Les Foudres — Restaurant in Cognac

Horrible. Very sad experience which could have be solved by head chef Paulo Boscaro, but ultimately inflamed by him. A few notable reasons for the assessment: (1) The fish course had lives WORMS in it. Explained by Paulo himself as seasonal and a result of the heat, and was unapologetic for the incident. (2) We had babysitters organised and asked for the duration of the Degustation Menu, and informed it would be 2.5-3.0 hrs. 4 hours later and members of our party having to leave we were served the final dessert chocolates. (3) For the duration of the sitting we had to serve ourselves our water, and remind the sommellier what of the two reds we were drinking for our respective meals. Below par for a “1 star” Michelin. (4) Upon raising an issue with Paulo directly, he cornered a member of our dining party in the lift to explain herself for her complaints. She was exiting with two other dining members (female). The incident has been offed with the hotel management, and the police.

Ultimately, this venue calls itself a Michelin One star but falls disgustingly short. Much of the food we consumed was fantastic, but the experience was well short of what we all hold in the highest regard; the Michelin assessment.

Paulo should be removed and hopefully formal proceedings will deal with that, and Michelin should assess its criteria for stars beyond a few good courses. Respect and experience...

We visited this restaurant for the first time and were singularly impressed not only by how delicious the food was but by the creativity in design and presentation shown by the chef. We were a party of three and we each chose different dishes. Every course was delicious. The simple sounding artichoke was incredible. It was designed to look like a little artichoke but was made up of artichoke tempura, little green basil raviolis with a mousse of artichoke heart in the centre all beautifully flavoured and absolutely delicious. Lobster is one of my favourite foods but it is very difficult to have it perfectly cooked. This chef produced a fabulous lobster dish with all the succulent opulence one hopes for trimmed with delicious vegetables in a beautiful, intense lobster sauce. The attention to detail particularly with regard to the vegetables, which were a treat in themselves, was truly remarkable. This restaurant is not cheap but the quality is very well worth the price. The restaurant itself is stunning the service was excellent without the over formal behaviour of waiters sometimes found in Michelin starred restaurants (they were smiling and friendly). We could not recommend this restaurant...

We had high hopes that this would be excellent. However when we arrived we had trouble finding the restaurant, lack of signage and no staff. When we did fins it there was no one to welcome us and the staff were positively surly. The food was very average and the service was terrible. When I paid the bill, which had a couple of items that we did not have on it, I gave the girl my feedback on the evening to which she just shrugged. I would not go back to this restaurant. Overpriced and...