From this week’s New Yorker:
No gift links at the NYer, but here are the places discussed. Les Grands Buffets looks very Las Vegas-y.
6 Likes
Although I don’t have a subscription, I was able to read The New Yorker article, ignoring the request to enroll. What an interesting piece of writing - I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for posting this.
Thank you for sharing this! I was able to read quite a bit as well, although New Yorker articles are so long, there may be some I didn’t see.
Here it sounds like only the New Yorker has heard of it.
3 Likes
Thanks so much for posting that. I fully enjoyed the article and though I tend to dislike buffets and usually avoid them, I’d go to this one just to try all the dishes I’ve heard of and have never had the chance to try.
1 Like
Not as hip or vocabulary rich as the NYer, but I’ve known about it for a year thanks to You Tube.
1 Like
I’ve heard of this before as well, as it has been featured many times in France. As the article notes, it is not new (and buffets a volonte. as they noted, have been around a while, usually Asian of dubious quality). I’ve never been, although I did stay outside of Narbonne and enjoyed the city. The initial description didn’t seem appealing at all when I stayed in the area. This description makes it actually seem enticing… 111 types of cheese, a table of fois gras… serrano ham… patisserie… individual dishes on order. The owner seems like quite a character.
3 Likes
Just read the article (I’m perpetually behind on my NYer issues 
) & knew someone would’ve posted this here!
I thought it was an interesting article as well.
1 Like
I didn’t think it would be useful to post this here, but here goes. This is not a new trend at all, grand buffets are all over the place, particularly in the suburbans part of large cities. This one may be unusual with its stress on quality, but I don’t think it’s easy or even possible to maintain a high level of quality in the long run with that kind of formula. I’d rather trust the old buffets in the Northern Paris 'burbs with all-you-can-eat steak, paella, grilled salmon, etc., with high turnover and a steady clientele.
Do you have links to those Northern Paris buffets?
Dunno, the Les Grands Buffets sounds hella more interesting to me than any singular item AYCEs. And judging from the article, Privat seems intent on keeping the quality up.
Ah, but they are not singular-item All-you-can-eat. That’s the thing.
Of course. The largest (2,500 square meters) is Globe Trotter in Chelles (Seine-et-Marne), in the Terre Ciel shopping mall. The theme is cuisine from different countries, with many dining rooms. There is also Le Grand Aigle in Épinay-sur-Seine, Chez Vincent in Reims, Rodizio Brazil in Noisy-Le-Sec… Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne is apparently putting a stress on gastronomic cooking, but such place is by no means a new trend.
1 Like
I think people noted earlier the existence of other buffet a volonte in France earlier in the thread… I noted especially many of them were of dubious quality. This place opened in 1989, not exactly old but far older than some of your examples. To survive with such a higher end offering in a relatively sparsely populated part of France is pretty remarkable, with bookings required month in advance.
Narbonne is not in a “sparsely populated” part of France, it’s between Montpellier and Perpignan, and in the cultural orb of Barcelona. Coastal Languedoc has been one of the most active Mediterranean corridors for centuries; it’s not the plateau de Millevaches by any means. There is undeniably a clientèle for restaurants in the region. And yes, the place is successful. Local chefs (Montpellier, Béziers) I’ve asked about it told me it was a food Disneyworld of sorts, playing on the gargantuesque and the gigantic, but not as high in quality as all the PR stuff would like one to believe. I’m not really surprised that the NYer took 25 years to discover it, but I find rather suspicious that I , as an old tattered food writer who knows the Languedoc pretty well, have never heard about it in 25 years.
I’ll be curious to try the place next time I’m in Narbonne, but in the meantime I’ve heard some pretty good things about Globe Trotter and I’m far more curious of that one.
Anyway, all I wanted to point out is that it’s not a new trend at all, unlike the NYer seems to believe. And the other buffets are not of “dubious quality” just because they are in the suburbs. There can be amazing surprises once you cross the Périphérique.
Your opinion on buffets notwithstanding, have you ever been to one of those dessert tabehoudai in Japan? At least in that country, many times there are seasonal ingredients involved. I remember going to one at a vineyard in Kanazawa during the autumn; pumpkin, apples, and yep, grapes all heavily featured on the menu.
Depending on the location, I’m a fan of buffets, not to mention Turkey seems to have them as the breakfast standard.
As for France having one, wouldn’t care. Since I’m so infrequently in that country, I’d 100% of the time prefer to go to a local/farmer’s market for whatever the heck is available.
Meh. The food doesn’t look that tasty.
1 Like
The foies gras on slabs look kind of pathetic; as for the description of the canard au sang ceremony, with a number of historical inaccuracies thrown in, it makes me think of anything but gastronomy, and I don’t think any serious eater would really crave for that sort of happening. Which certainly doesn’t need any Wagner to support it.
