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written by Mike Meade , 28 June 2009

I think that France really still is the "bastion of good taste" - for the very few. It is an elitist culture which excludes most French people from access to the best of French traditional food and drink.

On the top end, French cusine is still superb, but that's not what most people can afford - not only in cash but also in time. Who can take 2 hours off for lunch these days? The repetitive nature of the average French restaurant has much to answer for in the rise of the Golden Arches. Here on the Riviera the ubiquitous salade nicoise, soupe de poissons and steak frites served by a surly waiter is enough to drive anyone to lunch with Ronald.

Do you want good traditional French food at the same price as you'd pay for average fare in France? Try a British country or village "gastro-pub" with an imported French chef and you'll get a taste of what French cuisine once was for the average person.

The best French wines are still the world's best but how many French people can afford them? Supermarket plonk is more likely to be most people's choice.

The norm for the average French diner is indeed more likely to be "MacDo". The contempt offered to families with children in traditional French restaurants has a lot to do with this. There are a few exceptions but French eateries tend not to welcome children at family meals out. If you want to see kids integrated into social outings, look to America instead. Their mass-produced hamburgers might not be the best of family cuisine, but their attitude towards families with children is an example France would do well to follow.

When did you last see a high-chair and children's menu offered in a French restaurant? And why aren't there "children welcome" signs on restaurant doors like there are in America?

This is all most regrettable but is part of the uniformisation of traditional national cultures world-wide. Sadly, solid and tasty French family cuisine has been replaced by the convenient, tasteless (and somewhat addictive) junk food habit.

In the same way in Britain, traditional local brewery ales have passed the torch to mass consumption of imported Carlsberg or (horror of horrors) draught Kronenberg. The double-decker is giving way to the unsightly bendy-bus and the corner copper is more likely to be wearing a baseball cap than the traditional helmet.

Sad but true.

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written by MikeP , 28 June 2009

There's a lot of truth in this. In the last 20 years I have eaten two outstanding, superb, memorably mouthwatering meals in 'French' restaurants. One was a restaurant called L'Estaminet, somewhere off Charing Cross Road in London, and the other was in a tiny place in Grand Junction, Colorado.

In both cases I enjoyed steaks which had nothing in common with the tasteless, stringy, chewy apologies for beef usually offered in France, most of which ends up left on the plate as dissecting the 'meat' from the sinew and fat is just not worth the aggravation. I'm talking about a lump of steak, perhaps 12 ounces, of which all that remains on the plate is a trace of blood. That is how a steak should be.

In both cases the service and atmosphere left nothing to be desired, we were offered wines by a waiter who knew what he was talking about, and didn't just want to plonk (pun intended) down a bottle of the 'vin maison' because that is the easiest route, or some absurdly over-priced 'chateau' wine.

Even the ghastly fake-French Bistro 'Cafe Rouge' and similar chains in the UK are better than the average Provencale restaurant in France, and I'd rather be served by a smiling, and usually pretty, Polish waitress, who probably speaks perfect English and maybe French too, than a glum faced automaton in a sweaty shirt who's looking at us with a mixture of contempt and derision.

In defence of France though I have to say that dining out with children (or dogs) is often the passport to a better experience. In the UK family restaurants are a sad experience of the Happy Eater (Happy Pleb as my sisters call them) variety, with the non-family type restaurants decidedly unwelcoming to families with children. In their defence I should add that children in France are generally far better behaved and adjusted than their UK counterparts, but that's another discussion.

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written by Mike Meade , 28 June 2009

Ironic isn't it, that French children ARE much better behaved... yet not all that welcome in too many places.

What we need is a list of good restaurants where whole families are indeed welcome.

I'd recommend "Le Routier Sympa" chemin de Campelieres on the border between Mougins and Le Cannet. The food is excellent, there is ample provision for children which they welcome (and if it's the kid's birthday he/she gets sparklers and an overloud rendition of Stevie Wonder singing "Happy Birthday to ya'".

Portions are more than ample (too copious even), there is also a pizza oven (kids?) But the carte and the day's specials are quite pricey. Too much so. And they do have that maddening habit of trying to push bottled water on you when a carafe of tap water will do. You have to be precise in asking for "eau de robinet" or they'll bring Evian.

