My Summer European Restaurants Tour: 4 restaurants, 4 amazing experiences and 4 different ways to cook

This is a special restaurants review of incredible places discovered during the month of July, starting from France and spreading around to Italy and Spain. 

It is also about an overwhelming patchwork of tastes and flavors that will give you a deeper insight of my crazy mind and unstoppable search for good food and intense life!

I had a hectic month of July that turned to be quite different from what I planned in the first place. Never mind, I decided to live up the moment and take profit of all opportunities brought to me by the Universe!

 The tour starts in France and ends in France. But we will travel to Italy and Spain as well. I hope it will inspire you to travel and try new places around you!

Every place is different and will give a comprehensive view of the kind of cuisine I enjoy; you will find French typical, modern and fusion, fast food, creative or traditional cuisine.

What brings all these different places together? The answer is: THE TASTE! Tasty meat, tasty fish, tasty veggies, all kind of shapes and textures, all kind of cooking, but only 1 passion: taste!

1/ L’auberge lentaise, Lent, France: French fusion cuisine

First of all, you may wonder where is Lent? Is it a big city? Well, I am going to help you straight away before you get lost! Lent is a tiny-mini village close to my parents’ place. How to get there? Find Bourg-en-Bresse, and then you are 10km away direction Lyon. Once in the village, you cannot miss it, it is the only restaurant in the main street!

This restaurant is run by a young couple since 3 years now. Young but not beginners! The chef creates amazing tasty dishes with local products and new ingredients. His wife is in charge of the service and the desserts! It is like a crescendo of delicate and refined games between textures, flavors and surprises that ends into an explosion of thankful flavors around simple but sophisticated sweet bites.

This is probably one of the best experience I had, and also the most surprising, for the last 6 months! How could you imagine, that in the village next to mine, you can find this passion, precise and impeccable meals!

2/ Acquachetta, Montepulciano, Italy: roots food, the pure taste of the meat!

Another tiny village, but quite well-known for wine amateurs: Montepulciano is located in the heart of Tuscany in Italy, a beautiful medieval village hanged on top of a hill overlooking the unreal Tuscany countryside with its wheat fields, cypress and stunning nature!
We were recommended this small traditional restaurant from our Airbnb host, and I am so happy we discovered this place! In a narrow room, long tables were full of people eating next to each other. At the end of it, a couple of steps up, you could see the open kitchen, with the fire and a huge meat quarter standing like a treasure in the middle of the small busy cooking area! I heart melted already at that point!

We ordered the best thing there: cote de boeuf from the famous Tuscany beef breed: Chianina. To get even more into the root experience, the owner cut the meat piece for you and you pay by kilo. He brings the freshly cut cote de boeuf at the table, and write on the paper tablecloth the weight and price before it returns the jewel back to the open fire grill.
Served with a couple of delicious veggies, it was just amazing! Perfectly cooked, juicy, it tasted like heaven! 

Tapas at Platea

3/ Platea, Madrid, Spain: the temple of the Spanish art de vivre with tapas, and good music!

Platea is nothing more than the new hot spot for all the international foodies visiting Madrid, a new kind of gastro-hub where you will find all you can dream of!

 I had a short stop in Madrid, and I made myself clear to my friends: I want to try the new gastronomic market in Madrid!

The new temple opened in June and after several years the old famous cinema from Plaza Colón, in the heart of Madrid, reopened as a magnificent food hub. It is not a market, it is not a restaurant or a tapas bar, it is a concentrated essence of what Madrid gastronomy can offer to its people and to the world. Read more about Platea here!

4/ Auberge de Santhonay, Lyon, France : tradition is always good
A typical Bouchon (more info about what is a bouchon) in Lyon located in the old district of Croix-Rousse, the service was absolutely welcoming and smiling, quick and efficient. The decoration old fashioned like any bistrot, but the large and high ceiling main room made the whole atmosphere quite different from the usual Bouchon where you can

sometimes feel a little bit oppressed. Next to the traditional dishes from the Lyon's gastronomy, you can also find seasonal and light alternative to suit to everybody including vegetarians! As always, I chose le tablier de sapeur, absolutely not recommended during the summer, but so delicious, I could not pass! It is simply some bread crumbed tripes, crispy outside and tender inside that I just love!

For the ones who do not what to do during summer, I hope you will find some ideas and inspiration for your next escapade! Enjoy Europe and our beautiful gastronomy!

 

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