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Advice for Restaurant Dinners

R

RichardBrisAu

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
April 2024
Hi,

Cathy and I are starting our Camino in mid April 2024 and going through to SJPP by late May / early June. Along the way I am sure we will, on occasion, look to have drinks and dinners in local restaurants and hotels to round out our French Food and Wine experience a little more....

Any advice please on how to find great restaurants, on what to expect on the menu, do we need to make reservations ahead, what time do things open and close and any advice on price guides for a standard 2 or 3 course dinner with a couple of glasses of wine.

Thankyou.
 
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I'm not an expert, but the best value you tend to find in France is the menu du jour (3x courses) which tends to be daytime only, it will tend to be around 15€ which will normally include a drink (not a whole bottle like in Spain!). They are generally very good though, especially away from the tourist areas. Otherwise it will be a case of wandering around and seeing where takes your fancy, which isn't a bad plan. And of course your friend Mr Google taken with a pinch of salt.
 
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If you think of a „good“ Restaurant with some sort of „haute cusine francais“ then expect at least 50€ per person for a three course dinner with some glasses of wine (with no limit above).
 
On the Le Puy Way, and in France generally, you don’t need to go to a ‘high level’ restaurant to enjoy excellent food and wine. For example in Lectoure and surrounding towns and villages, where we’ve been living for some time, there are quite a few good cafes/restaurants. The menu du jour (3 courses) can be found for around 20 - 25 euros. And for less if you choose 2 courses - entree+plat or plat+dessert. In the evenings it’s often a few euros more. Menu des Pèlerins will be less expensive.

If you would like to reserve a few high level places - I can personally recommend Racine in Lectoure and Citrus in Condom. Both are open for lunch and dinner, but not every day so you’d need to look up their websites. Reservation recommended.
 
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dick bird said:
Don’t even think about ordering lunch after 1 pm.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s a good tip. Lunch service in most cafes/restaurants is usually 12 to 2 so it’s good to be seated by 1pm. The restaurant won’t necessarily close at 2 but food service will likely finish before. Having spent a fair amount of time in France in recent years I’ve come to understand that this is partly due to work life balance but also, importantly, that the food offered is typically such fresh produce that the restaurant owners limit their buying to accommodate the number of diners within those hours. Arriving after 1 can mean some dishes are no longer available.
 
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I didn't eat in restaurants often, and the few times I did, it was in the "cheaper" ones, and basic meals (omelette, salads...), nothing special.

Food was still fantastic every single time.

I have come to the conclusion that it is probably impossible to get a truly bad meal in France.

Restaurants are normally open for lunch around noon, and then again in the evening.

What I found very funny is that often I had to make reservations for the campsite restaurants. For eating a plate of fries. The french do love their reservations!

But usually I just showed up and waited to be shown where to sit. For more fancy or popular places I guess a reservation might be necessary or at least the polite thing to do.
 
As always: go where the locals go.

On all my trips in the last 20 years I followed this rule and was never disappointed.
If it was in Florence, in Amsterdam, in Paris, on the Costa Daurada or on my Caminos.
If you can't find out for yourself, ask your host.

HTH
Roland
 
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You may already know that this route will take you through some of the least populated areas of France. So my suggestion would be to ask ahead, as Roland49 just mentioned, at the auberges or gîtes where you stay. By that I mean, where to dine on the next segments of the GR65.

I think your best bets will be in the larger towns: Estaing, Conques, Figeac, Cahors, etc. With perhaps one exception - tiny Aubrac. There you'll find fabulous pastries at Chez Germaine as well as good food and charming dining ambience at L’hôtel la Dômerie. (My experiences at these Aubrac establishments is almost 10 years old, so check ahead, again as Roland 49 advised.)

