Welsh restaurant

Every time when people travel they want to taste new special food typical for the destination country (city). Before coming to France I did not even realize which food is typical there or if I would like it. But after few days I could honestly say that I fell in love with French food. All kinds of cheese, wine, pancakes – les crêpes, croissants or their pastry seem to me amazing and I could really eat it every day (even though it is nothing healthy). In fact, I do not really like Czech food so much. There are few meals I admire but I can live without it whole semester without any problems (for example we can make apple strudel also in France). Moreover, our Czech sauces and dumplings are not so attractive to me.

In the Czech Republic I think I found a balance to eat sometimes unhealthy food and sometimes to prepare healthy food. But here I eat so much and mostly unhealthy! It is so difficult to resist trying new food! Moreover, almost every day I have something sweet – like croissants or pain au chocolat or whatever. Nevertheless, rather than complaining about how much I eat here I would like to tell you about traditional meal from the north of France and evaluate three restaurants offering this meal in Lille.

The meal is called Welsh. I heard about it immediately when I came to France from French students. When I found out it is a cheese meal I wanted to try it so bad! My first time with Welsh was in January. Once we decided to have it with my French friend Adrien. He knew the best place for having Welsh and he already had it many times.

Estaminet Au Vieux de la Vieille

The restaurant was called Estaminet Au Vieux de la Vieille. I was really surprised that a lot of people knew the restaurant when I said its name including my two roommates. Both already went there and they loved the restaurant. That made me think that the restaurant is one of the favourite ones in Lille. Now I know that the restaurant deserves its great reputation because everything was perfect there.

The location is really great as it is in nice area – Le Vieux Lille. There are two floors and it looks so cosy. The funny thing is that if you enter the restaurant you can smell only the cheese. For me, it is a good change in comparison to the Czech Republic when in most of the restaurants you can smell only the cigarette smoke. Nevertheless, for cheese-haters it is not the right thing. When we came, we were seated in the second floor and I was so excited to taste it! I read quickly the menu but Welsh was a clear choice to me. Adrien also ordered it. After few minutes, they brought the meals. Firstly I was little bit stunned. The meal consisted of big bowl with cheese, salad and fries. For a while it was not the thing I expected.

The other issue was the price. Normally it is a good deal when you find the main dish for 10 euros in France. Although the price of Welsh ranges from 12 euros to higher prices. Am I paying about 14 euros only for salad, fries and cheese?

That was just my first impression. Never mind, the cheese smelled so good. So I tried it. After few seconds I loved the food! The name of the cheese inside the bowl is le maroilles. It is a specific cheese that smells a lot after it is cooked and not everybody likes it because it is kind of strong. I did not mind the smell at all. Reversely, I enjoyed it.

Here I should mention that I am arguing all the time with my friend Torres from Taiwan about this cheese. The reason is easy. He hates the cheese and I love it. So if you go to France you should definitely try this cheese because everybody has totally different opinions!

Back to the story - in the bowl there was not only cheese. At the bottom there was the layer of bread with mustard and beer. On the bread there was a ham and on the top there was a big amount of Maroilles. When I saw Adrien soaking his fries in the cheese I tried it. Haha, normally we just use mayonnaise or ketchup to soak the fries but cheese was even better. I do not know what is so special about the food because there is no special ingredient or meat (except for ham) but for me it is perfect combination - a lot of cheese, salad and fries. The portion was quite big so I had problems to finish it. And my evaluation of this restaurant is 9 out of 10!

After few days in Lille I found out that the Welsh is done also with cheddar cheese. It was the other opportunity to try it again another way. So in March we went for Welsh in different restaurant again. We went there the day before my trip to Versailles, Lyon and Marseille. I still can´t believe that this evening was the concert of Simple Plan in Lille! And I just preferred going to the restaurant.

I already knew about the concert since November and I was looking forward to going there a lot! The ticket was only 30 euros which is a good price in comparison to the concerts in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, I decided not to go because I wanted to sleep a bit before the trip and also I wanted to save the money. Both these things did not happen since we decided to go to the restaurant and the dinner cost 20 euros including the beer. At the moment, I regret not going to the concert but Welsh is always a good idea and I had a great time that evening.

