The “Pie King” hits Paris

British cooking has “rarely got its due in France”, said Lindsey Tramuta in The New York Times. But now an English chef nicknamed the “Pie King” is hoping to overcome French scepticism. Known for the “artistically latticed savoury pies” he created as head chef at the Holborn Dining Room in London, Calum Franklin opened his Parisian venture last month. Located in the Opéra district, Public House combines the “brasserie format” with the “relaxed spirit of a British pub”. The menu features a selection of his signature pies – beef and bone marrow, chicken and wild mushroom – alongside Scotch eggs and sausage rolls. It’s common for British chefs to work in France, but not many have opened restaurants there, said Ed Cumming in The Daily Telegraph. And fewer still have opened British ones. Yet perhaps the idea of trying to sell British food to Parisian diners is no longer such a “joke”. French tourists in London have been “surprised” by the food there; and the French are less sniffy than they used to be about other cuisines. Franklin describes seeing “brutally authentic Thai restaurants” in Paris with queues down the street. There is, he says, a “hunger for authenticity” now that made him feel more secure about his project.