Most memorable French meal?
 

Hi all, <BR>I just finished answering a post by mentioning macaroons in Alsace. That plus recent posts on German/Swiss/Austrian meals and diet soft drinks got me thinking (and a little hungry) about memorable food experiences and memories in France. Ours involves birthday champagne and fois gras and a lemon tart in a hotel restaurant in Sarlat on a rainy March evening. <BR> <BR>What's yours?

Creme Brulee at Le Petit Normand in Bayeux. THE best creme brulee I have ever had! <BR> <BR>also, I don't like seafood very much, but I had a lot in Normandy and I loved it all! It might just convert me! <BR> <BR>Beth

I have two favorites, but I think the best was at Le P'tit Troquet in the 7eme in Paris. A warm goat cheese salad to start, followed by the most incredible Coquilles (sp?) St. Jacques. Dessert was a warm plum tart with a touch of marzipan. Oh, and a nice Brouilly to wash it all down. <BR> <BR>Runner-up was a three-tiered shellfish platter at L'Alsace in Paris. I took us two hours to eat it all - they kept taking away plates and plates of empty shells - yum!

My pick also is Le P'tit Troquet. I had the duck and the best Creme Brulee.

Doesn't exactly qualify as a meal, but the first time I went to Paris, savoring my first french crepe avec nutella while sitting underneath the Eiffel Tower...

Ok, since you asked about "meals" not just favorite food... Here goes. My husband and I had been to Paris 3 times and never quite had the budget for a really high end gourmet meal. Last spring we had 5 hours between a flight from Dublin to an overnight train to Nice. We surfed the web until we found the most romantic restaurant we could find and made reservations for 6:00. Upon arrival we stashed our luggage in lockers and took a taxi to the restaurant, which, it turns out didn't OPEN until 7:00 We were so hungry we nearly gave up on the whole idea, but decided to wait at a cafe across the street. It was pouring rain and one of the cafe waiters did an inpromtu rendition of "Singin'in the Rain", just for us. Finally the restaurant opened and they seated us in the most lovely restored art deco room I could imagine! Origional stained glass and carved wood!! I guess the staff liked us because they gave us complimentary champagne. Well we pulled out all the stops, something we never do. Appetizer escargots in flakey pastry drizzled with honey, I had filet of sole with the creamiest sauce ever created, my husband had the rarest most delicious beef of his life, house wine (we are not gourmets as you can tell) a chocolate torte and coffee for dessert! The entire meal cost us about $130.00. After dinner we hopped in a cab and headed back for the train station, the rain had now stopped and streets and the Sein we are sparkling like stars... I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and the meal that I started to cry... If I were to die tomorrow I would like to be thinking of that night so that at least I can die with a smile on my face!

The name, Thyra, the name!!!

Pardon! The restaurant is called <BR>La Fermette Marbeuf <BR>5 Rue Marbeuf <BR>8th Arrondissemont <BR>Ph: 01-47-20-63-53 <BR>Reservations recommended <BR> <BR>I just looked it up online where the review said that it was a favorite of movie stars because of the recently rediscovered Belle Epoque stained glass and also mentioned that the price was very fair for the quality of the food. <BR>They also take credit cards.

On my first trip to Paris eons ago, I was with family and a special friend. <BR>One night we had dinner at La Serre. <BR>At the time it was considered a top restaurant, I don't even know if it's still there, it might be. Very ornate decor, lots of gilding and carving. The ceiling was retractable, opening the dining room to the night sky. <BR>We had great food and wine, can't remember specifics except dessert. My mousse came to the table in a sort of large egg shape surrounded by gold-covered spun sugar in the form of an intricately-woven bird's nest and cage. <BR>Sigh. <BR>Anyone know if that restaurant is still in Paris?

Many thanks, Thyra. Sorry to be so overwrought, but your story left me dying to get a reservation, and we leave this Friday. Maybe??

