Workers’ bar star is Michelin error

What a find! A Michelin-star bar-brasserie that had meals from €9 and a host of ‘as much as you can eat’ dishes… what a shame it was all an error.

The Bouche à Oreille troquet café-bar on Route de la Chapelle in Bourges, Cher, is well-known to local workers who pile in for the home-made food and the €12.50 menu du jour and owner Véronique Jacquet was surprised to find it had been listed as a new star on the Michelin internet site.

But the moment of fame did not last long as it was quickly revealed that the star was meant to have gone to another Le Bouche à Oreille, at Boutervilliers in Essonne near Paris, that also happened to be Route de la Chapelle.

Once the mistake was discovered it did not stop regulars from offering Véronique their own home-made stars – and tucking into their lunches.

She told France Bleu radio: “I will continue to do as before. The spirit here is that the door is always open to everyone. We make good food quickly, home-made, buffet à volonté, plat du jour, dessert.

There may be hundreds of Bouche à Oreille bar-restaurants across France – but this one has found fame beyond ‘word of mouth’ and left red faces at the famous Red Guide.