suggests. We also go into the Pink Palace at WOW and taste five glasses of rosé including Mateus Rosé, with a proper look at where it came from and how it connects to the Espadal tradition. Then it's on to port: the English connection, how fortification works, Ruby versus Tawny, the difference between vintage and blended, and why Late Bottled Vintage is where the value lies. Plus pink port and tonic, and why I think it might be the next Aperol Spritz.

The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Read the companion publication at theeuropeancompass.com

Porto's food scene is one of Europe's most underrated, and most misunderstood. Ask the internet what to eat in Porto and you will get the same answer every time: the francesinha, a vast meat-filled sandwich drowning in tomato and beer sauce. It has a history worth knowing, but it tells you almost nothing about what Porto actually does best. This episode makes the case that the real food story of Porto is written in salt water, and that the city's relationship with the Atlantic has shaped everything on the plate.

We start with bacalhau, salt cod, Portugal's so-called faithful friend and national dish, which has never once been caught off the Portuguese coast. The paradox of an entire culinary identity built around an imported ingredient leads us through the age of exploration, the brutal fishing expeditions of the Salazar dictatorship, and the simple preparation skill that separates an extraordinary dish from an inedible one.

From there we move to the conservas tradition, the canned fish industry that began in Matosinhos, the fishing port just outside Porto, in the late 19th century. At its peak, Portugal had 152 canning factories. Today there are 20, but quality has never been higher, and the revival of artisan canned fish as a gourmet product is one of the more interesting stories in European food culture right now.

We eat clams à Bulhão Pato on a beach bar terrace outside Matosinhos, a dish named after a 19th century Portuguese poet who never tasted it and spent his life hoping to be remembered for his verse. We compare caldeirada, the layered fisherman's stew of the northern coast, with cataplana, the sealed copper vessel dish from the Algarve, and explore why the difference between them is about more than just geography. We discover broa de milho, the dense cornbread of the north that fed the poor for centuries and quietly resisted a dictatorship, and its extraordinary local cousin Broa de Avintes, made with corn, rye, and malt just across the Douro from Porto.

And we end with peixinhos da horta, battered and fried green beans eaten during Lent, which Portuguese sailors carried on their ships in 1543, were blown off course, and accidentally introduced to Japan, where they became the basis for tempura. A dish of green beans that changed world culinary history.

Restaurants mentioned: Emotivo, Chef Sara Verde's intimate eight-table tasting menu restaurant where every sitting explores a different region of Portugal. T&C at WOW, part of the World of Wine complex in Vila Nova de Gaia. The Orangerie at The Yeatman Hotel.

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If you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site The European Compass