An anecdote: on my second trip across the Aubrac Plateau I was with my wife and we were overtaken by a solo-walking Frenchman. We chatted for a few minutes. He told us that there was a very good tête de veau served at the hotel in Aubrac. And, did we know, a good tête de veau was the favorite dish of Jacques Chirac, the former French President. And that this is not a dish we should sample in an average restaurant.

Quite informative was the Frenchman, providing à la fois a restaurant recommendation, a suggested dish and also a bit of lore about it. But it also was an example of what we later learned was the French enthusiasm for forward feeding, the good fromage in this department, the beef in another, and the arrival in foie gras territory. Same for spirits: the wine of Cahors, then the territory of Armagnac. The list goes on and on.

So we decided to follow the Frenchman's advice and treated ourselves to a charming, modestly priced room (again, nearly ten years ago). A bath and a nap had us ready for dinner. The small dining room was nicely appointed. My wife admired the burnished wooden mantle above the room's fireplace. And the Frenchman was already seated. With a companion. His wife? A fellow hiker? Their table was thirty feet from ours, on the opposite side of the dining room. From that distance we couldn't determine whether he was, indeed, tucking into Jacques Chirac's favorite dish. But, amazingly, we could hear, muffled and low, their conversation. Despite people seated at a table between ours and the Frenchman's.

I am an adventurous eater, but I didn't opt for the tête de veau of Aubrac. I would do that with the French hiking group we would later join. But that day an encounter with a random Frenchman led us to a charming small hotel. And, more importantly, to insights about French culture: the importance ascribed to food and drink, and how it is possible to carry on a conversation in a lowered voice. A lot of education in one day.
 
TMcA said:
Insights about French culture: the importance ascribed to food and drink, and how it is possible to carry on a conversation in a lowered voice. A lot of education in one day.
Click to expand...
Well observed @TMcA One can easily end up in a long conversation with a total stranger regarding food and wine, particularly the local specialties, as per your encounter. Regarding speaking in a lowered voice - I have noticed this in my time in France. Small groups rarely speak loudly and even larger groups are rarely rowdy - even in restaurants (it may be different in Les Cafes de Sport when the Rugby is showing). People seem aware of others and respectful that they may also want to enjoy an evening - tranquille. It's a little different where I come from.

PS. Tête de veau - I've never been able to bring myself to have it, though my husband appreciates it, from time to time.
 
You typically will need reservations as most restaurants open for dinner at 7 and shut around 9:30. We were able to sit in the bar area if we didn't have reservations and order off the menu. We were turned away from places for lunch and dinner in a few of the bigger places where they explained they were "full". Meaning it had all been reserved for that mealtime. Took us a while to figure this protocol out.
 
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I've not much experience specifically of the Le Puy route, which I think you are referring to -- though generally in the smaller towns or bourgs in France, and in the villages where you can still eat, often there can be no choice as such, but it can be eat in this place here or don't. Though it's not rare for the larger villages to have a mini-supermarket.

Having said that, French gîtes and Albergues often provide the food rather than expecting pilgrims to go out and provide for themselves -- though the Arles route is more frustrating in this regard than others.

Oh, and as to wine, between the two of you I'd say get a carafe or a bottle. Not all eateries have wine in a carafe. Wine is more and more frequently not included. Sometimes even the water isn't, unless you specifically and insistently ask for tap water.
davejsy said:
I'm not an expert, but the best value you tend to find in France is the menu du jour (3x courses) which tends to be daytime only, it will tend to be around 15€
Click to expand...
Some years ago maybe, but now you'd be quite lucky to find anything of the sort under €18 to €25+ ...

Street food and takeaway stuff from supermarkets, as well as bakery food, have become a LOT more popular than they were previously.
dick bird said:
Don’t even think about ordering lunch after 1 pm.
Click to expand...
eh, now *that* is extremely variable.

There are still a few old-fashioned restaurants having the old manner of two or three services at lunchtime between midday and ~2:30. Not to mention those brasseries serving between midday and late evening !!

