Dear Food Lover members,
Just to send you a link to an article about restaurants serving previously frozen foods to their clients. Frozen foods can taste good and healthy but I find it a shame to the French culture to see this habit occuring more frequently.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-restaurants-acknowledge-serving-factory-frozen-food/2013/07/09/9857b69a-dda2-11e2-b797-cbd4cb13f9c6_story.html
Bon Appetit!
Mary
I believe the reasons you gave (food dates, staff unaware of goods etc) was the reason that M&S left France originally. The ethos of a store is not easy to translate unless the employees buy in. The Americans tend to have a strong work ethic....we found in the Languedoc that McDonalds were one of the few places that opened on the dot...never a second late...whereas the Orange store regularly opened anything up to 40 minutes late in the mornings. It appears that McDonalds training must be pretty thorough and the staff understand the companies requirements (despite offering minimum pay).... M&S staff are invariably helpful, aid with packing bags, are good with small talk and know all about their products...much like Waitrose staff. Unless you can find employees who are willing to take on that mantle, the store wont still have the same great standards.
I had a very interesting correspondence with M&S head office a few years ago when M&S had a store near me (Villiers-en-Bière). My complaint was that the fresh food/ready meals with a 3-4 day shelf life were delivered on a Tuesday to an out-of-town store where most people shopped on Thursday/Friday/Saturday. I pointed out that they needed to get their logistics sorted out if they wanted to sell.
I also complained that anyone asking the staff about the British food was simply told "c'est spécial" but that the staff admitted never having tasted it.
My complaint resulted in an invitation to discuss the problems at the store with the store manager.
Unfortunately soon after that M&S withdrew from France. It's a pity, because when I worked in Paris I'd go the the blvd Haussmann store and come home laden down with goodies. I can't afford to go and investigate the new store on the Champs Elysées.
The French equivalent of cottage/shepherds pie is surely hâchis Parmentier....almost indistinguishable from its UK equivalent. Areas with a large Maghreb population in the larger cities in France means there are lots of Moroccan and Algerian restaurants where spicy food is the norm, and has been adopted by the locals. I agree regarding good ready meals like those sold by Waitrose and M and S.....my husband who spends weeks at a time in France whilst I am in the UK, has tried lots of ready meals from all the main supermarkets (not being a cook) and has got to the stage of just buying bread, cheese and ham as the meals were such a disappointment.
Our local Vieille Auberge at lunchtime takes some beating. 12euros 50cents for 3 courses inc. wine & coffee. Normally a choice of 3 each course & all prepared fresh by the owner/chef who knows his clientele & is therefor able to prepare food with little waste. Sadly no other resto. in the town compares for quality so we don't eat out much at night. They are all without exception over priced & over rated by the owners who seem to think it's their right to charge us excessively for eating food I could prepare better at home. We once took some friends to Concarneau for lunch & were served what was obviously tinned cassoulete as they probably thought we were tourists. We complained & were offered an alternative which arrived still chilled. Needless to say we walked. If this is the norm it's no wonder people are not eating out.
Funny waitrose should pop up.
I was thinking about M and S too....food section.
I know we have trateurs but ready meals like those of M and S WOULD sell like a bomb here.
Yes someone will say there is a section in the supermarket......But...
REALLY the British dishes are different and they would sell.
An idea....
I am tired of hearing....oh the French do not like spicy food or cottage pie or
bread and butter pud.
That; to my mind is nonsense.
Yes you can produce simple dishes for a fairly low spend.
But the food is a small part of the cost of running a restaurant.
Well been in the restaurant buisness for much of my life.
So hard to make money....
It really is not just about ingredients it is about the energy which goes into the
cooking, cleaning and maintaining the property.
Then the taxes....I will list them if you like but it will bore you and possibly
upset you. In order to make money you need to have a massive turn over....almost like a
mini factory....
There are no easy ways to buy great meat or superb scallops unless you pay good money for them.
A good chef is like gold dust.
AND GOLD is exspensive.
Everyone goes off in search of gold and very rarely finds it.
Just ask me what the outgongs are on owning and running a restaurant here....OR there..
Would you be able to pay 20 euros per hour and could you accept a net payment of 10 euros per hour? You would need to travel a good few km to work so take your petrol into account too.
