Boston Thanksgiving Dinner: An Experience at Bistro du Midi

My boyfriend’s parents visited for Thanksgiving, so the four of us—who don’t really celebrate the holiday but love good food—decided to try Bistro du Midi, a fairly well-known French spot in Boston. As expected during the holidays, it was busy: our 7 PM reservation didn’t get us seated until 7:30. Thankfully, my boyfriend’s dad ordered a round of cocktails early on, which helped keep our patience topped up 🍸. The Thanksgiving menu was a three-course set for $99 per person, with an optional wine pairing for an extra $60. Since we all drink differently, we opted to share a full bottle of Duluc de Branaire-Ducru 2016. I looked it up later—online it goes for around $50–60, so paying just over $100 at the restaurant felt reasonable. It was silky on the palate with notes of berries—probably my favorite part of the whole meal 🍷. 🥩 Starter · Iberico Pork Belly Served with celeriac, quince mille-feuille, and a sauce. The pork belly itself was fantastic—rich, flavorful, and beautifully textured, and the root vegetables added a fresh, layered crunch. But! The sauce was unbelievably salty. Eating it with bread helped tone it down, but having it straight with the pork made me feel like I was dehydrating like a character in The Three-Body Problem 💧… Delicious yet distressing—mixed emotions for sure. 🦆 Main · Duck Breast with Confit Duck I was the only one who ordered the duck breast (because I don’t eat mushrooms), while the others had the turkey breast served with confit duck. The seasoning here was actually well-balanced—bacon bits, white beans, and Burgundy red wine sauce complemented each other nicely. However, I asked for medium, but the duck breast came out closer to well-done and quite chewy. By this point, it felt like the kitchen might have been overwhelmed by holiday orders, leading to some inconsistency—understanding, but still quietly吐槽-worthy. 🍎 Dessert · Apple Mille-Feuille With vanilla mousse and vanilla ice cream. Flavor-wise, this was on point, but the temperature contrast between the room-temperature pastry and the cold ice cream felt a bit off. The texture of the puff pastry was also tricky: not flaky enough to cut easily with a fork, yet not tender enough to scoop up neatly. Taste-wise, I preferred this over the pumpkin tart and crème brûlée the others ordered, but I still ate it with a hint of confusion. 💬 Overall Thoughts On the plus side: relaxed vibe, comfortable pacing, quality ingredients. But for the price, the inconsistency in execution left me hesitant—fine for a casual meal, but I might think twice before treating someone here. One last little gripe: outside French-speaking regions, “bistro” originally meant a cozy, affordable wine bar—so how did it become synonymous with “expensive restaurant” once it crossed the border? 😅 #FrenchCuisine #ThanksgivingRestaurant #Boston #BostonFoodDiscovery #BostonFrenchFood