No Worries Robin! I hope you can get a reservation. This particular restaurant is mentioned online quite a bit, and I am sure that somewhere you can find a picture of the interior! It's everything the heart longs for in a fine Paris Restaurant. Bon Chance!!!!

Bouef bourgignon at Le'Epi Butte, Montmartre. <BR>Mussels (moules) in cream sauce, Amy's Place, Portbail

In 1997 my companion and I ate a horrendously expensive (over $300) lunch at a one star Michelen restaurant, Pre Catalan in the Bois de Bologne. It was the most memorable meal ever, not because it was delicious, but because the service was the absolute worst either of us had ever had in our lives, even in a diner. We were nicely dressed, polite and not at all demanding. But we were ignored, disdained and insulted by the waiters. They never brought the wine, didn't bring one of our courses, made us wait longer than anyone else, snubbed us, didn't take away crumbs, etc. etc. We decided to tell the manager, as this is a top restaurant in France. He couldn't have been nicer, bought us a drink and subtracted $150 from the bill. I'm sure the waiters caught hell that day. Anyway, I have a suggestion. Book through a concierge if you can. The manager realized that we would go back and complain at the hotel if he didn't do something about it. That was clout.

Sister's birthday trip to France (her first trip overseas); train from Bergerac to Les Eyzies arrives in the rain; we search for the gite for 2 hours, in the rain, and it's getting dark. By luck, find a campground that rents rooms - gorgeous gorgeous room at La Riviere. Now for supper. <BR> <BR>Had passed a beautiful hotel (WAY out of our price range) that had a restaurant; since the room at the campground was sooo inexpensive, we decided we could afford the splurge for dinner. We are seated on the sunporch (inelegant name for a most elegant room) with a view of the lighted garden, and further on, the Vezere River. I order the 3 course meal with <BR>choice of one dessert; Ahgeez, being herself, orders the 3 course meal with TWO desserts. It's October, there's maybe 2 couples in the whole place. I had zucchini stuffed with garlic for an appetizer; Herself has a pate/puffed pastry thingy. I have pork medallions with pepper/cognac sauce and Herself has a fish thingy. I get peach mousse (think peach air), Herself gets chocolate mousse AND the best trifle in the entire Universe I don't care if they find it on Mars it can't be better than this stuff. Two bottles of wonderful wine (white and red), coffee, and 3 hours of the most exquisite meal I have ever eaten (maybe it just tasted good 'cause I had on dry socks - ergo, my passion for packing extra socks), and Ahgeez and I were so blissful we had no idea that anyplace existed besides that restaurant. <BR> <BR>Thank heavens our room was only 1/4 mile away; we were almost asleep by the time we got there. <BR> <BR>I found the website <BR>http://www.les-glycines-dordogne.com/index1.html <BR> <BR>Thanks for posting this, John. The memory of this meal had fallen between the sofa cushions...

La Trufferie in the 5th arrondisement in Paris. On our third trip to Paris last November, my husband picked out this restaurant based on the picture in the advertisement in Time Out Paris magazine. It looked nice, so we decided to give it a try on our first night - jet lag and all. We had Eric at the Familia make us a reservation, and he said it was wonderful (hasn't steered us wrong yet). The outside doesn't look like much, and neither does the first floor, but you eat downstairs in what was once a cave(for wine I suppose). Absolutely gorgeous. The service was impecable, the wine list was amazing. This restaurant was by no means cheap, dinner for three with champagne and a bottle of wine (a Santenay that is driving my husband crazy to find) ran about $350. My best friend had a carmelized deer, my husband had duck that was so tender it fell apart on the fork, and I had filet of sole that was so prettily arranged I hated to eat it. One of those places that we will not go back to for fear that we will be disappointed and ruin the memory. However, I would highly recommend it.

The website for La Fermette Marbuet is; <BR>http://www.fermettemarbeuf.com/anglais/default.htm <BR>You can make reservations online and they will comfirm reservations within 48hr. <BR>We made a reservation for dinner next month and got an email confirmation the next day. <BR>They have many pictures of their place on the website. Very impressive looking <BR>Also have a menu listed.