----

I really do miss the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in this regard -- you could eat seriously well in a workers, roadsters, or farm labourers place if you were lucky enough to get in just in time for the meal.
 
JabbaPapa said:
Some years ago maybe, but now you'd be quite lucky to find anything of the sort under €18 to €25+ ...
Click to expand...
On the contrary. I spend a bit of time near Rennes in France, and there are a couple of places I have been that have Plat du Jour menus for €15 or less.

For example this place is amazing and was only €13.50 both times I went last year, as was this place also €13.50. The first place is only open for lunch, and I do think the best value Plat du Jours are going to be the lunchtime versions which I guess is when most French go out, and workers stopping for lunch also seems to be the market.

It may of course be different down South!!
 
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Great !!

I have been on walkabout all over France, and whilst good prices such as those do still exist, they're sadly more the exception than the rule.

Don't mistake me -- the quality of a proper French €18-€25 menu not including wine is often very much worth it !!

The thing to watch out for, sadly, is if the establishment has a proper kitchen, or instead is serving mass-produced frozen dishes without telling you so (some French Gîtes/Albergues serve this sort of fodder, but are quite honest about it).
 
JabbaPapa said:
The thing to watch out for, sadly, is if the establishment has a proper kitchen, or instead is serving mass-produced frozen dishes without telling you so (some French Gîtes/Albergues serve this sort of fodder, but are quite honest about it).
Click to expand...
Yes I guess this must happen.

The two places I mentioned certainly don't fall into this category and the meals were always amazing for the price with fresh salads etc. Always rammed full of locals and difficult to get in sometimes.

I think it certainly becomes more scaleable when you are only doing a limited Plat du Jour and you can base it around the available ingredients at the right prices. We often forget that some of the best meals have the fewest ingredients.
 
Wow.....

Thank you all so very much for so much great advice. We are looking forward to muddling our way through and speaking with locals and pilgrims along the way BUT its great also to get a feel for the basics and some starting recommendations to set us on way. Thank you again for sharing and if anything else comes to mind please don't hesitate to drop in a post.

Richard
 
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I will recommend that you get the Miam Miam Do Do, a french guide book with a lot of information about the route, food, places to sleep, shops , pilgrim hostel and so on, and you don’t have to be fluent in French to understand it, it got excellent pictograms.
 
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Consider referring to the Michelin guide -- I believe there are some along the Le Puy. I don't recall a bad meal along that route.
 
We walked in April/May 2022. It is probably a good idea to book ahead at Le Puy. We stayed two nights and particularly enjoyed Nomad. In Estiang, we had a lovely dinner at Aux Armes de Estiang. In Figeac, I can highly recommend La Cuisine du Marche Restaurant - we had asparagus Hollandaise, duckling, and finished with strawberries.
The restaurant at the Peche Merle caves is wonderful.
We were hoping to find nice places to eat lunch but there was almost nothing available, not even a boulangerie in most towns and most of our Auberges offered picnics which we preordered. If this is available, it is a good indicator that there will be no food options ahead! We mostly ate at our Auberges which were uniformally delicious and home-cooked, and communal with the other guests all being walkers though mostly French people walking for a weekend or a week at a time, and not necessarily pilgrims. We did stay at a couple of Gites, and the food was usually good, except for the Domaine au Sauvages which we were expecting to showcase the local produce but instead had a meagre and disappointing meal of watery soup, dry meat in a thin, watery tomato sauce and pain perdu served with the highlight of local cheese.
On the whole, it was cheaper to stay as a couple at an augberge in a queen bed with our own ensuite, linen and towels, full breakfast and excellent 3-course dinner with wine than pay for two people in a Gite in a bunk room with shared facilities and hire linen and byo towels and bedding.
 
Consider the gites that offer the demi pension. We enjoyed some really good dinners during our time on that route. They weren’t all outstanding but many were (loved those cheese courses). It was true French home cooking. It also takes the angst out of trying to find a good restaurant.
 
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