I'm game to try them. Can you give us an idea of how they taste?

Catbert

Heaven

Italians are chefs.
French are lovers.
Brits are police.
Swiss are government.
Germans are auto mechanics.

Hell

Italians are government.
French are auto mechanics.
Brits are chefs.
Swiss are lovers.
Germans are police.

Will this get me flamed? :-D

no, but maybe roasted...LOL

I also want to weigh in on andouillettes. I am one who will eat many things ris de veau, frog, snails, veal kidneys, tripe, sweetbreads, eel, sushi, you name it. But don't name andouillettes.

I picked them as a last minute grasp at something as the duck was out. I managed to eat half of one. Then the mustard sauce ran out. I gave up.

My dad was brave enough to try it. He'll eat lots of things, was even loving the blue cheese in France. I've never in my life seen my dad spit something out before like he did the bite of andouillette. :-&

Ahh - andouillettes, most definitely not to be confused with Cajun andouille, which I unfortunately did when ordering my first real Breton (un)savory crèpes in Vitré.

Best meal on that trip was at the Hotel de France in Douarnenez. Stopped to spend the night there because it was late and I was tired of driving and recognized the Logis de France logo. We were suprised the restaurant was open out of season at 9 pm, so were delighted at the perfectly prepared fresh seafood, and delicious creme brulee.

Worst meal in Paris was some nameless little dump in Montmartre. It was late, we were hungry, and it did not appear touristy. The fact that there were also no French or any other people there should have been a clue. All I really remember was tepid onion soup that tasted like really watered down Lipton's powdered mix.

Thank you, Indie. :-D

Hey IndyTravel, you were posting while I was typing. We might be the only people in Indianapolis who have actually eaten the dreaded andouillettes.

Another vote for Chartier...yuck...

There was this little dive near our hotel where we ordered some uninspired item--exactly what it was, I forget. What made it memorable for me was that the waiter was an obnoxious young guy who definitely wanted us to order wine or some alcoholic beverage or other. He was quite insistent and quite annoying.

Since I'm a recovering alcoholic, I obviously don't drink wine or whatever, and I certainly didn't want to explain my reasons to this guy.

A bar/bistro on Rue Grenelle, away from the LaMotte Piquet metro stop, La Gitane. Slices of cold veal tongue smothered in a super-garlicky white sauce laced with too many peppercorns. Gluey, something like library paste -- not good.

Indytravel, your Heaven/Hell post gave me my first big laugh of the day! Thanks.

last boxing day, we went to a brasserie in the general Montmartre/Pigalle area. I ordered sole in cream sauce and it tasted very strange but I didn't think it was anything potentially dangerous - and my wife is from Japan (bless) where its a dishonor not to eat everything presented to you - so i tried my best but could only eat 60% of it - she had a little bit of it too but there was no way we could finish it all...

several hours later, it became immediately apparent something was wrong - result? food poisoning! from doing research, it was salmonella brought on by the cream sauce - to make matters worse, it was only our second day of 8 in paris, so the guidebook i had for cheese shops in paris (at last, my chance to try AOC brie & camembert) went to waste - as did our reservation for l'arpege on the next night, our one planned ridiculous splurge of the trip - as did approximately 2 days we could've explored sights but ended up recovering in our shoebox hotel room...

for the life of me, i wish i knew the name of the place, but i only recall the location - if you're walking along the road that moulin rouge is on & on the same side of the street, pass it on the right and keep walking for about 10 minutes until you get to a huge intersection - the interior of the restaurant had tons of framed pictures of old hollywood stars (had i noticed this at the start, i probably would have chosen a different place but i was too hungry to look at anything other than a menu)...between moulin rouge and this place, you'll pass a tiny sushi bar - we almost went there but ironically decided against it since we didn't know whether or not to trust the quality of the fish...

Why Georges was so unpleasant? 1) The view might have been nice but we wouldn't know since they seated us as far inland as possible, this despite reservations, and despite an abundance of vacant tables along the windows. 2) The service was condescending and negligent starting with our first step over the threshold and throughout the evening. 3) Food portions were miniscule and actual food unimaginative. For example the mini -duck dish was served with a 2 oz. portion of plain unadorned white rice and nothing more. 4) Even if the prices had not been astronomical this would have been our worst meal anywhere. This is a theme restaurant that tries way too hard to be cool and forgets why people want to dine out to begin with.

Is it just me, but does it seem like the higher the price the smaller the portions? At some of those snob magnets, its darn near $5 a bite!

L'ambroise.
Yes it is 3 star, but to be honest( I have eaten at dozens of 3 star restaurants) I did not get it.

My dinner cost $300 per person, and 2 years later, I am still wondering, "for what?"

Some awful concoction at a well-recommended brasserie on St. Germain called Vagenande. Fish balls floating in a watery/milky sauce, tasted terrible. My daughter had a beef thing, also disgusting. Beautiful old restaurant but terrible food. Also, in 1978, got really bad food poisoning from croque monsieur in a charming bistro near Invalides.

Wow, I forgot about my own awful dinner at Vagenende. I chose from the prix fixe menu which is average in cost. I didn't make note of my menu, but I ordered a main dish which is like a pot au feu. When it arrived I couldn't believe they actually served the leftover parts of the chicken. By that I mean there were just a few bony pieces that were served, pieces with hardly any meat left on them. It was a total ripoff and not only with the price but with the cooking which was just okay. The best thing about the place is its decor, nothing fancy just nice.

In reply to Tondalaya's question on how andouilletes taste, the taste and smell are in the kidney range (in my opinion). I mean, let's be honest, we all know the bodily function of intestines, so it shouldn't be surprising that there is an earthiness to them. But, they are throughly cleaned before cooking, and the taste is not strong. And it's a perfect foil for very very strong Dijon mustard. And don't consider drinking white wine with them...only red will do...preferably a burgundy or beaujolais...no Bordeaux. This is a country dish to be eaten with gusto! But if you hate them, just order something else...they don't cost much!

andib, I ate there about the same year. It was a lovely place but the meal was not memerable. On PBS one year I was watching French in Action and one episode was filmed in the Vagenande.

Not awful meals, but very mediocre by Paris standards:

Le Train Blu: gorgeous décor, but I could have enjoyed it just as well over a glass of wine. Didn’t eat much, just moved the food around the plate and kept my glass topped up.
Restaurant in the Museum of Man with the view of the Eiffel tower: not awful , but not great.

Ironically, in both cases I was brought there by my French colleagues for the “experience”!

Did someone mention 'andouillette'? What sick, vile sadist thought of disguising tripe as a sausage to trap the unsuspecting tourist? I went to the best 'andouillette' restaurant in Paris and almost died when I realized that 'andouillette' was tripe – AFTER I had ordered. The sausages ended up wrapped I toilet paper in my handbag to be disposed of later.