What is bad French Food?

As Bastille Day draws near, I am preparing for an onslaught of French cooking and MTAOFC will finally get a work out - a large amount of butter has been purchased in preparation for Wednesday night's meal, which fills me with a degree of trepidation (poor little Bruce is ill prepared for what is to come).

Queries about whether it is "right" to serve 4 out of 5 dishes with butter as the main ingredient are supplanted by the big question - what is bad French food? For some people it is too rich, too much butter and I fear that Le Gourmand may eventually skid right into this big, buttery wall. For me I think a more appropriate word than bad is disappointing. If you manage your expectations and order correctly, I think there is almost always something on the menu that will satisfy you in even an ordinary French restaurant but if the Chateau Briand is on the menu for $10, don't be surprised if it doesn't live up to your expectations (0f course life is even worse if the food is both overpriced and underwhelming).

Sometimes it is impossible not to be disappointed - on our recent trip we were innocently dragged into a group dinner at a touristy French restaurant in the centre of London a mere day after our return from Paris. One of the worst things about pregnancy is the warnings against eating undercooked meat, which meant that (unless I was prepared to order it well done), I could not follow Le Gourmand's sensible selection of steak frites. Instead I ordered chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce. For me one of the highlights of french cooking is the amazing technique the French demonstrate with sauces. This fell sadly short. An excessive use of cornflour is really a very efficient way to stuff up almost any sauce and sadly this "technique" had been employed by our "chef".

We wisely steered clear of French restaurants for the rest of our English-American trek - it just wasn't fair to compare.