So, pricey, but excellent fare from a spotless kitchen (I've seen it). And friendly to families. Strangely, it's closed Sundays but open for lunch and dinnar all other days.

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written by Whosays? , 01 July 2009

Here goes Mikep again, have to have your say everytime and won't miss a chance to criticize the French. They eat fast food. So do Australians and British and probably for all I know Norwegians and Greeks and Thailandese people but you aren't having a go at them.

If the MacDonalds are so bad why are they serving 1 million customers every day? I would'nt eat it but that is only because I am a vegetarian but I eat ther chips and salads ..... mmmmm .. my mouth is watering at the thought .... I'm off to Le Big Mac and you can enjoy your steak lump of 12 ounces. It's bad for you by the way.

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written by MikeP , 02 July 2009

Whosays?

The jury is still out on whether or not meat is bad for us, but humans are carnivorous animals, and I've known many vegetarians who are peaky and pale looking and constantly have minor ailments. It's really a question of 'all things in moderation'.

As far as others eating junk food, yes, I'm aware that there are MacDonalds in just about every other country I've been to, although I haven't seen them in Baghdad or Havana yet.

Criticism of the French? We do have the right of free speech but my commentary was more about the loss of the French Bistro culture that I remember as a child when we used to come to France on holiday.

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written by Lavinia Devine , 16 July 2009

You can still get Great value and delicious food in France.....I agree the cafe's serve a similar fare throughout much the same as the UK's Greasy Spoon. I am still impressed by stand alone premises making everything right down to the ice cream. That is what makes it delicious. Food that has been supplied pre-prepped just does not taste the same regardless of the quality of the ingredients.

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written by plymouthian , 24 July 2009

I am saying this with a smile on my face just in case of misunderstandings. Listen 'whosays', I look at this forum Because Mike P. contributes to it. He is someone who has an opinion on a lot of things, which stimulates and provokes comment, I like that, I don't always agree with his comments, he wouldnt expect me to, for example, I like French cafés and restaurants and don't find them awfull or unfriendly, my children have always been welcome and the meals are always good value for money. We can't always just agree on everything or not participate, its what makes a forum interesting. So lets hope that a few more people out there with something to say will speak out, we can agree to disagree its not a problem communicating is the name of the game

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written by MikeP , 27 July 2009

Of course I don't expect people to agree with all or even most of my comments, but debate is what makes life interesting, so I'm always glad when someone steps in to take issue with me.

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written by MikeP , 30 July 2009

Here's what to me sums up the the downside of eating out in France.

I went to Valbonne to meet a friend who'd decided we should go to Cafe Latin for lunch. Bad move.

Nobody had the decency to show us to a table so we sat down and were ignored for about 10 minutes. I finally attracted the attention of the sour looking waiter who came over to the table, picked up the ashtray, pointed to a small card with a hieroglyphic scrawled on it, which had been hidden underneath the ashtray, and snappped : "reservé".

We moved to another table and he brought us menus and told us the 'plats du jour'. When he came back to take the order we ordered a large salad (?13) and a small one (?6), a beer, and a 'carafe d'eau', because I strongly object to drinking bottled water for ecological reasons, it's one of the greatest scams of our time. It also happens to cost up to 8 times more per litre than petrol. We got the "C'est tout" and raised eyebrow treatment.

The drinks arrived, the water in a tatty scratched plastic Pernod jug, then the salads, with no dressing. We asked 3 times for dressing and then gave up and decided to eat and go and get the whole miserable experience over as fast as possible.

The 'bill' was scrawled illegibly, not itemised, with just the total written on it. I purposely paid by credit card suspecting, that otherwise the money might not have been accounted for in the correct manner.

The place was full, so no doubt they don't care at this time of the year how many customers they lose, and they may have assumed we were tourists (off whom they live but that's another story) even though we both speak good French. I noticed that the same waiter who was sullen and unhelpful to us was a lot more pleasant to other people whom he obviously knew, in other words, regulars.

If you treat newcomers badly, they never become regulars. We certainly won't go back there, nor possibly will anyone who reads this or whom we tell about it.

Unfortunately the waiter disappeared so fast with the credit machine after taking the payment that I didn't even have time to tell him he'd lost two customers for good, but I suspect that his reaction would have been : "C'est comme ca...." As my friend said : "He clearly has a problem with himself.

