Custom Travel To France

Well, I’m starting the “What to do in France” series with an easy one, aren’t I?

Mainly I wanted to talk a little about Michelin Star restaurants, since it’s hard to ignore the fact that the prestigious macaroons have been attributed to way more restaurants in France than in any other countries. When I say way more, I mean that France counts at this time 620 restaurants with at least one star, when the runner-up, Germany, has 212.

So why is that? OK, there’s the fact that the French restaurants had a head start since 1900, when André Michelin first created his little book of nice places to eat and rest for truckers. The book soon evolved into the reputable guide that you know, that puts establishments “worth a detour” on the map (at the same time tempting clients into using their Michelin tires for the purpose!). The Michelin Guides for other countries appeared a few years later.

But there is also the fact that France has the best food, the best culinary schools and the best chefs! If France didn’t have such a reputation for good food, we wouldn’t have all the fancy unpronounceable vocabulary that comes with it to make us look cool when we cook, such as “hors d’oeuvres”, “gourmand”, “Julienne”, “sauté”, “à la carte”, “au gratin”, “fondue”, “crème brûlée”, etc.

So for all the foodies out there visiting France (hopefully having booked a custom trip with me!), get one of those little red books and start exploring France. Yes, the Euro is still expensive and those restaurants are no Applebee’s. But the good news is, for those who haven’t noticed, the Euro has gone way down in the last couple of months and continues to do so rapidly (yes, really!). The other good news: The 1-star restaurants spot the whole hexagon and don’t have to kill your wallet to let you enjoy mouth-watering dishes.

You will find one in literally any small town that you go to, and depending on the region, your palate will be delighted in many ways. I had the chance to try a few on my last trip to the Midi-Pyrénées region, in the South West of France. I tried for example the restaurant of the Château de Salettes, located in a 13th century fortress converted into a boutique hotel (in which I also got to spend the night), in a village called Cahuzac-sur-Vère, in the heart of the wine country. Just like you would expect from a Michelin starred place, the service was impeccable, the presentation spectacular, and the food really scrumptious. Even someone who isn’t an expert, like me, can tell the difference. Take for example one of their dishes I liked best, which was the Grilled Foie Gras with caramel nuts in Xeres, melted apricots and peaches with Sarawak pepper and sesame. Every bite that you take bursts with surprising flavors, and each dish is just extremely tasty and intricate, detailed like a work of art.You could have a three-course meal there for as low as 37 Euros, up to a six or eight-course meal for about 100 Euros. Thought it would be worse, right?

I never had the occasion to go to a 2 or even a 3-star restaurant, but you certainly hear a lot about them in the media in France. Amongst the most famous are: Paul Bocuse in Lyon, the TroisGros in Roanne, Alain Ducasse in Paris, Marc Veyrat near Annecy, Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu… All those chefs own famous restaurants and experience tremendous pressure to keep those precious stars. So much so that Bernard Loiseau actually committed suicide in 2003, supposedly because rumor had it that Michelin was going to downgrade his restaurant, La Côte d’Or, to 2 stars… Four days after his death, the guide went to print and it turned out that they had kept his 3 stars in the end. To this day, his restaurant and legacy is still going strong, led by his wife Dominique and chef Patrick Bertron.

To some of these superstar chefs, Cuisine is much more than just assembling and cooking ingredients, but can be referred to “alchemy” as 3-star chef from my hometown, Marc Veyrat, puts it. He is known to pick and choose local herbs and flowers in the mountain himself, never to be seen without his famous hat that became a symbol of his empire. He constantly researches and experiments new aromas in his lab, and has managed to create a mystic image of him that mesmerizes and attracts people to his beautiful hotel-restaurant that resembles a fairy-tale castle on Lake Annecy. I remember walking by the gate when I was a little girl, holding my grandmother’s hand. We would always stop to look at the menu, gazing at the elaborate names of the dishes and the high prices. A few times, one particular ingredient was featured in a dish: the “topinambour”, which apparently translates in English by “Jerusalem Artichoke”, basically a perennial tuber. The offensive vegetable would make my grandma furious, cursing after a chef who would charge hundreds of Francs for a kind of potato that was all she got to eat during the war and had sworn out of her diet for the rest of her life! She could not believe that the “topinambour” had now become a rare and fancy ingredient, now part of complex recipes.

But nonetheless, it is said that we have to try at least one of these highly rated top restaurants once in our lifetime so as not to die “taste-ignorants”. If you are looking into trying out one of those 3-stars, make sure to reserve in advance, and be aware that the treat will cost you an average of 350 Euros per person.

One day hopefully, I will myself get to try one of them. If I ever do, I will carefully read each name of each dish, making sure not to pick one that comes with “topinambours”…