My Fave French Restaurants around the world

So it could either be that Dr Shefali has me eating next to nothing (no carbs, sugar, gluten, dairy,eggs, lentils, soy,etc etc etc) that has me thinking constantly of food, or Gwyneth Paltrow's review on her blog of her favourite restaurants, that made me want to do the same. Since there are too many to name in one post, I decided to split them by cuisine, rather than country, to give you guys an idea of my favourite restaurants in the world. Also, I'm tired of doing so many fashion posts!
If you remember this post of mine you'll remember how intrinsically French Food is woven in with memories of my Late Father. He absolutely adored his French meals, a trait that I and all my family members inherited from him. In fact, not liking it was not really a choice- when younger, we were only allowed to glance at the prix-fixe menu, written in all French, before we had our elaborate meal of 5-plus courses ordered for us. This was before the days we learnt the French words for things like rabbit, kidneys, pigeon, etc, and realized that was what we were being fed! All we had to help us out were our taste buds, and a glass of wine that my Father insisted we enjoy. [Funny story- my Father himself was a complete teetotaler and never touched the thing, but insisted we-especially I, being the youngest by many years, have a glass or two in front of him so I'd never be tempted to drink behind his back. I grew up however, loving my Vodka and hating champagne and wine, so definitely don't try this strategy at home! Years later when my parents came to visit me while at college, my apartment was completely cleaned out of all traces of alcohol, but I forgot the Vodka that was kept in the Freezer. I almost had a panic attack as my Father opened it and pulled out a Jumbo sized bottle out and looked at me in horror. "I'm dead" I thought, as I waited for him to read me the riot act, but I'll never forget what he said after. "Kiru!" he said, shocked and appalled, "You drink ABSOLUT??!!" Being a liquor manufacturer, he was horrified by my choice in brand!]
But I digress! Back to my post... here are my top 3 favourite French restaurants in the world-

Le Gavroche, London-

I believe a great meal has as much to do with the memories associated with the meal, as much as it does with the food. There might be better French restaurants in London, many more renowned and even a few 3 star Michelin options. However, I grew up eating at Gavroche and if I had to pick my all time favourite French restaurant in the world, this would be it. This two-star Michelin restaurant run by celebrity chef Michel Roux, was my introduction to gastronomy and has since, maintained it's charm and allure, as much as it has it's quality of food. I've literally never had a bad meal there. My Father would be very happy to escort us, his four women there, and would beam with pride as we raved about the food, starting with the amuse-bouche had at the lounge upstairs, right up to their incredible deserts and Petit Fours had in the main dining room. Unfortunately I haven't been there in a few years, as my visits to London haven't been as often, but I've heard it's just as good as it's always been, and is definitely worth a visit!

Enoteca Pinchiorri, Florence-

In complete contrast to Gavroche, that I've been to time and time again, I've only visited Enoteca Pinchiorri once in my life two years back. I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world, so you can imagine when ONE visit is enough to make a restaurant into my all time favourites list, how absolutely fabulously DIVINE the food must have been. To celebrate my Mother's 60th birthday she had taken my two sisters and I on an amazing vacation to Rome and Florence, and Enoteca is where we'd booked us in for her birthday dinner. All we knew of the place was that it was a 3 star Michelin restaurant and had rave reviews, but none of us had been there before. We were blown away. Not only was the food exquisite, but the service we got that evening was beyond anything I'd ever experienced. To bring my mum's little cake out, they even turned off all the lights in the main living room, with us thinking, "oh crap! The electricity's gone!" for a few seconds (the after effects of living in India for 6 years I guess!) Everything was decorated to PERFECTION and the attention to the tiniest details could be clearly seen. The food was more Italian-French rather than plain French, and was just incredible. I didn't have my blog then so the idea of photographing the food never occurred to me, but here are some pictures I did take that night to give you an idea of what I'm talking about-

I think this was a picture of the ice cream or sorbet that night. Everything was just as elaborately presented!

My Mother, smiling as her birthday cake surprise was brought out in the dark. The entire staff, as well as the restaurant joined us is singing "Happy Birthday" for her. Does she look 60 to you? :)










Le Pont De Brent, Switzerland-

Going back to my post I did here I'd mentioned that I'm convinced the only reason we even had a house in Switzerland is because my Father LOVED the French Food there. Obviously being cut off from civilization and being able to enjoy nature, etc, also had to play a role, but I'm sure it was more the food than anything else. Our house in Montreuax is situated slightly up on the hills and is far removed from even the main restaurants and shopping of the city. Our days there used to be pretty basic with my Father doing the driving and my Mother, the cooking. We'd go for long drives and have very elaborate lunches and were usually too stuffed to have a full dinner which suited my Mum just fine. But on days we wanted a great meal close by, we headed to Le Pont De Brent a couple of times each trip. It became our neighborhood restaurant so to speak, as it just took us less than 10 minutes to get there. The food was always out of this world, and we always had personalized attention given to us in the tiny, cozy restaurant. Imagine my surprise then, that while researching it yesterday, I found out it is a 3 star Michelin restaurant! I don't know if they had their rating back then, but I can definitely say it was very well deserved. My Mother is vegetarian and back in the 80's and early 90's it was very hard for her to get great French food, and Le Pont was always the one place where she relished her meals as they always made an effort to prepare Veg-friendly options. In fact all 3 restaurants I've mentioned above, are also her favourites, so if you're vegetarian you can definitely visit and not worry about getting fed only grass.

Apart from these three favourites there are also a few that perhaps should get honourable mentions. Americans for some reason just CANNOT get French food right and I've eaten at what are supposed to be best restaurants, and hated the food. My best friend in fact refuses to go to any French restaurant with me because she says I complain about the food non-stop.. she is right. I went to the restaurant of 3 star Michelin chef, Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, and had food poisoning and was in bed for 3 days after, so I would say I have good reason to complain too. L'Atelier de Joel Rubichon however, is the only restaurant in America where they have French style of cooking done right. Very American influenced, but really great food. Visit the one at the Four Seasons in New York though, as I wasn't impressed with the food at their restaurant in Vegas.
Another honourable mention has to be Zodiac Grill in Bombay. This along with Golden Dragon (for Chinese at the same hotel) were our standard Saturday night meals when we were kids. Their age limit was 18, but they used to sneak me in and have my back facing the restaurant so no-one would spot me. I still have dreams about their Camembert Dariole.. The best cheese souffle I've ever had!
In Dubai again, any French restaurant has yet to impress me, although I've heard fabulous things about Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant, Reflets.
Anyhow, hope for all the foodies out there, hope this post was helpful!
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