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I will be in the Dordogne soon and have am thinking about dining at L'Esplanade in Domme. Has anyone eaten here in the past and if so what are your thoughts? The restaurant has mailed me their menu and the fixed menu prices are 40 and 47 Euros depending on the plats principaux you choose. The cheese board is an extra 10Euros. Thanks

One other suggestion is La Grilladine at 17 rue Maufoux, just down from Le Cep. We had an excellent, well priced meal here. I believe they are closed on Mondays. It was fully booked so you will probably need a reservation, tel.03 80 22 22 36.

We stayed in Beaune 2 summers ago and stayed at Hotel Le Cep. It was lovely and well priced! Our favorite meal was at the 3 star Lameloise in Chagny. It's only about a 15 minute drive from Beaune. It was excellent, probably our favorite meal in France to this date! We have also eaten at Ma Cuisine and didn't enjoy our meal at all. We ordered the fixed price menu and others have suggested the la carte menu is much better. Do buy your wine here to take home though. The selection and prices are excellent.

Friday evening we had a wonderful dinner at Les Magnolias. We were greeted graciously and I believe we were the only Americans dining there that night. The food was creative and delicious, and many small extras were delivered with each course. The young sommelier was very helpful in choosing our wine when we asked for his advice. The wine list wasn't delivered to our table until after we had chosen our food. We ordered the menu but several tables around us had the tasting menu. Much of the food they received was a repeat of what my husband had ordered from the menu. The only weakness we felt was in the desserts. The cheese board had at least 25 cheeses to select from. This was an extra cost, not included in the menu. Menu cost is 45 Euros and is listed on their internet site. It is amazing to me that they can serve this quality at this price. This was one of our favorite dining experiences in Paris. We felt the service was as gracious and attentive as we had experienced at Guy Savoy last year! We enjoyed it so much we have made reservations for our return visit to Paris in April. We left Les Magnolias at 11:55 p.m. and caught the 12:10 RER E back to Paris. The next train was the last to run and it left at 12:25. We connected to the last metro run of the evening though. Our reservation was for 8:30 p.m. so it would be wise to make an earlier reservation if possible. From Haussmann-St. Lazaire to Nogent Le Perreux is a 25 minute ride. The walk is only 5 minutes from there, downhill (thanks Margaret)!

We had a wonderful meal at Bistro d a Cote's Bistrot Flaubert Sunday night in Paris. They had no fixed price menu for dinner so we ordered la carte. I noticed not one table had a bottle of wine on it, only glasses and half bottles. We ordered a half bottle with our meal. Our entree was served only moments after we ordered. We ate slowly, I didn't want to rush things and my lobster, cheese raviloi salad was 23 Euros. As soon as we finished, our fish arrived. No pause between courses at all. The sea bream was well flavored and the scallops tender. Problem was, as soon as we finished, our hot chocolate, soft center cake arrived. Again, no time at all between courses. I was not used to this at dinner in Paris. I was getting irrated. The cake was perfectly cooked, and oh so delicious. I was very happy we had only ordered an half bottle of wine, because dinner was over in a bit over 1 hour. 5 minutes after we finished our dessert, our check arrived. We hadn't asked for our check, but it arrived. I decided it was time to question our waiter. I really wanted to know what was going on. He explained that since they were a bistro, lunch and dinner both, should be served in one hours time. I told him we had dined at Bistrot Villiers and Dessirier, both Bistrot d a Cotes and didn't have dinner served so quickly. He said that they were in a different part of town and this was the business part of town, so this was the proper way to serve dinner. Just a note, dinner ended up costing 110 Euros for 2 entrees, 2 fish plates and 1 dessert and 1/2 bottle of wine. We did have a thrill here when we saw Ben Stiller and a group of friends also dining here Sunday evening! I have been enjoying meals in Paris several times a year for 5 years, but guess I still have alot to learn. Please explain to me the definition of a bistro! Thanks so much.

No, my daughter is not a picky eater. She ate everything she ordered and even though some of the dishes were new to her, she enjoyed the experience! We both know enough French words to understand the menus. She had taken 6 years of French in school and enjoyed trying it out in Paris. The problem at Le Dome de Marais was the very, very limited menu, no fixed price menu and an empty restaurant. I wouldn't hesitate trying it again in the future.

I had the pleasure of taking my 28 yr. old daughter for her first trip to Paris in January. It was a short 5 day trip but we enjoyed several dinners together. We stopped at the famous Angelinas for lunch soon after we arrived in Paris and had a very good lunch. The green bean and shrimp salad was a great light lunch. My daughter ordered a ham and cheese sandwich which arrived with a fried egg on top. She was very surprised! She enjoyed the new things she learned on this trip. Willies Wine Bar was our first dinner . The food was excellent and reservations were essential. They have only a few tables and they were filled with French couples. We enjoyed duck pate and risotto for our entrees, lamb and tuna, a cheese plate, and chocolate dessert. I had a cote de roti wine. We stayed at a hotel in the Marais and stopped at Boulangerie Malineau at 18 rue Vielle du Temple every morning for chocolate/raspberry bread. I hadn't had the combination before and was thrilled with it! Saturday evening we had reservations at Le Dome du Marais, 53 rue des Francs Bourgeois. At 7:50 pm there was still only l table seated besides ours. We had reservations and the other table was a walk in. The menu was very limited and my daughter wasn't happy with it. Since this was her special trip, we decided to leave. I have never done this at a restaurant in Paris before and the waiter was none to pleased with us. We hadn't received any food yet, had not ordered, but got a very rude comment from him. We walked to Bofinger since I had been there twice before and thought my daughter would enjoy it. We were lucky to get a table since they were filled 5 minutes after we arrived. She enjoyed the crab platter entree and her salmon. I thought the food was typical but not the special meal I usually enjoy in Paris. Sunday evening we went to Bistro Hubert at 41 Blvd Pasteur. I was thrilled to find an excellent bistro open on Sunday evening.They do take reservations via e-mail. The fixed price menu is 41 Euros and they have 2 columns available, 1 is traditional food and the other discovery food. I mixed and matched my choices. We both had a delicious crab cake for our entree (nothing like ours in the US) then swordfish for my daughter and I had red peppers filled with cod and goat cheese. The plate came out with the food shaped like a large red tulip. It was wonderful! I had a sheep cheese plate with jam and my daughter again had a chocolate dessert. We highly recommend this bistro. Monday evening we went to Le Grand Colbert. I had made reservations here before we knew it was part of the movie Somethings Gotta Give. I was looking for restaurants with pretty settings for my daughters enjoyment, and trying those I had found good reviews for. It is a beautiful room, but unfortunatly the food was not even close to my expectations. They had a fixed price menu in addition to la carte, but those items were not available. It was 8 p.m. The lamb I ordered was tough and overcooked. Neither of us liked our food so we didn't order dessert. They were very proud of the fact that the movie had filmed a scene there and passed a book they had made filled with pictures to all the customers. Then the American music started playing loudly. This was not what I came to Paris for. Unfortunatly neither of us can recommend Le Grand Colbert. I am returning to Paris in two days with my husband and we will be dining at Les Magnolias on Friday, La Table d'Anvers Saturday night for their special Valentines dinner and Bistro Flaubert Sunday evening. I will report back when we return!

We will be going to La Table d'Anvers for Valentines dinner. They are having a special 70Euro dinner Saturday evening. We'll let you know how it went when we return from Paris!