To begin cooking duck at one in the morning is one of the finest acts of madness that can be undertaken by a human being who is not mad.

As one who appreciated the tragic side of eating, it seemed to him that anything other than fruit for dessert implied a reprehensible frivolity, and cakes in particular ended up annihilating the flavour of quiet...

Thanks, Pepe. You’ve put an extra night into my life. I would have spent it just sleeping like an ox, but I’ve lived it instead. I’m grateful.

The owner of the Agut d’Avignon had the air of a 1920s dandy who had ruined himself with one mad night of gambling at baccarat and had only been saved by this restaurant, which he...