Looking for a
small group tour
great food
4 star great hotels
in France and or Italy.

Have travelled with GoAhead / Gate One
Getting weary of small hotel rooms and bad group food and groups of 44 people $3500.00 each for 11 days!

I´d go to Spain, the hippest country now regarding gourmet food...and either to the Basque country (highest number of three star Michelin restaurants per capita in the world) or Catalonia.

You might go to the web sites of Travel & Leisure or Conde Nast Traveler. Each has lists of specialty travel agents and you might find one who knows of or would set up a gourmet tour.

However, I think it might be along search" truly gourmet restaurants usually don;t specialize in groups of any size.

Why not travel on your own? You pick the hotel rooms you want in the location you want - and can go to a whole variety of good restaurants. (It's the tours that are providing the bad food - often "Americanized" versions of local specialties). In either country you can get wonderful food without having to break the bank or go to Michelin starred places (which I don;t think your budget would cover anyway).

7000.00 a couple for 11 days doesn't seem like budget travel to me.

I met this lady while attending some piano master classes in Paris, and she runs gourmet music and food tours to Europe:
http://www.musicetc.us/

Now those tours seem extremely expensive to me, but she has been in business for some years so somehow gets people to pay that (around $600 per day, and that is for double occupancy -- PER PERSON -- in Provence). If you are not really interested in classical music, I think it may not be what you want because some of those fees go for concert tickets, but it still is expensive to me. It doesn't include transportation. But I don't really know that kind of tour and the market for it, so maybe that isn't too expensive, it just seems that way to me. It includes meals, but still. They belong to this organization which has some other small high-end tours, maybe there is something on there

http://slowtraveltours.com/

If you want a true gourmet tour that would involve dinner probably costing $400 per night or so - so $4400 just for dinner - never mind travel, hotels, other meals, sights etc.

That's why I reco'd the OP just organize their own trip - you can eat very well for much less than that - but it wouldn't be Michelin starred restaurants. There is a huge difference between the Americanized stuff they serve on tours, budget local food (often very good), moderate local food (often excellent), upscale local food (usually superlative) and gourmet michelin starred food (exceptional but very big $).

Thanks alll I am not expecting Michelin restaurants. Just Dinners worth eating and paying for.
Recently in France and Italy. 22 euro at Gianninni in Venice for 2 mushy small skewers of shrimp-that was it no salad/pasta/ vegetable-just the two little skewers for 22 euro-crazy.

At Petit Prince in Paris a 28 euro prix fixe for inedible duck breast. I would expect to pay $100-120 for two for dinner but not if the food is not edible....

Had a small dish of Porcini mushrroms for 15 euro pricey but delicious in Milan.

Ha a very nice prix fixe 28 euro duck leg in Paris but all in all good food was far and few between.

okay, then I guess not the really gourme things. $100-120 for dinner for two in Paris will not get you any great gourmet meals, I can tell you that. That is $50-60 per person and at the value of the dollar today that is around 35 euro. That is budget for a complete dinner. I am not a foodie and don't go to expensive places, but I've spent 40-50 euro without anything extrodinary. In fact, one of the good value budget places I always go to in Paris recently raised their prix fixe from 31 euro to 35-38 or so, and they were always really cheap for what you got (that included everything, entree, plat and dessert and wine) and in an outer arrondisement. And the food was good. So what you want is budget places with decent food, not a gourmet tour.

Prices have gone up a lot in Paris in the last few years, I think the idea of wonderful gourmet prix fixe dinners for 25 euro may be past.

Sorry to hear about Petit Prince de Paris. I really enjoyed it there on two occasions and have heard good reports from others. Hope it was just an off night.

You are not going to find an organized tour that will include dinners in the top "gourmet" restaurants.

As has been said above, $100-$120US for 2 persons is pretty much considered moderate in most European cities these days. That is only 35 to 40 euro per person per meal.

Perhpas you need to re-define gourmet food. A quick browse shows Tour D'Argent average dinner price, per person, a la carte, not including wine, as 191 euro. Guy Savoy was 151 euro, Helene Darozze 100 euro, etc..

Do you mean gourmet, as in high-end (high price, reserve months ahead of time) restaurant, or gourmet, as in good regional 'non-glop' food?

In summary, do what I and a lot of people here do. Rent a place in Paris, Lyon, Loire or whatever region you want to see. Get a list of recommended restaurants (I have one, broken up by arrondissements, with address,metro, and comments), and then pick one for lunch, one for dinner. Add-in some recommended by hotel, some walk-bys where locals are eating, add a few from Fodors and others (I once picked 4 from the Michelin Red Guide, not starred ones but recommended ones). Voila!
Trust me, I've had narry a bad meal in Paris, but I've only ever done one tour of Europe, and that was my first visit ever, where everything was different.

still...quality and price are best in Spain...when compared to the utterly expensive France

yes not looking for Michelin star restaurants certainly not the Tourd'Argent variety

I don't think that you are going to get very high quality set meals included with a group tour, especially at the price range that you seem to be considering (you asked about companies like Perillo on another thread). You would probably be better off taking a tour that does not include dinners, so you can do your own thing.

Actually I think the food is best in Belgium, and Italy on the whole is better than France (not counting Venice - which has so many tourists that awful restaurants can survive).

You can get great meal for $250 each - or great meals for $20 each (in a perfect local sandwhich shop with beautiful ingredients and home-made mayonnaise).

I think you just need to do a lot of research ( and in Venice it's every man for himself). I've been to europe more than 70 times - between business and vacation - and outside of Russia (where the food definitely leaves something to be desired) can count the bad meals on one hand. And many excellent meals were moderate or even inexpensive. You need to wander the streets sometimes, see where the locals eat - and often get a great surprise for a modest budget.

I think any package that includes a lot of meals (unless truly expensive) will leve you disappointed. You just tend not to get the best when traveling in a group.

Here are a couple that sound interesting:

www.gourmetsafari.com

www.amberroadtours.com

I have toured with Amber Roads - small groups, lots of free time, hotels were probably 3 star.