Did you know that if you play music in the company of your clients in your restaurant, hotel or
chambre d hote you need to pay to the Performing rights society...here and in uk.
There are many developing exspeses which help to make restaurants less viable.
So many restauranters think that the best way out of trouble is to cut corners.....
down the slide we go.
I am in the UK at present. My son, his girlfriend and myself went out for a meal in Newbury last night. We have a restaurant called the Hoggit and Hoof, a steakhouse owned by our local butcher. All the meat is from local farms. They serve all manner of beef with a diagram of a cow on the menu and all the cuts named. You not only choose your cut of steak but also the weight. Apart from steaks they provide in house made burgers, sausages, faggots etc.as well as lamb, pork etc they also have a fabulous selection for vegetarians and vegans.....everything cooked from scratch (there is a large serving hatch from kitchen to restaurant) and you can watch them cooking to order. My son had a 10 ounce fillet steak (sorry, they do weights in old money as well as new) I had an 8 ounce sirloin, girlfriend had a burger. I am dieting so asked for no potatoes (served 5 ways) so they prepared a veg side dish for me....courgettes, peppers, tomatoes baked in an oven for 15 minutes....sans fat as I requested. With one pint of beer, a vodka and tonic and a litre bottle of fizzy water and coffee for 3, I paid £62. The steaks melted in our mouths, the double baked potatoes were fabulous my son said, as were the chunky home cooked chips. We were so full we couldnt eat pudds or cheese. Not a cheap restaurant, but first class meat, nothing wasted, excellent service from a group of friendly waiting staff...def. going back.
We are very fortunate in that we have an excellent restaurant near us, L’Estaminet in MAZILLE, near Cluny. Cedric, the chef, is imaginative in his use of non-expensive ingredients and the ambience and excellent front of house service provided by Jeremy bring customers back again and again.
It is fifteen euros for the four course lunch and twenty five for dinner. It is not grand cuisine, but good value for money and you are not ripped off by the wine list. The menu also changes regularly. In an area where regional cooking often means same old ,same old it is a breath of fresh air. The problem is that is often to get a table in the summer.
I am so afraid Carol that you are right.
I struggle to find special restaurants where my friends can meet us for a meal....and we have traveled...
sometimes up to 2 hours. In the end my oks are for Chateau les Merles which is 14K outside Bergerac
fairly good cooking but a nice place to sit....45 euros for lunch with some BASIC WINE.
La Poudette...good flavours, good cooking and very small portions...so if you have a big appertite...
not the place for you. Around 50 euros for a menue and some wine ....take care on the list.
The auberge on the river at Blaigniac which is near Branne....very modern and the chef is talented and
looking for that Michelin star.....or has he got it?
50 plus....menu and a glass...MAYBE 2
Grappe d or which is near Monbazilliac.....truely tasty cooking
Menu at 26 euros so you get to 38 euros for lunch.
Too much food and all is good....NEVER mind about pud...they are not special...
are they ever?
So inflated with sugar and often made with cheap and nasty chocolate.
Were are the truely great pastry chefs?
Yes we could open a restaurant but it would be a killer.
And with what we like to use as ingredients no one will come because they will
not want ro pay our prices.
Good point Jacquie about Waitrose. Recently one of the discussions on SFN was regarding poor customer service, which Ive come across in supermarkets (I am always polite, will always say hello, smile and chat...and am not rude to any staff in shops). I was told that if someone is on minimal wage they shouldnt have to be subservient to customers. I think there is a vast difference between being polite and subservient anyway. If you look at Waitrose...the hourly rate isnt much above minimal wage, but you receive fabulous service (just ask for something in Waitrose and an assistant will take you to it)...the reason is that all staff are partners and have a vested interest in giving good service.
Hear hear! I can't remember when I had a decent meal out here (I've been here for the past 26 years), except in a small local restaurant with a choice of two starters and three main courses, and unfortunately I doubt it'll survive because people don't understand that a restricted menu is the first sign of food that has been entirely prepared and cooked on the premises.
