Want a good French meal? Don't go to France

Voila un article intéressant que vient de m'envoyer Oliver, mon ami canadien qui travaille dans les relations publiques a Tokyo.
C'est assez triste a lire mais cela rejoint l'impression générale qu'ont les étrangers et français expatriés sur la qualité du service et l'accueil de bon nombre de restaurants en France.
Et en y repensant, c'est vrai que, si on fait abstraction des prix multipliés par 2 ou 3, les restaurants français a l'étranger sont souvent très bons ! :)

J'en profite d'ailleurs pour faire de la pub pour The French Stall, restaurant traditionnel français situe au beau milieu de Little India a Singapour (544 Serangoon Road). J'y ai diné avec des amis vendredi soir, avec au menu : escargots, terrine de foie de volaille, faux-filet sauce au poivre et frites (a la française :), plateau de fromage, profiterole géante, et deux bouteilles de bordeaux pour 6. Cout par personne : 30 euros ! Comparé aux restaus français de luxe qu'on retrouve dans le reste de Singapour, c'est une belle prouesse ! Le patron est breton, et au moins pas de chichis, on est tranquilles, a la bonne franquette ! Un restaurant que je recommence vivement.

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Pour revenir a l'article, celui-ci a été écrit en anglais et vous pourrez trouver une approximation de traduction ici.

Want a good French meal? Don't go to France
The International Herald Tribune
By Michael Johnson
November 27, 2008

BORDEAUX: Only a few years ago you could be pretty sure to get an above-average meal at most any restaurant in France, priced right and served by people proud of their profession.

Ah, those were the days. John Mariani, food and wine critic of Esquire magazine, told me recently that he would never forget the aroma billowing from a plate of blanquette de veau he had ordered in a modest Paris establishment some years ago. "I can still smell it," he said. "Wonderful."

And I recall the taste of my first boudin noir and baked apples in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Paris in the 1970s. Combined with a red Burgundy, it set off my taste buds very nicely.

These happy encounters are becoming rare, however, as France appears to be losing its leadership in simple, honest cooking. Mariani says he would love to be able to "parachute in" and find fabulous food at random, as he once did, but it's "just not possible today".

My experience exactly. Mid-range restaurants are suffering from a bad case of what the French call "J'm'en foutisme" (I don't care-ism), which leads to indifference and finally déresponsibilsation (not my fault-ism).


Everyone seems to have a favorite restaurant disaster story, but a couple of recent experiences have really upped my dander. At the appropriately named Café de l'Esperance (Café of Hope) near Bordeaux, hope is just what you need when all the bustle is happening at the other tables. "Oops, I forgot to process your order," the waiter finally said. And at La Winery in the Médoc I counted seven dead flies on the window sill while waiting an hour between courses. In both cases, the cooking was a disappointment.

Traveling in New England recently, I got the feeling that it's easier to find good French food abroad. In Boston, after a fine meal of traditional French cooking, I asked to speak with the chef. Jacky Robert, owner of three moderately priced Petit Robert restaurants in the area, came out of the kitchen clad in his apron. I asked him about American trends. "It's very competitive here so we work hard to keep our standards up," he said. "Americans have become a lot more demanding."

Young French chefs gravitate to the United States, he said, where money flows more freely. "Americans are not afraid of being rich." The biggest problems for the new chefs are getting a U.S. visa and avoiding having their personal sets of knives confiscated by with Homeland Security officers.

French chefs also are heading for London, Tokyo and other major cities to make their careers. And it's not just the three star restaurants that are hiring them. Many are recruited for mid-range restaurants. Figures are hard to come by but in Paris an employment agency called International Services is actively recruiting for French restaurants abroad. "We recruit hundreds of chefs, pastry chefs and kitchen helpers every year," says its president, Marc Chetrit. "Some go to the U.S. but lots of them are taken up by the Emirates, Australia, East Europe and luxury cruise ships."

I recently sought out Pascal Rémy, a former Michelin inspector, and he was unequivocal. "We French used to be the strongest in good everyday cuisine in our own market," he said. "Now we're the weakest."

Rémy created a stir a few years ago with his book "L'inspecteur se met à table" (The inspector sits down to eat), in which he tells of bad habits creeping into the cuisine culture. Chefs in France are under pressure to find cheaper ingredients and achieve better financial results. He quotes one as telling a seafood supplier to provide lower-grade fish because "the public doesn't know the difference."

Rémy believes he has found the source of the problem. First, the culinary professions have lost their luster. Kitchen work and waiting tables has been "totally devalued" as a career. The French 35-hour work week has helped undermine pride in the profession.

Second, he says, even cooking schools have let standards slide. "The training of our young people is lamentable," he said.

I think another problem is that French chef have forsaken tradition for "creativity." "I have to control a lot of my young chefs who are too eager to be creative," Robert says.

At Petit Robert in Boston, my French companion went traditional and ordered the Hachi Parmentier, a country staple of mashed potatoes and ground beef. "This is excellent," she said, digging in. "Not like that horror we get in France."

Michael Johnson is a journalist based in Bordeaux.