RESTAURANT PAUL BOCUSE: WE ORDERED A $300 CHICKEN AT THIS WORLD FAMOUS RESTAURANT
The Cost - $210 per person
The Atmosphere – Restaurant Paul Bocuse, also known as L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, is very much a fine dining experience, and a bit of an old-school one. The white tablecloth establishment requires a jacket for men to match wait staff who are dressed in formal attire. The interior of the restaurant is elegant and very classy, catering to an older crowd. The restaurant is a great place to celebrate a special occasion and reservations are required.
Paul Bocuse may no longer be with us, but he left behind a legacy that will live on forever. The famous French chef, who is credited with founding Nouvelle Cuisine, lived above his L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges (Restaurant Paul Bucose) until the day he died. The restaurant earned a 3 Michelin star rating every year from 1965 until 2020, two years after the chef’s death. That is a feat no other restaurant has ever earned. If that wasn’t enough, he established the Institut Paul Bocuse to train future generations of chefs and began the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition,too. And in addition to the countless awards he won over his career, Bocuse was named Chef of the Century by the Culinary Institute of America in 2011.
The Order – Truffled Bresse Chicken Cooked in a Bladder and Dessert Trolley.
The Fantastic - The Dessert Trolley at Restaurant Paul Bocuse was outstanding. For the price of 50 Euro per person, you can enjoy as many plates as you would like from the cart of beautifully made and presented desserts. There were about six desserts to choose from including a raspberry cake with vanilla ice cream and a Paris-Brest inspired pistachio treat. Each of the desserts was absolutely incredible with the vanilla ice cream literally being the best vanilla ice cream I have ever had in my life. The pistachio Paris-Brest was also outrageously good and is a must-order with crushed pistachios on top and an excellent cream in the center. For the price, it would not be worth it to just have just one, so make sure you leave plenty of room at the end of your meal for at least two of these treats - this is one restaurant where you do not want to skip dessert.
The Great - While the hefty 50 Euro price tag didn’t end up being a bad value for the dessert trolley, the eye-popping 285 Euro cost on Paul Bocuse’s signature Truffled Bresse Chicken in a Bladder was absurd. The dish, which is most well-known because it is cooked inside of a pig bladder and is brought to the table with the bladder completely inflated, was very tasty - it just didn’t come close to being worth the price. Bresse chicken, which is a specific type of chicken that must be raised in the Bresse region of France (think Champagne), is known to be very flavorful and to have small, delicate bones. This chicken was definitely flavorful and the cream sauce and morel mushrooms that came on top of it were both wonderful, but I didn’t get much from the truffles placed under the chicken’s skin or the fact that the chicken was cooked inside of a pig’s bladder. On the side, the dish had some nicely cooked vegetables and a side bowl of mixed greens but again, nothing that is going to blow you away. It was quite exciting and fun to see the chicken arrive at the table in the globe-sized inflated bladder and it was wild to see the waiter pop the bladder with a knife, but the show was just not worth the price of admission.
The Verdict - The visit to Restaurant Paul Bocuse was a special experience. The history and culinary importance of the famous chef and the restaurant he opened and helmed for over fifty years is second to none. But while the desserts at the restaurant were absolutely wonderful, Paul Bocuse’s signature truffled Bresse chicken just wasn’t worth the insane $300+ price. If I do head back to the now 2 star Michelin restaurant, it would be to order a dish from the a la carte menu to go along with that delightful dessert trolley.