Le Broc

This time we went to the restaurant – Le Broc. It is close to my house near metro station République Beaux Art. The atmosphere was similar to the other one. It looked cosy and there were also two floors. In Lille, most of the restaurants look so nice that I could spend there every night. I would like to mention the service in the restaurant. The waiter was so friendly! This night I was thinking of trying another food. Adrien chose the Tartuflette which is similar to our baked potatoes in the Czech Republic. The difference is that in Tartuflette there is much more cheese than in baked potatoes (sometimes we do not put any cheese). Basically, Tartuflette consists of cheese, potatoes, sour cream, bacon and onions and all ingredients are mixed and baked in the oven and served with salad. I will talk about Tartuflette more another time because we cooked it for our final round in cooking contest. I tried it in this restaurant and it was delicious. In addition, they had a lot of omelettes, galettes, oeufs et croques. Although I had a tendency to try the Welsh again, with cheddar cheese.

I can say that I preferred the other Maroilles Welsh more. The cheddar cheese is quite common in a lot of countries and Maroilles is something special for me because I can´t have it everywhere. Moreover, the mustard sauce in this Welsh was stronger and instead of fries I had toasted potatoes. However, it was again delicious. I enjoyed every bite! And the portion was again big! For next time I know that it is not a good idea to eat baguette before this meal, even if it is a small baguette…When we left the restaurant we both smelled like cheese. After this experience I was sure I wanted to have Welsh at least once again before leaving France. Evaluation of this restaurant would be 8 out of 10!

Welsh again

As I said I am totally crazy about Welsh. When David came to visit me in Lille I was so happy that we went to the restaurant Estaminet Au Vieux de la Vieille again and I had a pleasure to see David trying Welsh for the first time. Our story from this restaurant was quite funny. Actually we went to another restaurant first. We ordered Welsh and beer. But during our drinks the waitress said that Welsh was already finished that day. There was no other option than just finishing the beers and try to go to my favourite restaurant. Firstly, we were worried that restaurant would be closed because it was Sunday about 4 pm. Moreover, in the internet there was written that the restaurant is closed. Luckily, we decided to go there anyway and it was open! Moreover, the weather was amazing. We were sitting outside and we were ready for our Welsh. Welsh is quite a big meal so we decided to share one portion. To be totally full we chose also starter to share. In this restaurant they have a lot of starters and we chose the one called: Le Coeur des Flandres. It was supposed to be a pie with apples and beef meat. We made our order – starter Flandres and Welsh.

After few minutes they brought the food! We were so excited! Both meals looked delicious! In addition, they both were really big. I was saying whole time – that´s unbelievable! So we saved money because we chose only one started and one big meal and we are totally full! It was perfect. David seemed also surprised and happy. Although when we paid we found out that both meals were big because we had two normal dishes. Exactly, the restaurant offers also main dish called Le Coeur des Flandres (except for the fact that it is not a starter and it is super expensive). Haha, so in the end we paid a lot of money. But it was definitely worth it! I loved it!

Well Welsh

I know that it can seem unbelievable, but my girls (Lucia and Katarina) still did not try Welsh whole semester until we went there my last week in Lille. In the beginning of the semester Torres recommended me restaurant called Well Welsh and it was nice opportunity to go there together.

We booked the table for me, Lucia, Katarina and Juan. The location of the restaurant was quite far from my house – in vieux Lille but I could not wait going there because the restaurant was famous for its Welsh. The big advantage is that they offer a lot of types of Welsh in comparison to the previous restaurants.

When I came my friends were already waiting for me. Again we had an idea of sharing our meal with Lucia. So we just ordered 3 meals for 4 people. Although when they brought the food on our table I was quite disappointed. The portion was almost twice smaller than in another restaurants. Therefore, we ordered the second Welsh (for me and Lucia). When we finished the first one we already knew that it was a mistake because cheese made us feel really full. Anyway, we ate both meals and we liked it a lot! First one was called Le Chti. It was Welsh with Maroilles and chicken. The second one was called Le Royaland it consisted of cheddar cheese, ham, mustard and bread. I have to say that the one with Maroilles was the winner for me. I really love the taste of this cheese.

Here is my evaluation for these restaurants:

• Estaminet Au Vieux de la Vieille: 9/10
• Le Broc: 8/10
• Well Welsh: 8/10

I hope my recommendations were helpful and whenever you are in Lille – try it!