The name Michelin used to accompany us on every vacation to France from the US because we always brought the guidebook for the city that we were visiting. If we were going to rent a car then we’d need the map to get us from Paris to that destination. Eventually it was more efficient, although considerably heavier, to pack an atlas that covered all of the roads in France. Although we never consulted it, we knew about the Red Guide for hotels and eateries and who hasn’t heard of the famous Michelin stars awarded to outstanding restaurants? That’s why I was surprised when it wasn’t that “celestial accolade” mentioned in the newspaper article saying that three chefs in our département were “at the top of the ranking of the best restaurateurs in the world.”

La Liste is a global ranking of the best restaurants in the world, based on the compilation of thousands of publications, hundreds of guidebooks, and millions of online reviews. There is a score ranging from 80 to 100, that reflects the quality of the food, service, ambiance, and wine list of each establishment. The 1000 rated listings are the ones that have the highest scores selected from over 20,000 restaurants across 200 countries.

Since we’ve walked to one of these 3, I’ll list that one first:

• La Table de Franck Putelat in Carcassonne, score: 90.5
• La Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne, score: 91.0
• L’Auberge du vieux puits, in Fontjoncouse, score: 99.0

While no restaurant received a perfect 100, for 2024 there are seven at the top with 99.5. Represented countries include China, Japan, and Germany plus specifically:

• Guy Savoy, Paris, France
• La Vague d’Or-Cheval Blanc, Saint-Tropez, France
• L’Enclume-Simon Rogan, Grange-over-Sands, England
• Le Bernardin, New York, NY, USA

Over the past several months we’ve visited many of the countries surrounding France and enjoyed restaurant meals in all of them. Just as we like to compare what life was like in the US vs. our current situation, it’s fun to look at the differences we discovered on these recent vacations. Below are highlights of what we appreciate about dining in France that we didn’t necessarily find true in our neighboring countries. These are generalities that might not have applied in every situation.

• The table is yours for the evening. No one rushes your meal to make way for the next group of diners.
• Bread is served without asking and there’s no extra charge for it.
• Tap water is available at no extra charge.
• House wine is chosen to complement most dishes and is served in pitchers at reasonable prices.
• A tip is always appreciated but never expected.

Outside of this country we’ve made reservations that had a 2-hour time limit at the table, a separate charge for a basket of bread or for each piece that you ate, and being told that tap water was not available; only purchased bottled water. The most bizarre request was to pay a fee to use the cutlery. Had we known in advance we might have eaten with our fingers!

The 1000 restaurants: https://www.laliste.com/fr/laliste/world

Photo notes: The featured photo across the top today is at Brasserie L’Excelsior in Nancy, France and in the first paragraph we were in Bordeaux at Echo.