Restaurant L’Ostéria was our rendevous with M-D’s former boss and his wife. Jean-Pierre had been the head of the Belgium office when Marie-Danielle had worked there a few years ago and now, like M-D, had returned to France.

From time to time, the four of us meet up and dine somewhere nice and, since they live about an hour and a half’s drive away, we take it in turns to go to them or they come to us. This time, they came to us, so we decided to try a restaurant that is only about 3 miles from where we live and is situated right in the middle of the Forest of St Germain.

Restaurant L’Ostéria is a former hunting lodge with a huge fireplace that gives the dining area a wonderful atmosphere. It is open 7 days a week, which is not so common around Paris. The service and welcome were excellent and the wine list was original and unusually wide. There’s a large terrace but January weather is not ideal for eating outside (though it should be great in the summer) so we snuggled at a table near the log fire and enjoyed some of the best that France has to offer (even if it was Italian!)

The food was more than good enough to rate this as a true Osteria in the best Italian traditions (establishments serving wine and simple food with menus that tend to emphasize local specialities such as pasta, grilled meat and fish). Often, when visiting Italian restaurants we are disappointed because they are nothing more than slightly upmarket pizza parlours. At L’Ostéria we tasted the true stuff of Italian cuisine (they even speak Italian if you want them to).

M-D and I both started with baby squid salad in a tomato and basil sauce… delicious. When, for the main course, M-D and Jean-Pierre moved on to Foie de veau vénitienne (veal liver, Venetian style), Janine (Jean-Pierre’s wife) chose a Filet de bar de pêche au champagne (fillet of bass with champagne) and I settled for a delicious Risotto coquilles Saint Jacques (Risotto with scallops and asparagus tips). It was simple but excellent and I rate it amongst the best risottos I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a few!). Wonderfully smooth and creamy with the delightful taste of fresh scallops and tender asparagus and just a hint of the onion, garlic and olive oil that the rice had been coated in prior to cooking.

We helped our food down with a rather splendid bottle of Menetou-Salon. Menetou-Salon is an ancient wine-producing area with documented vinyards dating back to 1063. It produces both white and red wines and we chose a red which was light and refreshing and perfect when diners eat varied foods (me with my risotto, M-D and Jean-Pierre both with their veal liver and Janine with her fish). Desserts, coffee and good conversation topped off a perfect lunch (well, it was almost 5pm when we walked out of there!).

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have a former work colleague of M-D’s coming to lunch at our place and I’m doing Filet Mignon with Sage and Rosemary. I’ve done it a few times before and it’s stunning, yet very, very simple… looking forward to it!

And then it will be back to the diet! I’ve lost 20kg (44lb) in the last four months so, when I eat well, I have to pay for it for the rest of the week. Ah well, life’s pleasures should never be simple – otherwise they probably wouldn’t be such great pleasures!