Restaurant La Bouitte — Restaurant in Albertville

20th in my 3 stars challenge in France (follow me for the other reviews and updates)

The Auberge. The family French Alps Inn.

It’s a three stars, so the usual question is : What’s extraordinary? What’s the story it’s telling us? Today, I’ll focus only on two points. Especially here, because I’ve been thinking of this restaurant for months now. The first point revolves around the focus on the client that reaches a incredible level. I’ll start by telling you one of my biggest regrets in my 3 stars tour in the south. I said no to the cheese chariot. I do regret this to this day. Learn from my mistakes, please. I took some pictures from afar. It’s the best cheese chariot I’ve seen in all my three stars. To a point that when I met the chef, Maxime Meilleur, I mentioned it, and that most of the 3 stars reduced or even suppressed it due to a lack of success. He told me that it was not viable economically, but he couldn’t do otherwise than offering the best cheese selection to his clients. And that’s my point. He’s focusing primarily on the client. I’ll just give a second example. I took the same menu than a table not far from me. Quickly I noticed that we didn’t have the same dishes. Intrigued I mentioned it to the chef. He explained me that every menu is tailored made to each client using a library of recipes. I won’t begin to tell you how complex it is to put this in practice in the kitchens (although I just did…). The result? The most incredible returning rate I’ve ever heard in any three stars. Still I had to admit to myself. I’ll be one of them, I also will return.

I will return for the next point, “L’Esprit d Auberge“. This subject is partly the reason why I’m posting so late. It took me time to wrap my head around this. What’s going on here that’s so enticing? Food wise, to make it short, he respects the past but defends the future. You’ll have regional ingredients , cultural and even traditional elements. One simple example is the fact that you can do a “bread pairing “ - matching the right bread for every dish, like you do for the wine. On the other side (at least) the son, Maxime, being very humble about his expertise, explores a lot of other Michelin. Aside from the fact that I appreciated being able to share experiences, it shows in his cuisine. It’s in tune with the other Michelin, especially with the smart play with acidity. So don’t expect a cuisine completely turned to the past and very traditional. No, it does respect it’s culture, its past but it does use it to defend the future of gastronomy (very close to Lallement in that sense, or even Couillon). And I m getting to my main point, the father and the son are telling a story here, hands in hands, a story about the region, its culture, its people. But being in a family Inn, at one point in the evening, the lines blur and you realize that they just don’t tell a story, they live their family history, and that for one moment, you feel more than a spectator, you fell that you had the privilege of having a tiny part in a bigger story. Their story. That’s “L esprit d Auberge”

A top tiers three stars. Somewhere you want to go back, simply to...

I have mixed feelings about this restaurant.

We stayed at the hotel during the Christmas period. I had a table reserved for the 24th at 13:30. we arrived on time and we wanted to taste the 8 course menu. We were told that it is late and we can only have the 5 course menu. Why? No one told us before that we need to be there earlier in order to taste the full menu.

we had wild rabbit and my wife almost broke her teeth from 2 small shots which apparently killed the animal and were not removed. We told a service staff and he said he will inform the kitchen. Later the chef came to our table and he was standing there without an apology. I don’t know really what he wanted. Congratulations?

3 my wife wanted to use the bathroom in between the courses. She was told from the service that she has only 1 minute because the next course is arriving. I mean seriously? Every tavern will wait to bring the food if you need to use the bathroom.

And finally, we have been to multiple Michelin restaurants, if you told me that this is a 1 star restaurant I would be fine. I’m missing the extraordinary that I was finding in other 2 or 3 star...

France

Father René and son Maxime bear a wonderfully apt surname meaning "best". Theirs is an exceptional partnership, a combination of yin and yang that gives expression to the character of the mountain terroir and their own culinary passion. On the yin side, scrupulous attention to produce, such as the herbs and berries that René picks every day. On the yang side, Maxime's energy and inspiration. The result is a cuisine that is "intelligent but intelligible". This is truly a family affair, as mother, daughter, daughter-in-law and son-in-law run the whole operation. Last but not least, in an adjoining chalet, guestrooms and suites done out in the latest in mountain chic await you.

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