I’d argue that over time our tastes changed and that these days we’re far more discriminating than when we first arrived.
I’d also suggest that a lot more, not very expensive restos, now make a feature of listing their local suppliers.
3 Likes
I’d probably be OK with that as long as the lobster dish was still making some profit.
I don’t think it helps that the French are actually very conservative - I can understand the “small number of items done well” approach that restaurateurs take but a lot of the local restos have not substantially changed their menu in all the time we have been coming to France.
1 Like
We’re lucky being near Narbonne, I think. We know several bistros or brasseries that that change the menu regularly and serve seasonal and local produce where they can.
1 Like
There was going to be a bit of legislation that said resto’s would have to publish if the bought in chill cook foods. A big outrage and it was dropped which speaks volumes.
2 Likes
There’s a resto in Autun we use as it’s friendly and un-challenging to order in, and the food is generally OK. The first couple of years they had summer and winter menus (truffade was a winter item). Last year they’d gone to summer menu only with the menu laminated into the table top. 
Our favourite resto in Autun shut at the end of 2024 because the owner couldn’t get a good chef. This was really disappointing because Anna the owner was lovely and one of the first people we met to make us welcome in the area.
Is that a bit far north to find truffade? But it’s good stuff in winter (.except for my wife) ditto aligot and estouffade/estofinado.
1 Like
Probably not authentically, but we ate it in Feb 2022 in Autun, as well as Oct 2021 in the Cantal.
You can get it cooked on some of our local markets along with stalls that just sell really gloopy aligot made on the spot, whereas if you want estouffade or brandade, for some reason, you have to go to the butcher’s stall, not the poissonnier.
1 Like
I’ve not eaten those, although Aligot sounds very much like Truffade. Not at all sure I’d voluntarily try the estofinado, although I’m sure if you’ve acquired the taste it’s delicious.
Aligot’s more like cheesy super rich and gloopy potato purée, while local estouffade is the fishy variation. However, there are other estouffades in the Midi. Both our local aligot and estouffade are very nice and well worth trying if you come across them, though probably best avoided in mid-summer.
1 Like
The truffade we had in Autun included (from memory) a small amount of ham type meat sprinkled on top, where as the one in the Auvergne (not Cantal, just checked - at Murol near Aydat) came with a separate charcuterie platter, which was delicious.
1 Like
I’m currently working through a nice book that I got for Christmas called Comme on dine chez nous, which works its way around the traditional regions of France, but not just looking at their traditional recipes. It’s good fun and has maps that reveal regional similarities with different names and provides their etymological roots. discounted, it’s great value. If she hasn’t got it already, @vero in particular might enjoy.
2 Likes
My favorite local food, but the quality does vary depending on where you go to eat it. A little surprisingly, one of the best I have ever had was actually at Super Besse, during the ski season in one of the log cabin eateries at the bottom of the pistes. We’ve also made it ourselves at home, on occasion with blocks of tomme fraîche.
Can you find pounti down in the Cantal ? It is kind of going out of fashion in the Puy de Dôme.
1 Like
All our Aveyron and Cantal butchers have it.
Yet another local delicacy my wife won’t eat.
1 Like
An important part of a marriage - what each partner will and won’t eat. I think we are lucky in that respect in that my wife and I share food tastes. She doesn’t like strawberries or duck liver pâté but that’s about it.
Luckily, interstellar space is very very very big, and the Pioneer probes are very very very small.
A fine for flying too slowly for the prevailing traffic conditions is more likely I think. 
All businesses are failing the world over, that is the nature of the beast - nothing stands still and the restaurant industry is no exception to the rule. New businesses emerge as well and in general it is a sign of health not failure necessarily. But in times of economic downturn the revival does not keep pace with the closures.
France is often presented as a single country especially in the foreign press, when it is very regional and different in each region. When we first started looking at moving here, a dozen or so years ago, we looked at the Gers and I was shocked at the generally poor standard of restaurants (with a few standout exceptions) despite the availability of good produce locally. I even thought that if we did move there, I might open a place myself as there seemed to be a big opportunity.
We eventually settled in Charente-Maritime and when friends asked whether I still fancied opening a place myself I told them that it was a different kettle of fish (and seafood) altogether and good restaurants were everywhere so there was no need (or point). But I must say that over the past 10 years standards have been slipping and there are more mediocre places than there used to be, but still a lot of fantastic places left for the discerning. And still quite a few places left that are still busy for the less discerning, mind.
And no, that is not meant to be snobbish - I had a great meal last week at a routier where I chose sausage and mash as my main meal and it was brilliant. Toulouse sausage with Aligot and pureed ceps, to be more accurate. A choice of 3 entrees, 9 plats and 7 desserts all of which were home-made and of high quality - I don’t know how they do it for the €17.90 price but not surprisingly the place was absolutely rammed and buzzing with a fantastic atmosphere and a frisson of excitement about the place.
2 Likes
4 Likes
Really really bigly
1 Like
Ooh which routiers?