Eating out in France

[Polremy]

Man (woman?) after my own heart.

Done that many times.

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="Gardian"]

[quote user="Frederick"]My experience as far as local restaurants go is based on eating out in "Tourist " ones which most of ours are . They cant keep the same the chef for long it appears . The food mostly is rubbish served in the knowledge they are not likely to see the customer return [/quote]

Not always, but often sadly only too true.

We had our worst meal for years in September in one of the 'Plus Beaux Villages' in the Herault. Yes, a lovely village, but bad for eating.

'Omelette aux Cepes' was the chalked up special dish. It was a bit pricey to say the least (€13.50), but it was Hobson's Choice with not much else that we fancied.  We asked for a pichet of Rose, which arrived unchilled: I asked for a chilled one and the waiter said that he'd bring some ice cubes. I told him to take it away.  The omelettes arrived and had clearly been pre-cooked and waiting to be warmed through: the garnish was a sprig or two of salad. The omelettes were like shoe leather and tasted of  ........ shoe leather.

Note to self: don't go to fancy villages. 

[/quote]

Hey, Gardian, don't forget a certain fancy village; not cheap, but a lovely meal - and chilled rosé, I seem to recall!  [:)]

[tonyinfrance]

Can't escape from the reality of rising prices, but we usually look for truck stops where a reasonable meal can still be had for a fair price.  A regular for us is just off the A7 at the Orange exit (Café du Soleil I think).  4 course meal and a pichet for 13 or 14 euros - not particulary cheap but not much is these days.......

[Frederick]

Has anybody seen a French Bar Restaurant doing a fixed menu and price night  ?

I ask as  one of our local Pub Restaurants  has a banner out and is doing a  Pie and a Pint  night ... It will be steak or chicken pie peas and mash with a beer at a fixed price I suspect  ..They do currry  and they do steak nights .    I  have never seen the like to drag in the customers in the Vendee .  I wonder why they do not seem to want to give it a go ?

[YCCMB]

I guess because they do that at lunchtime when they can be fairly sure of  their numbers. Most restaurants DO do a fixed price menu at lunch, including a pichet of wine. And, I guess, (sweeping generalisation) French dining habits outside major conurbations tend to focus on lunch as the main meal. Eating out at a restaurant midweek (or weekend) in the evening is a whole different event, and people probably aren't as keen to pop out for a fixed-price-drink-included meal. They prefer, if they're doing "fixed price" the €19 or €25 or whatever-the-price menu, which generally still offers choices for each course.

[NormanH]

Even our two Michelin starred restaurants have started doing a cheap lunch

One does 2 courses plus a glass of wine and coffee for 22€, or 3 for 30€

That would have been unheard of in such places a few years back.

[Gardian]

[quote user="gardengirl "]

Hey, Gardian, don't forget a certain fancy village; not cheap, but a lovely meal - and chilled rosé, I seem to recall!  [:)]

[/quote]

Yes GG, but it wasn't really a 'fancy village', more a 'real' one.  That place, with a really nice menu at €20 and Norman's examples above, make places such as I described a complete ripoff. I don't mind them charging up a bit if it's a nice place and the quality is halfway decent.

The alarm bells should have been ringing when Mrs G asked me for €2 (like Royalty, she doesn't carry cash!) to use the public loo in the car park. She said that it was immaculate - my answer was unrepeatable in polite company.

[Fridgeman]

Well after reading through your posts I feel really lucky living where I do, lunch (5 courses) first 3 all home made, cheese then yoghurt or fresh fruit inc wine and bottled water €11.50 good home cooking and 2 minutes from our front door.

Not more than 12 / 15 minutes away a super little restaurant bags of atmosphere always busy (need to book) 3 course evening meal less than €30 all home made and desserts do die for, IMO.

A Chinese restaurant (Buffet) where all the dishes taste different, I've been to a few where everything tasted the same, plus they have a wok kitchen where you pick what you want and they cook it in 5 or 6 different styles and for any chilli lovers like me, they do a Thai style and you can have as much chilli as you want :) lunch is €12 about 40 minutes away.

As we do not eat out all that often in a way we are spoilt for choice.

PLEASE NOTE...............

We have eaten in some dreadful places so all is not rosy but if the food is really bad I don't pay, I don't let them remove the food from the table and say "Call the police", they say "Do not come here again", as if I would!!!!!