This winter, Stephen and I invite you to join us on a French foodie adventure in Paris and the sunny Southeast of France. Our tour will include restaurants from the famous Michelin star list, as well as from the lesser-known "Michelin recommendations" and "Bib Gourmand" lists. While the former's name is pretty straightforward, the latter's may need some explanation: "Bib Gourmand" was a list of recommendations created by Michelin dedicated to affordable restaurants, in response to criticisms that Michelin-starred restaurants were too expensive. But are they always? And how do these affordable restaurants compete with the Michelin stars? All the answers and more in our trip report!
Day 1: After landing in Paris on a Friday, we had to wait until Monday to visit the first Michelin-starred restaurant of our trip. Why so? Because of the "menu du jour" of course! Traditionally, restaurants in France offer an affordable menu including three courses during weekday lunchtimes. "Menu du jour" was originally targeted at lower class workers, but fancier Michelin-starred restaurants followed the trend!
We chose a restaurant called "Chez Auguste", a low-key styled restaurant. The ambiance was very quiet. In fact, a little bit too quiet in the midst of 8 tables. Somehow our neighbors would barely talk and the restaurant didn't have any music, creating a very strange and quiet atmosphere where you could hear a whisper from the other side of the room. Besides this little discomfort, we did not have to complain about anything else. We were offered little Parmesan and herring snacks, sprinkled with salt. The first course consisted of a leek cream soup with the unfairly dreaded escargots. It was hearty comfort food and a perfect match for that cold winter day.
As for the main course, we had the pleasure to taste a delicious young female duck, or as Stephen would say, a 'canard'. It was served with candied onion and very tasty black garlic, along with a mysterious dried leaf that I couldn't identify but found delicious.
The dessert was probably the only little disappointment: a very flavorful lemon pie, but it was a bit too tart for my liking.
Overall, we were pretty impressed by the place and we rated it as an 8 out of 10 for a bill of about 50 euros per person.
Our next adventure in Paris will take us to Sadarnac, an intriguing Michelin-recommended restaurant near the more blue-collar Porte de Montreuil neighborhood in Eastern Paris.
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