Most memorable meal in France was at the Auberge Cheval Blanc in Lembach, then a Michelin one-star (now two-star, I think), with a group of dear friends. We decided to go shoot the works one time, and ordered the prix-fixe "de gustatation" menu -- about 12 courses, and we all shared the appropriate wines with the courses... needless to say, took all night. We knew we were in for it when they brought out and placed beside our plates an assortment of what seemed an endless array of knives and forks. Of course, it was "country come to town," but we had a WONDERFUL time and the servers and sommelier were great. Highlight was after dinner, when the men asked if it was possible they could purchase cigars... could they ever! A small tray table stacked with open boxes was brought to our table and each person selected the type of cigar desired by pointing to the box... the server then made a big show of selecting the "perfect" cigar from that box, cutting the tip, lighting it with the cedar wrapper (NOT the match!), and waving it in the air until the ash was the perfect length before presenting it with a flourish. Then on to the next person with the tray table... another half hour gone! But definitely memorable; an evening we will all share forever.

Ah, Chateauneuf-en-Auxois about 25 miles NW of Beaune - tiny village with a 12th-century castle, visible from the A6 highway. The young couple running the "Hostellerie du Chateau" - 15th-century building (he the chef, she ran the desk) told us (if we understood correctly) it was only their second season (1997). A damp and cool Monday night at the end of June and we were the ONLY ones there! The meal was exquisite. Aperitifs (with complimentary "amuses-bouches") by the fireplace while our dinner wine "breathed"; filet of Charolais beef topped with foie gras, etc. Excellent service and extra tidbits with both our drinks and after-dinner coffee. Then we went up to our rooms and looked out on the floodlit Chateau. Went back in 1999 for another wonderful meal; they HAVE been discovered and deserved to be! <BR>I could mention other memorable meals, from our splurge of all (Lunch at "La Clos de la Violette" in Aix-en-Provence) to a truckstop in a tiny village off the autoroute in Normandy (where we first sampled Norman cider and are probably the only Americans that have ever dined there!)

I wonder if there are any out there in cyberspace who think that paying $300 for a meal is so selfish and so decadent in a world of hungry people? Hmmm.

Come on Al! Yes, I guess we are all soooooo selfish. Give me a break. You get the one chance in your lifetime to go on a dream vacation. Yes, be selfish by all means and forget reality and live in the moment and magic of Paris! <BR> <BR>Hey, some people - business owners and celebrities - will pay $300 for just a bottle of wine or champagne. Most of us our budget travelers looking for advise and deals. And most of the people posting have spent that much between 2 or 3 people. <BR> <BR>So Al, you must have had a memorable experience in Paris, otherwise you wouldn't have read this post. So why don't you share your thought on that instead of ripping on us! <BR> <BR>

Al, I'm of the 'he who is among you' theory; if I find offense in someone spending money on food or a car, they have every right to be offended by my spending money on travel or books. Not my place to judge.

My own MMFM took place about three years ago on a houseboat/restaurant on the Loire River, in Blois. We were staying with friends who live in a 15th century mill house (now THAT is bliss, you should see it...they are French, met them when we worked for the same corporation) and they said they'd take us to their favorite restaurant in the area. No Michelin stars, just great food. The owner and his wife live on the boat and met us as we arrived. Their small fluffy French poodle greeted us, too, and ran around all evening. Loved that, part of the ambience of this whole memory. The wines were choice, as Gerard chose them and he knows what he is doing. I had a gorgeous coq au vin and my husband was daring and tried sole encased in salt. Talk about luscious, and not a bit salty. Strange, go figure. The dining room on the boat was classical in its decor and everything was very slow and graceful. I loved it. When we left, the full moon had risen and was shining on the waters of the Loire. <BR>Alas, don't ask me for the name and numbers of this place because it is now closed. But it does live on in my memory.

