Last summer for my greatest joy, I went to the three-Michelin-stars Paul Bocuse restaurant for my 30th birthday, at Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or. The Auberge du Pont de Collonges has been three-starred for 50 years, it’s amazing! Well done Monsieur Paul.

I feel so small entering the palace of the king of French gastronomy. My emotions are indefinable. A ballet of waiters, maîtres d’hôtel, head wine waiter, parking valet comes to welcome us with a warm smile.

Entering this shining and bright hall, I see the « artists » who are already playing with their brass instruments on the piping hot stove following the chef Olivier Couvin’s rythm. We even got the privilege to access to the backstage area!

The “ballroom“ is spectacular. The scenery meets my expectations and is ready to enlighten the show.

We are taken to our seats, we choose the program and we wait for the show to begin, the palate ready to perform.

We took great delight in having a menu Bourgeois, watching the sparkling, refined and sophisticated plates coming to our table, one by one at a rhythmical pace. All the classics from the virtuoso chef were there.

Lobster salad ‘à la française’

Roasted turbot with Champagne sauce, potatoes soufflées

Red mullet dressed in crusty potato scales

Sea bass stuffed in puff pastry shell, Choron sauce

Pigeon in puff pastry with young cabbage

Veal sweetbreads braised, white Ivoire sauce

Bresse chicken truffled cooked in a bladder ‘à la Mère Fillioux’

Ascendent point of the show, the cheeses entrance from « la Mère Richard ». And you could taste them all…

But hold your breath for the apex: Monsieur Paul’s treats and delicacies. A procession of elegant, shiny and glazed desserts revealed to an already replete audience. But how could you resist…

Crème brûlée, savarin, raspberry tart, strawberry-marzipan cake, pear frangipane tart…they were all on the stage for our greatest pleasure.

And some ultimate petit-fours for the curtain call before landing.

The note is pretty in tune according to the performance and the talented artists on stage.

But we missed the orchestra conductor who doesn’t show up anymore (he’s unfortunately suffering from Parkinson)  but still directs brilliantly and with passion his company to delight our senses. I left the restaurant replete and delighted, my mind full of great memories, my heart full of emotions. Thank you so much Monsieur Paul.