Dining out in France - or elsewhere in a French-style restaurant

What are your experiences?

 

I go there regularly.

 

$4 for a pat of butter to go with the roll I received on highway stop near Rheims.

 

I have the good luck to live quite near to France.
Just around 20 km away on the other side of the River Rhine.

So I can easily go there for lunch and back again:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauterbourg

 

Such is not my experience.

 

I think it depends on where you are and if the french folks view you as a typical tourist or not. The experience of dining out in France can be awesome to horrid. And from my experience, it isn't the food, it's the waiters. And just once, I would love to have a wait staff person who didn't smell like the bathed in an ashtray....

 

As I live just about 15 minutes away from the place that I go to, I cannot be seen as the typical tourist.

 

When was the last time that you have been to a French restaurant?

 

The French don't eat butter with a roll. Hence your extra costs.
Bread is either to mop up the lovely juices left on your plate of eat with cheese as a third course.
and don't even think of eating butter with cheese, which is after all, 100% butter anyway.

When you eat in a French restaurant in France it is best to eat as the French do.

 

France is one of the best places to go to experience food and wine. Paris has some fantastic restaurants but my favorites are always in the small most out of the way places. In the village of Blois we rented this AirBnB apartment right in the middle of town. We were surrounded by quaint little restaurants and a fantastic French bakery around the corner. I don't recall the name of the restaurant but we stumbled upon this small fondue restaurant. Normally you can't get in without a reservation but we got very lucky and showed up right after a cancellation. We actually skipped the fondue because both of us would have had to order it and we prefer to each order different dishes to share and sample. The food and wine were perfect, the owner was super friendly and the ambience of the tiny restaurant made everything incredible.
We also spent several night in some historic chateaus. Near Tours we stayed at a 14th century Templar chapter house. The host was incredible. They prepare local foods using all local ingredients found within 15 km of the chateau. The food was cooked in the saffron grown in their gardens. We also stayed at a small chateau near Saumur. It was owned by this delightful elderly couple and the wife would drive to town everyday to pick up fresh ingredients for the dinner. The food was not fancy like in a Paris restaurant but it was authentic and local and delicious. We were there in early spring before the tourist season started so we were the only guest there. We ate in a large banquet room and after dinner retired to the fireplace where we chatted and shared stories. This goes beyond just the food. The dining experience for us is more than the food. It is the company and complete experience that makes it special. I would trade experiences like this over a Michelin star restaurant in Paris or London every time.

 

I've been to some beautiful French restaurants in Vietnam and Cambodia. Unfortunately it's a long time since I was in Paris

 

Lyon is well known as the gastronomic apex of France outside Paris.
And yes, the experience can make any meal very special. Even when you forget what you ate!

 

https://www.visit.alsace/de/277000476-hotel-restaurant-au-lion-dor/

Here you can see the Lion d'Or or the Golden Lion or the Goldene Löwe in Roeschwoog

 

Europe has a big problem in my opinion. I am a meat eater. Typically, it takes about an acre to support every beef cow. There is very little open grazing land in western Europe. We used to joke that you couldn't stand anywhere in Germany and not be able to see a church steeple. So rather than raise huge herds of cattle like we do, Europeans basically have beef when Ole Bessie dies. That's why French cuisine is so full of sauces. The basic beef ain't so good.

I spent about half of my 20 Years in the American Army in Germany. When the Commissary system in Germany sought a source for beef, they had to go to Ireland to find a good one.

German pork, by the way, is AWESOME. Tender, juicy... yum. My fave is Schweinehaxen, a pig knee joint cooked so that the skin is crispy and the meat is juicy. I love it.

 

The sauces developed in France were to soften poor meat which the poor had to eat. Bourguinon and "au vin" are originally rustic efforts to use what they had in the cupboard to use. They have now been refined but most wives and cooks have their own favourite version.
French people didn't used to eat slabs of meat. They needed something they could add to and freshen up "tomorrow".
However today if you know how French meat is butchered, you know what to ask for. Their cuts aren't the same as those you may be familiar with. I can't help there, I eat very little red meat and never something that looks like a slice out of a sentient animal.

 

I only eat red meat for lunch and dinner every day... well...sometimes for breakfast. SUPERWIFE and I celebrated our anniversary tis week... our celebratory dinner:

Menu: "dirty" vodka martini, shrimp cocktail, another martini; "loaded baked potato”, VERY RARE Bone-In Ribeye; pitcher(s) of dark beer; flan; coffee w/Amaretto

 

No wonder you can't estimate the quality of your meat.

 

What? I don't have to estimate, I KNOW. USDA CHOICE. The ribeyes we had were thick... almost two inches. Got the BBQ rockin' and rollin' with flames so it was just the way we liked. Charcoal charred on the outside and very, very rare on the inside... YUM!!

 

I like french fries!

 

I prefer to see my cows wandering around an open field.

 

Yes... it takes about an acre to support one good beef cow... and get them ready for eating!

 

So it is - and it is a pity.

 

Physics is physics and nature is nature.

 

I had fish today in France

 

Some of the best tasting beef available is French. Poultry likewise. It depends on the region of origin. If one wishes to find cuisine in various and delicious forms, France is impossible to beat; equaled, perhaps, but not excelled.