Al- I shared that experience as an eye-opener, figuring I might snag some flak from someone who doesn't share my priorities. I work hard for my money, and I don't think it is fair to judge me if I want to splurge on a meal in Paris. I think we all tend to have different priorities. I don't buy expensive clothes, I don't spend money on liquor or gamble it away. I am not "so selfish" or "so decadent." Just a foodie who wishes prices were less in Paris. The experience of a great meal, to me and those like me, is like theater, so I can justify that it costs the same as a complete night out. I dare say most of us have our splurges, even, maybe, you??

upsy daisy

Let's start the holiday weekend with more food reports! That way we can all pretend to be in France, if only in our minds.

Okay, I started this and as I read the replies the memories keep rolling through. Not that I’m particularly obsessed with food or French restaurants, mind you. (I have some fond memories of lots of restaurants, actually. Maybe I need to restate that obsession thing.) <BR> <BR>It was a friend’s birthday (one with a zero in it) and we had been wandering around the Dordogne on a rainy Sunday, the routes to where we wanted to go continually blocked by the rivers in flood stage. The hotel we finally chose was a 3-star job in Sarlat; we had no foreknowledge of the quality of the rooms or the food, but it was getting dark and we needed a place to stay. It turned out the rooms were lovely and inexpensive, and the food…well, more on that. <BR> <BR>Dinner started off with one of those weird alternate universe things – a couple sitting in the bar with us before the meal were Americans who turned out to live a couple of hundred yards from my parents. They were en route to Italy to visit their son, who was a baseball player in the Italian league (yes, there is one.) The son, as it happened, lived in a very small village near San Gimignano. Our friends (birthday person and her husband, both Scottish) lit up at the name of the village, and asked where did he live exactly, and the American lady gave the address and it turned out to be in the same street where our friends spend a week or two every summer, with a school friend who married an Italian guy…(sound of oooweeeooo from old monster flick.) <BR> <BR>The dining room population consisted of the four of us and maybe three other tables. (Elvira, I know the feeling.) The room was lined with old wood and that wonderful arched golden stone that catches the candlelight and makes the room look like it was always there and all they did was haul away the soil. The meal, when joined, consisted of one, then a second, bottle of champagne (like Guinness, best consumed in the country of origin) then, variously, fois gras, an unbelievable fish bisque, some sort of pate or terrine redolent of port and truffles, duck, fish, and meat entrees, the best bread in the solar system, salads…then a lemon tart which had me looking for lemon trees in the Dordogne in March. There might have been wine, too. Then coffees and cordials in the lounge before the fire…. The laughing was non-stop, the waiters were attentive and eventually also laughing, the bill was not all that bad. The champagne cost more than the two rooms. We collapsed in a bleary heap into bed and got up the next morning to coffee and brioche in the same dining room, the golden stone walls bathed in sunlight now, early spring flowers and branches of forsythia blossoms all over. <BR> <BR>Wife and I returned to Sarlat a year ago or so and found the same hotel and dining room and had lunch. Magnificent, but lacking in something…the absence of two bottles of champagne, perhaps? We asked about the lemon tart. The chef who had prepared the meal (a decade earlier) was now the hotel owner. His wife, at the front desk, was very sweet and gracious. Non, pardon. She would not give us the recipe nor would she wrap one to go. If we came back for dinner he’d make one for us, though. We declined, but we’re thinking next March. <BR> <BR>I’m sorry but I can’t find the name of the hotel. Go look for it yourselves. <BR>

Can I play? Mine was in 1986 when I was 16, of all things, on my first trip to Europe. We were staying at a B&B in Chartres. My parents, in their usual way, befriended the owner and he took us fishing on a farm in the countryside - no idea where or in which direction. We stopped for lunch at a place that served all the local farm workers. It as a building that seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of a field. <BR> <BR>We all sat at long, communal tables. They fed everyone the same delicious meal (that day it was steak frites), amazing fresh bread, and red wine (my first glass of wine). <BR> <BR>Now I'm hungry.

