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Letters: Bin collection fees have soared in France - for fewer pick-ups
Readers say the fees mean putting the rubbish out only once every six weeks
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'Real French treasures are now hard to find at flea markets'
Columnist Peter Wyeth laments that traditional vide-greniers are increasingly filled with flimsy plastic objects
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'French healthcare is baffling and complex... but it works'
Columnist Nick Inman recently had the misfortune to be ill, but the fortune, as he sees it, for this to happen in France
True stars in the kitchen
Michelin’s system of giving restaurants stars has gone far beyond its initial purpose of indicating somewhere reliable to eat
The restaurant business in France has become a pressurised contest to produce extraordinary dishes using idiosyncratic combinations of novelty ingredients. Top chefs can only try to push ‘best-chef-ness’ beyond its outer limits.
Most diners, however, want something else. They know – although it is heresy to suggest it – that you cannot beat a traditional dish home-cooked by someone who knows what he/she is doing using local ingredients and served in agreeable but unpretentious surroundings.
Anyone who stumbles across such a restaurant does not care whether it has stars or not.