La Fourchette — Restaurant in Avignon

Here are no pro food critic and most people talk about random things without providing any pro evaluation or analysis of the food. Surprisingly, nobody mentioned the creative appetizers that the restaurant offers.

This place specializes in creative twists featuring scallops, duck, and pork, but to me, the most creative dish was the complimentary appetizer.

🥩Creative Appetizer: It consists of bread, biscuits, and a sauce that's a bit challenging to identify but has a seafood essence blended into a paste. All the essence of the food and the chef's craftsmanship are concentrated in this sauce. When spread on a piece of bread, it's appetizing and visually appealing. If shop owner happened to read this, please share me more about this dish.

🥩Veil Based on the numerous praises, the word 'veil' was mentioned the most. After trying steaks in Lyon, I had temporarily lost confidence in French chefs' ability to cook steaks to the ideal level, However, after trying the veil here, my faith in French chefs' steak-cooking abilities was restored. This steak is not thin, but it's tender on the outside, locking in the juices, and the cooking is spot on. The mashed potatoes as a side dish are creative, with celery juice added for extra richness. A bit of black pepper is added to enhance the overall flavor.

🥩Beef Stew: This is said to be the restaurant's specialty and the reason why most diners come. However, for those who have had Chinese-style beef stew with potatoes or Russian-style beef stew, the ultimate in beef stew can be found in these two dishes. The pinnacle of beef stew isn't about making the beef overly tender or flavorful; it's about how to ensure tenderness and flavor while preserving the natural aroma and texture of the beef. For example, some high-end American steakhouses make the steaks so tender they feel like pork, completely losing the essence of beef. This restaurant has this issue; for professional foodies, the beef is overcooked, and although it's tender, it's soft to the point of feeling like eating rice porridge (rice porridge with slightly firmer rice grains). It loses the beef's fibrous texture and leaves just the seasoning lingering in the air.

🥩French Escargot: This restaurant serves the most delicious escargot I've had so far. Although the escargot I had in Lyon was good, both used parsley and butter for seasoning, but the escargot here is even more delicious. Moreover, the escargot meat has already been prepared, so diners don't need to do it themselves, showing the chef's thoughtfulness.

🥩Stir-Fried Small Squid: This is also an appetizer. The small squids are roasted to a perfect crisp and served with salad and a special sweet and sour sauce, making it a good appetizer. Of course, if you can only choose one, you must go for the escargot.

🥩Fried Mashed Potatoes: This is just a side dish, but you can clearly see the chef's dedication. The mashed potatoes are fine and dense and have even been coated and fried to a crispy texture. If any fast-food restaurant could offer this food, it would become the world's most popular fast-food restaurant.

Some say the highest praise for desserts is that they aren't overly sweet, but the desserts at this restaurant are indeed very sweet. The ice cream has a regular flavor, but the caramel and brownie base use too much sugar, making the overall dessert too sweet.

Like some diners who say that the food here is salty, indeed, adding a bit more salt can enhance the freshness of the food. It's like a photo editor adding too much saturation. Even though you know it's a filtered photo, it still looks better than the original. The same principle applies to the food at this restaurant.

The service here is excellent. They don't provide an English menu, so for diners who don't speak French, they have to rely on verbal communication for ordering. Diners without reservations can only sit outdoors, but fortunately still have choice, so not a waisted trip.

The only downside is that smoking is not completely prohibited in the dining area! Otherwise 5...

I was really excited to eat here after getting many recommendations online and in town. Overall, the food was okay while dining experience wasn’t great. I had the escargot as my entrée. It was good, however, the cheese and garlic sauce paired with it was a bit bitter, which didn’t complement the snail. I remember trying escargot for the first time in the French Canadian countryside and being mind blown. This was not bad, but it certainly didn’t blow my mind. Then, I had the fish filet with clams. This was my favorite dish overall. The sauce was light and creamy, vegetables were tender, and the fish and its skin were cooked perfectly. The freshly chopped basil and green onions on top were a delicious addition. Some of the clams didn’t taste fresh to me, but this dish was still very good. Then, things got a bit complicated. I understand that I am an American tourist and that my limited French makes it my responsibility to make sure that I fully understand everything, however, I did not fully understand that the lunch special is not just a reduced price but that you must choose between an entrée and main course OR a main course and dessert. I briefly looked at the menu and was never asked whether I wanted the regular or lunch special, despite the waitress knowing I am not fluent in French. So, unknowingly, I said yes to the dessert, which cost me €15 extra. I got the rum cake, which was quite literally sitting in a bowl of rum. I’ve had wonderful rum cakes in the past and was very excited for this one, but it tasted like straight shots of rum, and I was unable to take more than a few bites. The only other issue I have is that I was dining alone as I am on a solo trip because I just finished a semester studying in Spain, and I was pretty much ignored for 15 minutes after the meal. I tried to catch the waitress’ attention, she made eye contact and a gesture indicating that she was coming, and then proceeded to talk to other diners while I sat there and caught her attention a few more times. The actual waiters and waitresses who handled the table were very kind and attentive, though. Overall, just not a great dining experience, and the food was good...

I went with my family, we had a reservation at 9, we arrived a bit early, and they couldn't seat is, which was fine, we sat at the bar and they gave us a nice olive tapenade with some bread while we waited. Unfortunately, we were not seated until after 9:20. I've lived in Paris for 6 months, so I know that French service is slow, and that the relaxed pace is part of what makes dining in France so special, but to make a group with a reservation wait for more than 20 minutes when there is no line is too much.

When we did finally sit down and place our order they were out of the appetizer on the menu as well as an entree, both of which were our party's first choice. This was annoying, but it happens, so we ordered some other items on the menu. Which were awful. My mother and brother ordered the scallop in fish mousseline because they love seafood, but it was inedible, and neither of them finished. I had the shaved artichoke salad with parmesan. The artichokes seemed like they were uncooked, and were dry, chewy, and tasteless. The big pile of parmesan was okay, but the salad was not.

We then ordered the stewed beef with olives and a side of rigatoni and cheese, which was fine, but boring and by no means exceptional. We wanted dessert, we had watched them bring these incredible looking profiteroles to three or four tables, but when we went to order them they informed us that they had run out of these as well, which was really irritating. We had picked this restaurant to be a special night out for us with lovely French food, and it definitely wasn't. Overall it was overpriced and definitely not worth the money. On the bright side the wine we ordered was really good, and the room was classic and well-decorated (though...