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FOOD AND DRINK

‘Bib Gourmand’: Where can you find France’s bargain Michelin-grade restaurants?

If you're feeling fancy and want to splash out on something special you might pick up the Michelin guide to find a restaurant, but did you know that there's also a listing for restaurants that serve equally delicious food at lower prices?

Published: 28 February 2024 15:21 CET
Updated: 3 March 2024 17:05 CET
'Bib Gourmand': Where can you find France's bargain Michelin-grade restaurants?
This photograph taken on February 15, 2024 shows a plaque displaying the three stars of the Michelin guide, the highest award of the French gastronomy (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

56 new French restaurants, located all over the country, were added to the 2024 edition of France’s ‘Bib Gourmand’, – restaurant guide to the best value-for-money restaurants.

It comes under the Michelin brand, but unlike the standard guide of fabulous but pricey Michelin-starred restaurants, the Bib Gourmand focuses on value offerings. 

To be included in the list, the restaurant should offer full meals (excluding drinks) at a price of around €40 or less.

According to the Michelin guide, there is “no set formula for a ‘Bib’ restaurant, they are all unique and can vary greatly from one place to the next.” 

READ MORE: 8 tips for finding a good restaurant in France

The guide does highlight that ‘Bib’ restaurants tend to utilise a “simpler style of cooking, which is recognisable and easy-to-eat.”

The listing is available in several different countries, with the French version including several different styles of restaurants, many of them offering a modern or fusion take on French classics from each of the 13 mainland regions.

The Local has picked six that made the list this year, but you can find all ‘Bib Gourmand’ restaurants on the Michelin website with the option to search by area to find something delicious and affordable near you.

Aux 2 K – Paris

Located in the 9th arrondissement, the restaurant is named for its two owners, Kagy and Kinoshita. Bib Gourmand describes it as giving a “few nods to the south-west”. Their speciality is a dish of roast pigeon and smoked eel with shallot in a salmis sauce. 

Their lunch menu is “at an unbeatable price”. High marks for service, which was “delivered with great care and finesse”, according to the guide.

Prices – The lunch menu, available on weekdays, costs €29 and it includes starter and main course or main course and dessert. The evening and weekend menu, including starter, main course and dessert, costs €41. 

They also offer a 6-course tasting menu for €68, with a five glass wine pairing for €38.

You can make a reservation on their website.

Le Cochon qui Boit – Lyon

Promising that all vegetables come from two local organic growers, and meat coming from well-bred animals who were directly purchased from farmers, this Lyon-based restaurant is located right along the Rhône in the 1st arrondissement.

The Bib Gourmand recognised the restaurant for its tasty meat which is “according to the special of the day, with parsnips and leeks”, as well as daring combinations such as “braised Jerusalem artichokes, onion purée and coffee sabayon”.

The guide summed it up as offering “well-sourced local produce cooked to perfection, washed down with the finest wines.”

Prices – The evening and weekend menu (starter, main course, and dessert) goes for €39. Meanwhile, weekday lunchtimes offer a dish of the day for €16, or a two-course menu for €25. 

More information available on their website.

Chez Loustic – Toulouse

A ‘modern bistro with an industrial feel’, Chez Loustic is located in the Saint-Cyprien neighbourhood in Toulouse. 

The Bib Gourmand highlighted the chef, who won over their staff “with his generous fillet of sea bream on braised leeks, spinach cream and parsnip chips, as well as the poached peach and rhubarb with cardamom cream.”

The guide described food as ‘finely prepared’ and ‘market-fresh’.

Prices –  They have a starter/main course or main course/dessert option for €20, as well as a ‘menu’ (starter/main course/dessert) for €23 from Tuesday to Friday.

More information and reservations available on the website.

Bibendum – Avignon

A restaurant, wine bar and cocktail bar all in one – Bibendum’s menu is contemporary, utilising fresh, seasonal ingredients with a focus on Mediterranean recipes. 

The Bib Gourmand specifically references dishes like the “roast white asparagus, light foaming Comté, torrefied cumin and pancetta” and the “pearlescent cod, purée of sweet potatoes and beurre blanc” which stand out, as well as the “apricot and almond financier dessert.”

Prices – The lunch menu is available from Tuesday to Friday, with a main course at €17, and a lunchtime menu on offer for €29. 

Their evening ‘menu’ is available for €39, and individual main courses cost between €20-€30.

More information on their website.

Racines – Bordeaux

Daniel Gallacher, the Scottish lead chef was self-taught, bringing an ‘inventive’ and ‘far from conventional’ approach to his menu.

The Bib Gourmand describes the restaurant as having a modern bistro feel, with dishes that are “fresh and meticulous”, noting the “sea bream marinated in a green, herbaceous infusion”.

Prices – The lunch menu (Tuesday to Friday) is priced at €25, and €35 on bank holidays and Saturdays. As for the three-course dinner menu, that is priced at €40 per person.

Reservations and seasonal menus available at their website.

Sème – Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, Normandy

A lively bistro with “eclectic decor”, the menu at Sème focuses on “delicious cuisine firmly rooted in tradition.”

“Seasonal, local and Norman products are used,” according to the Michelin guide, highlighting the “iconic rack of salt-meadow lamb.”

With a lunch menu that changes daily, visitors are sure to have a unique experience.

Prices – The five-course ‘discovery’ menu is priced at €46, while the three-course ‘Sème’ menu is €38.

More info online here.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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