Somehow the French always manage to rub us Brits up the wrong way. Well to be fair not just the Brits! However, whatever their faults the French can sure cook, and they have stuck to their classic cooking methods even though fusion is the trendy thing to do.

I have been travelling to France for more years than I care to think about. Needless to say: the food is always an abiding memory: if not the abiding memory. I have travelled to most parts of France from the Channel to the Med and from The Atlantic to the Rhine. As one would expect in a large country the regions have their own specialities and strengths. These specialities are not just food but also drink and by that I normally mean wine. There is barely a part of France that does not have nearby wine growing area. Northern France is maybe an exception but in the West they have cider and Champagne is only a chip and a put form Calais.

Cruising through France in no hurry, it is normally possible to get a decent lunch by just looking for the tell tale signs of a collection of cars outside a restaurants or a busy Routier with the lorries and cars stacked up all around it. In there you will get a multi course meal that will astound the uninitiated. I have had oysters in routiers and in the good old days wine was included, with reasonable quantity never being a problem.

Living in the Far East, France is no longer a drive to Dover away. It is 12 hours, each way, in an aluminium tube. So I now make an annual trip, and as I found out last time it is better to visit the doctor, for the annual check up, before rather than after the trip. After ten days star hunting there are too many comments about weight and liver enzymes! All those deserts gourmand and little calvas after the meal catch up somewhere!

So this section of the site is about places that I have recently visited and my impression. The restaurants are all listed individually as well as in the narrative of my last year’s star hunting! Please feel free to comment on any restaurants bearing in mind the proviso about being polite!