We then went across to the Place des Arcades and sat at the Cafe Jdeed where we had coffees and a 'carafe d'eau' and were treated with charm and courtesy.

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written by Tom Halpin , 27 August 2009

I do wonder why some of you live in France at all when you would obviously be so much happier in America or UK.

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written by Tom Halpin , 27 August 2009

Just read the last post and I can assure you the food at the Latin Cafe is far superior to that at Jdeed. I would agree about the warmth of the welcome at Cafe Jdeed and the lack of welcome, until they get to know you, at the Latin Cafe, but I know where I would go to eat. The Latin Cafe is busy at lunchtime all winter with a large French clientèle.
It does help if you arrive on a Harley:)

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written by Tom Halpin , 27 August 2009

My wife just commented that the waiter (probably the owner) at the Latin Cafe obviously clocked MikeP and co as soon as you sat down and said to himself " I don't need these two"

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written by Tom Halpin , 27 August 2009

A rriend had what he described as one of the best ever steaks at Le Coin de la Rue in Valbonne last night.
Le Caudron Solaire does a brilliant fillet steak.
The LAtin Cafe did a fantatic fillet as a plat de jour last year for 15 euros.

American steaks can taste great but the fact that they are pumped full of hormones really puts me off. I don't know if American beef is still banned in the EU because of this.

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written by MikeP , 29 August 2009

"I do wonder why some of you live in France at all when you would obviously be so much happier in America or UK."

That's a strange deduction and presumably directed at me. Would you care to justify it?

"A rriend had what he described as one of the best ever steaks at Le Coin de la Rue in Valbonne last night.
Le Caudron Solaire does a brilliant fillet steak.
The LAtin Cafe did a fantatic fillet as a plat de jour last year for 15 euros. "

And your point of comparison?

"the waiter (probably the owner) at the Latin Cafe obviously clocked MikeP and co as soon as you sat down and said to himself " I don't need these two" "

You are correct, he was the owner. Had he made this decision, and one to which he's quite entitled, the correct approach would have been to simply tell us he had no table for us, rather than to serve us with total contempt and derision.

"and I can assure you the food at the Latin Cafe is far superior to that at Jdeed."

I'm not aware that I stated otherwise. However I'd rather eat mediocre food served pleasantly than better food served by a sullen scowling waiter who acts as if he is doing me a favour, when the reality is that it is the other way round.

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written by MikeP , 14 September 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foo...-says.html

"France's restaurant scene is in crisis, but Britain's goes from strength to strength. You can now get a decent cup of coffee in and a nice croissant in a Little Chef, which is more than can be said for many places in France."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6155033/French-food-is-past-its-sell-by-date.html

"I am not sure the French care all that much about good food anymore. How else do you explain McDonald's phenomenal success in France? How else do you explain France's stubborn refusal to absorb any immigrant cuisine with passion? "

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written by Mickael , 14 September 2009

Im a young 22 years old French man and I don't really agree with that article.

I love good French food, I love cooking and I rather prefer to go to eat in a Brasserie than a Mc Donald (as most of my friends).

I am going to Mc Donald sometimes (an average once every 2 months), but it's generally a "go out with friends meal". When I take my girlfriend out to a restaurant, I am not going to a fast food restaurant.

I lived in england, and I didn't really have the choice : fast food or pub or inafordable. In Nice I can have a meal deal in a restaurant for 15?... so kids can...

When I was a child, I loved to go to Mc Donalds (because of the kid menu with a toy, because it was fun, because I could eat with my fingers etc.) However, I am not a junk food addict at all...

French food isn't dead, but I still have to admit that lots of people now think fast food restaurants are restaurants... and it's quite sad

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written by MikeP , 15 September 2009

Mickael : I appreciate your thoughtful and well-balanced comments. The sad reality is in your last paragraph which sums up the current state of affairs. I wouldn't go near a McDonalds, but that is not entirely because of the quality of the food, it's also a matter of principle not to endorse such a pervasive global organisation, here I have some sympathy with a certain Mr. Bove.

Some English pub food is outstanding (as in good), and some is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Many pubs have re-branded themselves very succesfully as restaurants, and offer reasonable value for money.

Bon appetit.