🇫🇷✨ Ten Days. Four Regions. One Culinary Awakening. ✨🇫🇷
Are you ready to hear about the last few days of our culinary journey through the south of France? Because… my standards have officially been reset for life.
After three relaxing days in Burgundy where the highlights were red wines that flow like poetry and sauces that are treated like sacred texts, we headed south into the Rhône-Alpes, where the cuisine becomes less about technique alone and more about ingredient worship. The kind of cooking that starts with “This carrot was picked at 6:42am by Jean-Pierre” and somehow ends with you wondering why food in America doesn’t taste this way. 😡
Our research told us that Lyon is the gastronomic heart of France. But coming from Paris, home to the second-most restaurants in the world (Tokyo is first, New York a distant third) and where culinary is like artistic theater, we assumed a little regional pride and hype might be at play.
Then we ate at Restaurant Paul Bocuse.
Game. Over.
Hands down, the greatest meal we have ever had anywhere in the world. This institution held three Michelin stars for 55 consecutive years, the longest run in history. When the guide stripped them of a star after Paul Bocuse passed, the entire culinary world collectively rolled its eyes assuming some jackass guide wanted to make a name for himself. To put it bluntly, dude should be fired or shot, either works!
Now… who was Paul Bocuse?
Before Alain Ducasse.
Before modern gastronomy.
Before chefs became rock stars.
There was Paul Bocuse, named “Chef of the Century”, pioneer of Nouvelle Cuisine, mentor to generations of chefs, and the man who taught the world that cooking is not just about feeding people… it’s about elevating life itself.
He believed:
• Ingredients should be honored
• Technique should serve flavor
• The table is where culture is preserved
And you feel all of that the moment you get out of your Uber before you even walk through the impressive doors to witness all the rich preserved history. It is a restaurant like no other. Think the Taj Mahal of restaurants!
The wine? One of the finest bottles of our lives. The menu? A masterclass in tradition and restraint. The dessert cart? After not eating dessert for an entire year, I am not emotionally prepared to write about it yet so a photo will have to do. 😎
Simply put, Santa came early this year. 🎄
Below are a few glimpses of the experience that reminded us why we chose this journey in the first place. Because when food is done this way… it doesn’t just nourish the body, it nourishes the soul.
And as you guys know, I place a very high value on my Soul. It deserves to be pampered for all its lead me to in my life.
Merry Christmas Soul. ✨🍷
