La Fleur de Thym - Lardy

Exceptional food and service! We booked this restaurant for 2 months in advance before our trip to Paris.

We were at the door for opening and we were very pleasantly greeted by the hostess.

This is my 2nd Atelier experience, first being in Las VegasWe opted for the 10 course tasting menu which also comes with bread.

Two friends and I had walked the eleven kilometers from La-Ferté-Alais in the Essonne River valley across the plateau to Lardy in the valley of the Juine River, stopping along the way to admire a 5,000-year old dolmen known as La Pierre-Levée.The hostess, who also took our orders and served our food, was one of the cheeriest people I have ever met in France: if you think that the French are dour and condescending, a meal at La Fleur de Thym will promptly cure your Francophobia.We had the three-course, prix-fixe lunch menu. For starters, the ladies were served gigantic portions of quiche; I had a generous slice of pâté à la bretonne. For the main course, one of the ladies ordered pike and the other boeuf à l'irlanaise, stewed beef in a sauce flavored with Guinness. I preferred confit de canard—duck cooked and preserved in its own fat—with vegetables. For dessert we enjoyed large slices of tasty apple and walnut pie with sabayon sauce—zabaglione--on the side.Total for the food, a large bottle of Badoit sparking water and a 50-cl carafe of the house red, a Merlot from Coteaux du Lyonnais, and coffee, came to a very reasonable 59 euros.