Cafe crowded with customers after it was accidentally awarded a Michelin star

Daily Telegraph UK

20 Feb, 2017 03:03 AM4 mins to read

Le Bouche à Oreille is a perfectly decent working class diner in Bourges that'll feed you a slap-up meal for €10 Photo / Google Street View

A workmen's café in central France was overwhelmed with phone calls from gourmet diners wanting to book tables after it was awarded a Michelin star - by mistake, as it later turned out.

Reporters, TV crews and prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot plastic tablecloths. Many patrons wear high-visibility vests, it is often packed at lunchtime and the atmosphere is lively, with customers ordering beers at the bar.

It serves its regular clientèle of local tradesmen plain - if undeniably wholesome - dishes such as homemade lasagna or beef bourguignon.

The Michelin Guide soon phoned up to apologise, explaining that it had confused the café with a more refined establishment of the same name near Paris.

It was, perhaps, an understandable mistake, as their addresses are remarkably similar. One is on a street named Route de la Chapelle, the other on Impasse de la Chapelle.

Not only did the error bring the café publicity it had never enjoyed before, it also got the staff invited for a genuine Michelin-standard dinner at the other Bouche à Oreille, 100 miles away in Boutervilliers, near Paris.

The tastefully decorated establishment has linen tablecloths and carpets, and offers dishes such as lobster flan or confit of beef with black truffle.

Véronique Jacquet, the café owner who works behind the bar, said: "Suddenly, we were rushed off our feet. Reporters were coming in and then my son phoned me from Paris, where he lives. He almost died laughing. I had regulars and friends phoning up and asking why I hadn't told them we'd won a Michelin star."

Mrs Jacquet's cook, Penelope Salmon, said she had never dreamed of winning a Michelin star, but added: "I put my heart into my cooking."

"This place is worth not just one but two stars," a satisfied customer told French TV.

The listing was changed on the Michelin website, but not until two days later. Aymeric Dreux, the chef of the pricier restaurant, also took the mistake with good humour. "I phoned Madame Jacquet in Bourges," he told the Daily Telegraph. "We had a good laugh about it and I invited her to come to the restaurant to sample what we do. If I'm in her neck of the woods, I'll pop in for lunch and a beer at her place."

How they compare...

Bouche à Oreille, Bourges

Fixed-price lunch menu €12.50 including a starter, often charcuterie and salad, and a dish of the day such as beef bourguignon, homemade lasagna, steak and chips. One day last week, the cook, Mrs Salmon, came up with fillet of pollock with paprika, garnished with a couple of mussels and generous helpings of boiled potatoes and lettuce. If you don't want the full menu, a dish of the day will cost no more than €10.

Bouche à Oreille, Boutervilliers

The Michelin-starred restaurant also offers a fixed-price lunch menu for €48 (£41) including a glass of champagne. The menu changes regularly.

Entrées - Lobster flan with fricassée of gambas - or Confit of beef with poached egg, mousseline of Jerusalem artichokes

Main course - Skate wing in herb crust, salsify - or Calf's head with glazed winter vegetables Cheese plate

Desserts - Pear and chocolate crisp, tiramisu-style - or White chocolate and coconut 'exotique' with mango

A la carte:

Entrées

Carpaccio of scallops in thin pastry with leeks and black truffle - €38 (£32)

Butternut squash velouté with foie gras - €32 (£27)

Scrambled eggs with black truffle - €38 (£32)

Brittany lobster and crab, with radishes and mint, accompanied by beetroot and cress - €36 (£31)

Main courses