I ate this a lot in Brittany, spread thickly on a crispy, freshly baked French baguette and although my shorts are still a little too tight…it was worth it.

I am a fan of the Aussie Butcher in Holland Village and go there quite a bit – in fact they asked me the other day if I lived opposite them (I do not).

Whenever I’m there I always pop to the shop next door, Phoon Huat. I am not a massive cake baker but what they do seem to sell, if you can see through the cookie-cutter-clutter, is very reasonably priced, decent butter in their freezer section.

Yes, it’s frozen but it defrosts in a matter of minutes in this tropical climate; or stick it in the fridge and give it a day or so.

The brands they stock  vary a bit. But, for the moment – rejoice – theory have rolls of proper Normandy butter with ‘aux cristaux de sel de Guérande’ – yup, they have actual salt crystals inside them, from Guérande no less which was just up the road from where we were staying in France. In fact I went there. The butter is out of this world. It’s so good that I bought four pats, just in case they run out and don’t do a repeat order.

In terms of normal butter there is the lovely Petit Normand. I have a massively low tolerance for unsalted butter, I can think of little that disappoints me more, this one is excellent even though it’s half/half.

The Petit Normand at Poon Huat costs $3.10; the butter with salt crystals in it is $5.40