There's another famous type of restaurants that is less known and hardly gets any attention at the moment: Les Relais Routiers.
Created in 1934 to allow truck drivers to take a break and read the newspaper, over 4000 restaurants received the red and blue "Les Routiers" quality label by the late 50'. As tourism grew in the 60' they became the preferred restaurant stop for many vacationers driving south with their families. Most of them served local specialties at a very low price, served quickly.
They are still around, mostly on the "routes nationales" and continue to essentially serve road warriors. Expect to find large parking lots filled with trucks, vans, and cars of sales representatives. They are all low-key and serve basic meals cooked well at low prices.
Far better than the industrialized meals served at the motorway restaurants, cheaper, and definitely more interesting...
That is interesting indeed! I honestly haven’t driven around that much in France - mostly to take advantage of the train network - but it sounds like these places are next on my list! Thanks for this 😄
Great article. This French native enjoyed this handy and accurate overview of some of France’s eateries and will be sharing it with her community. Merci Sean!
I really enjoyed this, even if I've been to many a restaurant/café/whatever in France. I do love the lively and varied restaurant scene here, even in smaller cities. But these establishments are facing many challenges.
In my town, fast food outlets were kind of stable for a number of years: 1 McDonald’s in Rodez, and 1 in a nearby suburb, which seemed proportionate to the population. Just over the past 2 or 3 years, though, there’s been a huge uptick: another McDonald’s on the other side of Rodez; not one but two Burger Kings, and a KFC now going up. So we’ve suddenly gone from 2 big outlets to 6….
I ate in a bouillon for the first time on my last visit to France. Going forward, I'll seek them out. Some people turn up their noses at them, but in my opinion there's nothing to beat them at their price point. Better than eating at a fast food joint!
I really enjoyed this article Sean and was very informative. I didn't realise these distinctions between the various eateries and learned a lot from this. It now also makes sense many years later, of one time in Paris I recall eating in what I've now become aware (thanks to you) must have been a Bouillon. As like you experienced, I and my companion were seated at a table for 4, but a short time later were joined by two complete strangers. It was a bit awkward, but now I get it :)
Thanks for sharing, Sean.
There's another famous type of restaurants that is less known and hardly gets any attention at the moment: Les Relais Routiers.
Created in 1934 to allow truck drivers to take a break and read the newspaper, over 4000 restaurants received the red and blue "Les Routiers" quality label by the late 50'. As tourism grew in the 60' they became the preferred restaurant stop for many vacationers driving south with their families. Most of them served local specialties at a very low price, served quickly.
They are still around, mostly on the "routes nationales" and continue to essentially serve road warriors. Expect to find large parking lots filled with trucks, vans, and cars of sales representatives. They are all low-key and serve basic meals cooked well at low prices.
Far better than the industrialized meals served at the motorway restaurants, cheaper, and definitely more interesting...
That is interesting indeed! I honestly haven’t driven around that much in France - mostly to take advantage of the train network - but it sounds like these places are next on my list! Thanks for this 😄
Great article. This French native enjoyed this handy and accurate overview of some of France’s eateries and will be sharing it with her community. Merci Sean!
Merci Véronique !
I really enjoyed this, even if I've been to many a restaurant/café/whatever in France. I do love the lively and varied restaurant scene here, even in smaller cities. But these establishments are facing many challenges.
This is true! It’s also a shame to see how many fast food outlets are emerging in France when quality food is so important…
In my town, fast food outlets were kind of stable for a number of years: 1 McDonald’s in Rodez, and 1 in a nearby suburb, which seemed proportionate to the population. Just over the past 2 or 3 years, though, there’s been a huge uptick: another McDonald’s on the other side of Rodez; not one but two Burger Kings, and a KFC now going up. So we’ve suddenly gone from 2 big outlets to 6….
I ate in a bouillon for the first time on my last visit to France. Going forward, I'll seek them out. Some people turn up their noses at them, but in my opinion there's nothing to beat them at their price point. Better than eating at a fast food joint!
I really enjoyed this article Sean and was very informative. I didn't realise these distinctions between the various eateries and learned a lot from this. It now also makes sense many years later, of one time in Paris I recall eating in what I've now become aware (thanks to you) must have been a Bouillon. As like you experienced, I and my companion were seated at a table for 4, but a short time later were joined by two complete strangers. It was a bit awkward, but now I get it :)