You guys are killing me. I think Europe is calling my name... it's time to go.

AFFORDABLE: The best french meal I had in Paris was also the most affordable. Trust me, this is RARE. Sans Coulottes - sp? (yes, I think that means "without pants") on Rue de Lapp (Metro: Bastille)It's a few doors down from La Pirata and Havanita (also good, and affordable by Paris standards). Anyway, Sans Coulottes has a fixed price, three course meal for about $25 per person. Portions are large and everything was fabulous. The menu is on a chalk board and it's in French and the waitstaff speaks very little English. Order anything -- you can't go wrong! <BR>

Hi: Just have to share the "tariff" (found tucked into my 1997 travel journal) from the aforementioned Hostellerie du Chateau in Chateauneuf-en-Auxois. (Al's comment inspired me to check through the travel records.) Here goes: Four adults at dinner - 4 kir aperitifs; 2 "menus" (three-course complete meals); 2 "filet de Charolais" (the special "plat" only; rather than order 4 complete multi-course dinners, we shared appetizers and desserts - enough is enough after 3 weeks!!); 1 bottle of Cote de Nuit Villages (chosen by the chef for us when we gave him a price range); coffee (with a surprise accompaniment of chocolate confections). The total, including service and TVA, was 804 ff. At, say, 6 francs to the dollar, remarkable for four people. If you CHOOSE CAREFULLY even exquisitely prepared and served meals are reasonable. We did LUNCH, not dinner, at La Clos de la Violette - three hours under the canopy of trees on the terrace; we've yet to visit any Michelin-starred places and not sure we need to. We've eaten at places such as the restaurant atop the Lyon Opera house and we've also stopped in at truckstops. We're frugal, careful planners looking for value and most of our B&B's are in the $50-$60 dollar a night range. Boy, am I ready to plan the next trip!

Two memorable occassions come to mind. The first was visiting the Drodogne region last March. We had opted not to do the Table d'hote in the chateau we were staying (which the night before was wonderful and memorable). We had traveled all day around the region, with our last stop at dusk in Rocamadour (where restaurants were open but we opted to try something on the drive back). Driving back to the chateau we had great difficulties finding anything open. We came upon what we called a truck stop in St. Cere. No english spoken, a bar up front with a room in back where the meal was served - 60 FF per person including wine. To start a big serving bowl of soup put in front of us to serve as much as we like,bread, steak and noodles, a fromage plate for us to slice off how much we wanted and choclalate mousse. The food wasn't that great but what made it memorable was being in this totally, non-touristy place, with no english spoken and no tourists. It was a lot of fun and so French. <BR> <BR>The other was a Sunday night this past December (a bad combination for finding something open) in the middle of almost nowhere northwest of Portiers. My internet chateau search landed us in a very spooky, potential for haunted, chateu that did not serve food. The Madame directed us to a small town, where the local restaurant was not open. We ventured the other direction - and fool me - left my may at the chateau. Also, we were low on gas and no stations weren't open for that either. The locals in the next town directed us to a hotel/restaurant - Auberge du Pont Neuf in Cussay. It was obvious they were closing up but said they would serve us. And did they! One of the best meals I have had in France. Salmon for the adults and beef steak for the 16 year old boys. The vegetables were served in a cut out zuchinni made to look like a basket with a handle, the other colorful vegetables sliced in slivers laying in the basket. The dessert was the best - a deep fried thin shell made with almond slivers and some type of batter with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. On the plate there was a vanilla sauce with red and orange, very flavorful artwork designs on each plate - and each different. I was as good as it looked. Looking at my receipt it was called Tuiles. Two of my companions licked off the plates (what class) and I have the pictures to prove it. The servers never rushed us even though we delayed their time to leave. <BR> <BR>We survived the night in the spooky chateau and after a 30 minute drive in the morning eventually found gas/petrol, before we ran out. <BR> <BR>As it turns out, most of my most memorable experiences have been those that have been unplanned!

Hi everyone: <BR>I have just found this site and this question is top of my list for our upcoming trip to Provence, Languedoc, Ariege and Bordeaux. Does anyone have any recommendations for their most memorable meal in perhaps Arles, or Bordeaux. Looking forward to hearing any comments. <BR>Thanks in advance. <BR>

Just returned and also had a wonderful dinner at Le Petit Troquet as well as La Trufferie (and Lori, we had Eric at the Familia make our reservations too). Eerie, huh?

To the top

The entire week we just spent in the Loire Valley/Berry region seemed like one long meal. We tried every regional dish we could get our hands on. I actually started becoming ill from overeating. It was an orgy. Our best meals were in simple auberges. <BR> <BR>One of my favorites was outside Blois. We started with kir royales made with a sparkling Vouvray, and little warm canapes in teeny tart shells, then the beautiful local asparagus, fat and white in a creamy sauce in a puff pastry shell, then a warm mousse of scallops, then medallions of lotte in a red Chinon wine sauce - an incredibly sweet and meaty, delicious fish. The cheese course is what I'm still sighing over, though. The cheeses were truly artisanal works. I should have taken photos of them they were that gorgeous. There was one very runny cheese that had an aftertaste of asparagas, and incredibly creamy soft goat cheeses. It was so hard to choose from them all the cheeses. Then a very pretty and luscious pear charlotte with a vanilla sauce and "poire" written in chocolate, followed by good strong cafe noir and a little plate of additional sweets. What a wonderful meal that was, about $25 per person. I forget what wine we had but it was wonderful and very reasonably priced. We had equally good food, though more "rustic", outside Bourges.

Many thanks John for resurrecting this post. I'm leaving for Paris in September and it can't come soon enough. <BR> <BR>Anyone else with a favorite story?

Since this has been resurrected, allow me to say that I was highly disappointed in Le Petit Troquet. We went there our last night in France this past May, expecting a wonderful meal based on all of the good things said about it on this forum. What a disappointment. The service was horrendous, we were rushed - in and out in 45 minutes flat and there was noone coming in after us. I got the impression that they wanted to close and go home. I did not think the food was that good either. My husband had the duck which was quite tough, and the two pieces he got were not very good cuts of meat. I don't even remember what I had, it didn't leave a good impression. There are lots and lots of favorable posts on this forum about this restaurant, so hopefully we had an off night.

Hi John, <BR>My husband and I went to Paris and the french riveira five years ago and we has so many special meals,but our last nite in Nice was the best. We were tired o we decided to eat right on the beach across from our hotel. We sat outside with the waves almost coming up on our feet. I wanted a veal francaise which was not on the menu,but they said they would make anything I wanted! It was wonderful. Then while we were sipping our kia royals, a fireworks display began at the end of the causeway!What a way to end our stay.

Due to a great deal on airfare, my former girlfriend & I flew to Paris from Seattle over Thanksgiving weekend in 1994. I'd brought along Sandra Gustafson's <I>Cheap Eats in Paris</I> book and we found a restaurant in there called Au Buisson Ardent which sounded very interesting. Gustafson wrote "This restaurant once sparked the beginning of a romance. The romance didn't last too long, but my affection for this old Left Bank landmark has never wavered." and "The truly fine bourgeoise cooking, prepared with sincerity and served in warm surroundings by pleasant middle-aged waitresses, has kept the well-fed regulars coming back for years." She had also written that one of the "first-class" choices on the menu was <I>confit de canard maison</I>, so that's where I first had this dish that has become one of my favorite French food items. We spoke very little French, and our waitress spoke no English, but we managed quite well. The food was delicious and the surroundings were as warm as Ms. Gustafson said they were. A very memorable Thanksgiving weekend in the beautiful City of Light!

Oooops, I fogot: Au Buisson Ardent is in the 5th. Address: 25, rue Jussieu. (Métro stop: Jussieu) Phone#: 43-54-93-02