Bustronome!
I will be receiving and entertaining a good Aussie friend for the third October in a row. As I am running out of ideas, I decided to try Bustronome, whose starting point is just around the corner from our apartment.
Quite frankly, Bustronome is a bit weird and wacky. It is a high-end double decker bus, with a panoramic glass roof. Passengers are driven around Paris’ most famous sights, while they partake in a 4-course meal (1 ½ hours at lunchtime or 2 ½ at dinner time).
Bustronome is billed as a delightful way to discover food and wine of a cultural capital while visiting its most beautiful monuments. The promoters claim that the unprecedented marriage between beauty and pleasure on board this luxury bus-restaurant, will provide you with an out of the ordinary experience ready to awaken your senses. On board, passengers will discover the most beautiful views in Paris while enjoying the best of its gastronomy.
I must confess that it was actually fun to be riding high in a bus, while enjoying my lunch. But to really enjoy it, you require an infantile streak. Sitting near me was a young Korean couple on their honeymoon, who seemed to believe that they were having a “real French experience”. Maybe they were!
Sitting next to them were two middle-aged French couples, who pretended to know everything about everything, although they mistook the young Koreans for Japanese.
How was the food? It was actually very nice, considering the circumstances in which it was produced. The wine was also OK.
All that said, Bustronome is a little expensive. Lunch costs 90 euros for food and wine. Dinner costs 150 euros.
Conclusion: would my Aussie friend enjoy Bustronome? If we need a schedule-filler, it could indeed be an option.