A Culinary Tour of France

Guided by Michelin and Gault et Millau

With over 600 Michelin "starred" restaurants, France is the place for sophisticated cuisine - this is hardly a surprise! Paris, the epicenter of French gastronomy, by itself boasts over 70 starred restaurants (10 of which with 3 stars) and is heaven on earth for any French food aficionado. The Eiffel Tower, with its 1-star Jules Verne restaurant at the top, stands as a beacon of French culinary prowess and pride.

Outside Paris, starred restaurants are everywhere, from Strasbourg in Alsace to Quimper in Brittany, from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the Straits of Dover to Collioure near the Spanish border. To illustrate the proliferation of good food in France, here's the map of 3-star restaurants in 2007.

The red Michelin Guide for hotels and restaurants is arguably the best-known food guide in the world. This book, published by the tire manufacturer of the same name, classifies establishments in 4 categories:

• 3 stars: Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey
• 2 stars: Excellent cooking, worth a detour
• 1 star: A very good restaurant in its category
• Bib gourmand: Establishments offering good quality cuisine at reasonable prices. (Bib is short for Bibendum - the Latin word for "drink" - which is the name of the plump tire man Michelin uses as its logo.)

The Michelin Guide has been around for decades. Half a million copies are published every year and, as the benchmark of French cuisine, it is an excellent tool for the selection of "premier" restaurants in France.

But Michelin is not the only measure of French gastronomic excellence. For many years, there has been a strong contender to Michelin supremacy: the Gault et Millau Guide. This guidebook does not use a star system. Instead, it rates restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20. The points are awarded strictly based on the quality of the food with comments about service, price or the general atmosphere given separately. They normally do not give points under 10, and a score of 20 is almost unheard of. In the U.S., Gault et Millau publishes travel guides under the Gayot name and also produces the Gayot.com website, "The Guide to the Good Life."

Which of the two guidebooks is best is highly debatable. Michelin is better known and therefore more influential, while Gault et Millau has been considered more purist by some because their system is based only on the quality of the food itself, not on the décor or the overall experience.

With so many first-class restaurants continuously scrutinized and rated by professional (and anonymous) food critics, the possibilities for a top-notch culinary experience in France are endless.

Tour suggestions

Imagine a tour starting at Château les Crayères in Reims (2 stars), the heart of the Champagne region, with visits of world-famous champagne houses Taittinger, Pommery, Veuve-Clicquot and more; then, La Côte St Jacques in Joigny (3 stars), at the center of the Chablis area; followed by Troisgros in Roanne (3 stars), after an afternoon of touring the vineyards of Burgundy; on to the "Nouvelle Cuisine" of world-famous Paul Bocuse near Lyon (3 stars); and, perhaps, move on to Provence and the French Riviera for "dessert."

This is only one scenario among so many others. Think of the Médoc, for example, with Château Cordeillan Bages (2 stars) in Pauillac, north of Bordeaux, or the legendary cuisine of the Basque Country to the south. So many mouth-watering options!

Having said that, you don't have to dine at starred restaurants to have a memorable culinary experience, far from it. France abounds with family-owned restaurants, crêperies, cafés and bistros, and you can find your gastronomic pleasure in just about any small town or village in any remote corner of the country.

Or how about learning to cook French food yourself? Take cooking classes to study the philosophy and techniques that make French cuisine so special.

But, consider another option: canal and river cruising. Slow-moving barge-hotels take you to out-of-the-way places - through vineyards and rustic countryside - and include gourmet meals prepared by your own on-board chef from local fresh produce. Needless to say, the meals are served with some of the best wines from the surrounding areas. For a list of river and canal cruises in Burgundy, Alsace, Provence and other regions, click here.

As you can see, there are many possibilities for memorable gastronomic tours of France. Let us know where and when you want to go. We will create a custom program that fits your group's interests and requirements.

    

We have visited virtually all regions of France. See pictures from our trips:

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