I’ve never been to Le Chefs de France before. One look at the menu and I’m sure you’ll understand why: the food sounds confusing and it’s in French! I don’t know about you, but I tend to shy away from foods I can’t pronounce.
I’m familiar with French cuisine, or at least I’d like to think so: French toast, French Fries. I watched Ratatouille. I’ve been to New Orleans, so I know at least one phrase: Geaux Tigers! I’m a natural. Sorry, naturelle.
However, this menu and all of it’s French words was a little intimidating. I immediately recognized escargot. No thanks, not doing that again! Luckily, for those of us uninitiated into French cruise, Le Chefs de France offers a prix fixe menu. An appetizer, main course, a dessert, and a complimentary glass of either red or white wine.
I looked at my options and decided to choose the most stereotypical French items that an American tourist would choose. A greatest hits, if you will. Luckily for me, my server was very understanding of my naivete and helped guide me along the way. Contrary to the belief that French people are rude, he was very nice! And cute.
Of course there’s French bread!
It would be an insult to France if we didn’t start off with a lovely French baguette with butter. Warm, with a crispy outside and a chewy middle. I could feel myself being whisked away. No longer was I in hot and humid Florida, I was now sitting inside an adorable French bistro.
No snails, just soup.
How could I go wrong with French Onion soup? Slow cooked onions in a rich seasoned broth with several slices of bread all covered with warm, melted and bubbling cheese. The soup was absolutely delicious!
The cheese was melty but not stringy. The French bread is well soaked and not difficult to cut with a spoon. As the broth dwindled down, I noticed the flavors intensified some and suddenly I couldn’t get enough of this soup. My only word of caution: the soup is served very hot, borderline scalding, so be careful that you don’t burn yourself.
Beef Burg-in-….I give up already.
For my main dish, I asked my server if this is a fairly typical dish in France, which he confirmed. So with that information, I chose the Beef Bourguignon. On the menu it is served with linguine, but my server let me know the usual way of eating this is with mashed potatoes, so mashed potatoes it is! In addition, it also comes with baby onions and carrots.
The beef is cooked in a Cabernet sauce, so for consistency, I asked for a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon as my complimentary glass of wine.
And then the grand finale.
You guessed it: Crème Brûlée! I’ve never had Crème Brûlée before, and after trying to find all those special letters on my keyboard, I can understand why. Macaron is way easier to spell.
Fancy letters aside, I see why people really enjoy this dessert. On top is a crispy, toasted sugar layer you crack through to get to the creamy custard below. It’s a fun mix of smooth and crunchy with a side accompaniment of fresh fruit and cream. Absolutely delightful and not a heavy dessert, considering all of the bread and beef I’ve already eaten.
Priced individually, my lunch without a glass of wine would have been $62.85. For an additional $3.10, you get all of the above plus a glass of wine when ordering the prix fixe option. So really, it just made sense to order the prix fixe versus a la carte. I would have ordered all of those off the menu anyway, so why not splurge an extra $3 and change. Afterall, this is France!
Much to my surprise, it was not crowded during lunch, but this was also during Epcot’s Food and Wine festival, so I’m sure many people were grabbing small bites from the many food booths scattered around World Showcase. From my understanding, the inside decor of Le Chefs de France is very reminiscent of French cafes and bistros.
Service at Le Chefs de France was also very good. My server was very attentive during each course, and I appreciated his insights and suggestions of the menu. Even with him being from France, he was very easy to understand with his accent, so please don’t be concerned about a language barrier or worry about having trouble understanding your server.
Le Wrap Up
I can’t believe I waited this long to finally dine at Le Chefs de France. Unfamiliarity and seeing a lot of French words on the menu scared me away for quite a while, but after some studying of the menu and watching Ratatouille, I felt comfortable giving Le Chefs de France a try.
I would certainly come back again to try a few other items on the menu. Maybe next time I’ll be daring and order a few things not on the prix fixe menu! Except the snails.
Le Chefs de France is located in the France pavilion of Disney’s Epcot Center. They are open for lunch and dinner, starting at 12:00 with a break between 3p and 4p to switch between lunch and dinner. Prices range, for adults, between $15-$34.99. Much to my surprise, they do not give an annual pass or Visa Cardholder discount.
Disney Rover 