Au P'tit Fernand - Villers-Cotterêts

A jewel. Most delicious and delightful food. We had a filet and chicken. Both were superb. Wonderful service.

This is located next to Pouic Pouic I stumbled upon this restaurant only because Pouic Pouic was closed and we walked so far.

This was borderline 4 stars for me, and given my other experiences in France on this trip, I am convinced the quality of French cuisine is on the decline in

On the way to visit Musee Dumas, we look for a quick lunch and run into this place, which is very fortunate because with my habit to eat in the middle of the afternoon and the French passion to close at 2PM, I'm often in trouble. It's raining, we park outside and enter to discover Fernandel's world all over inside. There is even an entire wall with the village, the bridge and the river of the famous cure du Cucugnan. Excited, we ask the Owner “Why Fernandel?”. To which he replies, and I quote, “for my own pleasure” (and ours, too, since we like Fernandel). Delighted, we sit and the feast begins. The “formule”, a set menu includes 3 courses, the lowest price being €15, the highest €35. We pick one in the middle, €24 and for this we get: one coquille Bretonne (a huge stuffed scallop melting in your mouth), a “salade paysanne” (greens, corn, tuna, eggs and more stuff I don't remember), a steak with French fries and more salad and a a wonderful huge filet of fish cooked with gloves of garlic. I'm not finished, there is also desert: the owner tells us he has a bakery in town and offers us his own macaron and a fruit tart, all delicious. With that we drink a bottle of delightful rose from Ardeche at the unbelievable price of €9.80! Service is friendly and with a smile. Portions are huge. Highly recommended.**

Drove out of Paris without having lunch and found this delightful little cafe' just off the beaten path. Despite the language barrier we we able to order burgers with fries, dessert and coffee. The meals were large, very large, we could have shared. I did not have them hold the bun (which I usually do) so I had to eat carefully. The ice cream and cream brûlée - so, so good! Try it - you will like it!