Poached with slices of black truffle in a broth flavoured with tarragon and Madeira, there’s no finer way to treat a bird
DELIGHTED by the unexpectedly warm, late-April sun streaming through the dining-room window, Robert, Jane and I sat down to lunch five years ago at Paul Bocuse’s fabled restaurant a few miles north of Lyons. Knowing, exactly, the dish we were going to eat long before la carte would be presented, we perhaps settled down a touch smugly.
Within minutes, three double vellum sheets the size of a school classroom atlas appeared, almost obscuring the immaculately turned out willowy waiter standing behind them. With a beatific smile, he handed one to each of us, bowed no more than two inches, turned about and left.
​Welcome to the longest-serving three-Michelin-star restaurant: since 1965!
Chef Bocuse died just over that a year ago, at the grand age of 91. Five years earlier, at the close of the above luncheon, we were greeted by the impressive man. His wife, quietly, almost ceremoniously, guided him between the tables of all his, by now, glowing guests. He had clearly aged and was a little indistinct, but spoke with true grace and benevolence.
He was certainly slower than I remembered him from several years before that, when he briefly sat at table with me and another chum, a man of considerable girth. ‘You must eat le poulet en vessie,’ chef declared, his eyes aimed at my friend. And so we did, naturellement.
That mutual, dear chum, Bill, had died when Jane, Robert and I had our lunch, so, yes, we knew exactly what to order—and extravagantly set about toasting Bill with fine Burgundy.
Denne historien er fra February 13, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra February 13, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds