They were once a huge draw for food lovers from around the world. So when did Parisian chefs start getting it so spectacularly wrong, asks the Sunday Telegraph
I feel like a bit of my childhood has been sucked out of me,’ says the restaurateur François O’Neill, pushing a forlorn-looking leaf around his plate with a fork. ‘This is supermarket salad with some beetroot. It’s pedestrian.’ He moves on to the salt and pepper shakers, which are those thin glass pots you might expect to find in a London caff or possibly at school dinner. Certainly not at the Brasserie Floderer, one of the most famous restaurants in Paris. Or, for that matter, at Maison François, O’Neill’s own smart version in London’s St James’s.
He examines the offending items in the dim light. ‘I don’t think you’d get away with this in London,’ he says. Next to our table, a waiter wrestles with our bottle of wine. ‘He’s about to realise we don’t have wine glasses,’ says O’Neill, 37, under his breath. Sure enough, our waiter, having finally extracted the cork, goes to pour before he notices the lack of vessels. O’Neill rolls his eyes.
The Sunday Telegraph. To read the full feature click here