Last week I met someone who works in the catering industry in France. He deplores the use of semi-prepared foods but admits that in his business (mass catering - 800 meals/day in a business environment), some food has to be brought in, but he still makes fresh soup every lunchtime - from scratch. He said that French chefs have become lazy and are no longer innovating; he believes that many people eat better at home in the UK than here in France, because cooking programmes are popular and because people are prepared to TRY. I think that the part of the problem is that supermarkets here are dumbing down. Would Waitrose succeed here - with employees given a share in the profits as part of a benefits package that makes them want their business to succeed?
Gosh Vincent, please come and visit our local supermarkets. Plastic gloves are certainly not 'de rigueur', neither with handling meat, fish, cheese or other fresh produce. Just pop into any French public toilet - male/female or mixed - and just watch to see how many people wash their hands after using the loos!!! I'm afraid I'm with Carole 100%, the days of eating very well in your local 'restaurant routier' have long gone and it's becoming incredibly difficult to find any restaurant of the same calibre as in the UK. We have one or two within reasonable traveling distance, but they are pricey. Meanwhile, even in the provinces in Britain, you can eat very good home prepared and cooked food, with vegetables cooked correctly and beautifully presented - albeit that the wine prices can be a little steep. Thirty years or so ago, my French friends used to make fun of British restaurants and the food served. Last year we spent four days with six French friends in Britain (six nations rugby) and ate in different restaurants each night, suffice to say they had a memorable experience and are still talking about the fantastic food choice and the wine selection.
and- in life you get what you pay for- regardless of where you live.
Worst meal I have ever been asked to pay for was in the UK, the best was in Tavers in a family run hotel in the Loire- The worst also cost a weeks wages for the 2 of us, the best cost little more than a Big Mac and Fries....
which oddly runs counter to my opening statement! But this was the exception. What made the best so good was that it was hand made, from scratch and using local produce.
The key is to look for local owned,non chain,something with history/regionality. Eat out for that special moment. And not just to fill a void in the tummy :-)
Im a qualified cook, worked all over the world, but no longer do it for a living simply because you can't any longer. The price people expect to pay is not enough to make it possible to earn enough to live. We live in a world now where people want to pay beer prices and get champagne in their glass.
My partner and I eat t live at home, eat for pleasure 3-4 times a year and go along expecting to drop a weeks wages down for a meal.
I think those restaurants obviously don’t appreciate you bringing your clients.
I’d be looking for some others if possible.
When we previously visited our friends near Beaune...we helped them picking grapes that year, great fun and never again....my poor back! however, part of the deal was a meal out at their then local restaurant...the food was delightful....not amazing...but what I would consider typical good bistro food.....but the camaraderie of the event and the evening and the fact we were a great mix of French, Americans, Brits made for a brilliant night.
Ha, I wish I did get a free meal Jane, there are exactly two restaurants out of about a dozen I use regularly that offer a freebie and they are the wineries that offer a wine tasting lunch. As I am the driver I don't have the wines, just the accompanying simple meal, one of which is Boeuf bourguignon, which I hate.
To be fair our area is renowned for gastronomy and all nationalities travel far and wide to visit the region for the food and wine.
Vincent, you are waffling. I have a reputation for doing that, indeed I do. I often use my own 'experience' of life to give example because it is what I know best of all, not what I necessarily believe is better than anybody else's experience. I am getting the feeling you are now dismissing all opinion bar your own and saying we should end the discussion. You did the same with the Bastille Day post with the politicians you knew. One was my sociology lecturer when I arrived in Cambridge and to this day I don't quite see the career line you portrayed. But then the actual sociologist behind Blair was our head of department for a long, long time, third way and all that.
Careful, people have a wide and rich experience in any realm you or I wish to discuss, I may argue until the cows come home but do not imply all should do as I do. You are, as Carol so astutely says, allowed your hates and so on. But do not try to contain what is discussed. Also, since you certainly did wander far from the Bastille point, do not try to stop the drift between points. That seems to go against the free speech you appear, unless I misunderstood, to advocate elsewhere. If you waffle, you will be challenged and slapped down, sometimes rightly and others wrongly, sometimes gently and others with some force.
I know a few chefs, a couple quite well known at that, Catharine more or less sums up what I would say because of that, based on their opinions having never worked in a pro kitchen.
Personally I think more French kitchens are 'bad' than in the UK and I have no idea why you felt the need to post your opening sentence?
Are you a fully paid up member of the "France is good - everywhere else is bad" brigade? Or are you actually interested in hearing other people's opinions?