Restaurants other than in Paris

[crumbs]

We were eating lunch in a restaurant new to us in Alencon. At another table were four Americans, and as they left, one man said to the hostess, We spent eight nights in Paris and this was the best meal of the trip.

I was surprised, because it was not the best meal of our trip, and we didn’t eat in Paris at all.

We spent our entire trip in the Orne and the Mayenne. We ate very well in villages, small towns, and cities. Our favorite restaurant in France, where we recently had one of the best meals of our lives, is in the city of Mayenne, way off the beaten path.

Really, are we missing anything by not going to Paris?

[tigerjohn]

As an American, I wouldn’t trust the perspectives of a random group of my fellow citizens when it comes to restaurants in France. We are somewhat famous for being enthusiastically impressed by normal food due to the paucity of good ingredients and quality of typical restaurants.

That being said, I don’t think one needs to visit Paris to eat well in France. As with any capital of a large country with a famous gastronomy, you might a see more different style and more innovation where completion is fierce and there are many good restaurants. There are some good threads on here on where French the cuisine is going and Paris restaurants are expressing this in their dishes and style. But France has a many good restaurants in many places and there are certainly regional products, dishes and styles that would be difficult to find in Paris.

[Thimes]

My experience - and I’m not an expert by any means - is it all depends on what your want or are expecting from your meals in France. Some people are looking for what, in America, we think of as “classic french” cuisine (often bistro fair) - not so easy to get in Paris anymore, easier to find in small villages. Some are looking for high end “international” cuisine (not sure what to call this, fusion seems wrong) - easier to find in Paris, not so easy to find in small villages.

I love Paris, I love eating in Paris but what I expect when eating in Paris is not the same as what I’m expecting/wanting when I’m in a small village somewhere else in France.

So are you missing things by not going to Paris - absolutely . . . .will you care or even want what you’d be missing, based on your brief post, I don’t think so. (And i don’t mean that negatively in any way.)

[Carmenere]

The blunt answer of this seasoned native to your final question is “no, absolutely not”; Paris doesn’t have any superiority over the wide territory of France that lies outside of the Périphérique (not kidding here, since crossing the Périphérique already feels like entering the province).
Outside of Paris (and that means a territory that will take you to such culturally, geographically, climatically, etc., diverse regions as Alsace, Brittany, Flanders, Euskadi, Provence, or Catalonia) you’ll generally find somewhat heartier fare, regional recipes that have now almost totally disappeared from Paris, and distinctly more “cuisine bourgeoise” (i.e. real French food) — for instance around Lyon, Auvergne, the Alpes and the Loire. And possibly, as my recent experience tells me, fresher, better products and a slightly less self-conscious, less oversophisticated approach of food preparation and plating. Frankly, I no longer believe Paris is the most interesting place in France foodwise. And actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever believed that in the first place.
In Paris, I’ll more readily go to a good Vietnamese, Cantonese, Iranian or Yemeni restaurant when I want to eat out than to a contemporary “bistrot” that in my opinion has nothing left to do with the original notion of bistrot. That latter genre is now above my means (even if I regularly get a taste of it from press lunches or dinners) and, all in all, not so good as what I’d find if I travelled away from the capital city. Of course there are notable exceptions like today’s Taillevent (gastro), Amarante and a few others, but I think that, in current times, one can have much more fun and enjoyment in the regions.

Incidentally, I’m interested in your restaurants in Mayenne, Alençon, and in any place you’ve enjoyed in the Western lands. Would you please share them with us?

[crumbs]

I appreciate the comments. I have further thoughts but no time to write them now.

Carmenere, I’m happy to share, in the hopes that other readers of the Hungry Onion might give these restaurants a try. I would like to see Hungry Onion open up to consider more than just Paris.

Our top four are:

L’eveil des sens in Mayenne has a Michelin star. It’s our top du top.

These three restaurants are in the Perche:
La croix d’or in Le Pin-la-Garenne, south of Mortagne, is a Bib Gourmand
Du dauphin in La Ferte Bernard is a Bib Gourmand
Au cafe des amis in Boissy Maugis.

L’eveil des sens is in the not-very-interesting city of Mayenne. Top notch cooking. One Michelin star. Nicolas Nobis worked at Bernard Loiseau and Georges Blanc before he and his wife opened L’eveil. His menu changes every month and relies on local produce. On Instagram at one point he featured all the local producers he buys from for eggs, strawberries, vegetables, cheese, cidre. Even the butter is local. Generous, inventive, solidly delicious. There is always a mysterious cup of delicious soup, a veloute of some vegetable with emulsion de colza. I could make a meal of that.

We often get a chance to thank M Nobis when we are settling up and here is where I feel my lack of fluent French most acutely.

I admit we are in a travel rut and are happy to ramble around the relatively small area of the Perche, Orne, and the Mayenne. But we have eaten at many good restaurants in let’s say the northwest quarter of France (though not Paris), so we’re able to compare L’eveil des sens with a few dozen other very good restaurants and no other restaurant comes close.

A little more information about the three Perche restaurants::

In the pretty town of La Ferte Bernard, Du dauphin is one of our three favorites in the Perche area. Du dauphin extends its formule to Saturdays, so we have time to visit markets in Mortagne au Perche, Nogent le Rotrou, and Saint Antoine market in La Ferte before going to an inexpensive lunch there. If the word “formule” makes you think of meals by Metro, that is not at all true here.

Between Mortagne-au-Perche and Belleme is a village that’s just a bend in the road, Le Pin-la-Garenne. Here is La croix d’or, our favorite restaurant in the Orne. Boudin noir is always on the menu, but the chef finds new ways to present it. In addition to a solid menu of favorites, there’s always something new as an inspiration du chef. It’s a Bib Gourmand and the price-quality ratio is impressive. We think it’s the best value meal we’ve eaten in France. It’s our first restaurant meal when we arrive in France and the last before we head home. They are open Monday for lunch, which is hard to find in this area.

At Boissy-Maugis is Au café des amis, run by a husband-wife team. We’ve seen them handling 40 diners on a busy day, efficiently and with good humor. Even when they’re run off their feet they still have time for a little chat. The chef is a great meat cook and is careful about where he sources the meat. What makes this place dear to me is the chef’s way with starters. I feel starved for greens in France and he always comes through with a refreshing green salad. Lunch only, Monday through Saturday.

The restaurant I referred to in Alencon is Au petit Vatel. We tried it once. I’d go back but my husband wouldn’t. The food is good, but our dance cards are already pretty full.

I’ll add that we both like to cook and don’t live near good restaurants, so if we want something good we cook it ourselves. We can drive to Washington or Philadelphia for really good meals, but in the US good restaurants are a splurge for us. It’s such a thrill to visit France and be able to eat so well at a price we can afford.

[Carmenere]

That’s fantastic, thank you. Indeed there are so many gems hidden in plain sight all over the French territory. I understand the joy you must be experiencing as you discover these precious, underrated places, and enjoy them. I am very admirative of you, for that’s definitely the way to do it, doing legwork and searching, trying places for the first time, trusting your gut feelings, not being led by the fear of missing out, and not just relying on what others may have written. Way to go, when I’ve been shown by US visitors fo France some Excel spreadsheets filled with 50 to 70 restaurants they were planning to visit in the course of one and a half month. Yours is not a common approach and I heartily recommend it.

Paris is great, but nevertheless overrated.