Fare Game

FARE GAME: Sebastien Jacquet and Maryline Raynal run one of a number of tasty French businesses in Wellington.

French cuisine is a big part of the New Zealand culinary capital, with a number of bistros and bakeries in the city.

Setting up the closest thing to a traditional French bistro in Wellington, Sebastien Jacquet and Maryline Raynal make food like they did at home. Le Metropolitain is not so much about the French feel but the bistro feel, which is your everyday restaurant in France, Sebastien explains.

They like it loud and bustling, and the place people can come for a coffee, to share a dessert or for a rowdy meal with friends.

“Anything but a nice looking, quiet place,” he admits.

The feedback after three years is that the food is traditional French, and the feel is just as they had hoped. Hanging on the wall are two shirts dedicated to Les Bleus, the French national Rugby team, from the last time they toured in 2009.
Le Metropolitain staff were in colours for the Wellington match that year, and Sebastien knows the city will don its best costume for Rugby World Cup 2011 New Zealand.

“There will be people dressed up and people doing crazy stuff because that’s how people do it here.”

From Leon, a traditional football town, Sebastien now understands the Kiwi fascination with Rugby. And he knows the mix of that and his adopted home town is going to be big.

“In a place like Wellington it will be full on. It’s a great city that is big and small at the same time; you never feel lost.”

In fact Wellington’s a place you quickly feel at home according to local rugby coach Francois Hecquet, who was on a team within weeks of arriving in the country in 2005.

“I arrived, got on a team, and two weeks later they said ‘Okay Frenchie show us what you can do’.”

It was a sharp contrast to his native Lille, in northern France, where new players warm the bench for months before getting their boots dirty, says the Poneke seniors coach.

“It’s an attitude I love about Kiwis, they just get in and do it. It’s true for Rugby. It’s true for everything.”

The willingness and openness to get to know new people is as obvious on the streets of Wellington he says, with famous All Blacks approachable and friendly.

“You can see Ma’a Nonu walking down the street and go up and have a five minute chat with him. That doesn’t happen in France.”

It even translated to the French Rugby team Les Bleus when they visited Wellington.

“I lived in France, but the first time I ever met them was here in a café,” he laughs.