The'restaurant-ecole'of French Paul Bocuse Institute is situated in Puxi District, on the Rhone-Alps Pavilion's top floor. It provides healthy, fresh and innovative French cuisine, with a wink to the Rhone-Alps region cuisine, as Paul Bocuse Institute is located in Lyon. The'restaurant-ecole', which means'school restaurant', is a food laboratory managed by 42 Chinese and 17 French students, themselves directed by 7 French managers. Fortunately, if the students are only in their second year, the meal and the service are very professional.

The environment is calm and relaxing. The music is soft, so you can enjoy conversation. The wooden furniture reminds us the Rhone-Alps Pavilion's green side, as it is built under high environment quality principles. Its plant roof and walls cleanse and refresh the outside air that enters the building, the temperature was hot inside this summer. This problem has been quickly solved with the air-conditioning installation.

All students in the service were very careful and rigorous. They are all bilingual and some of them are also trilingual. All dishes are introduced to you with smart manners and smile. The menu includes a choice between at least four starters, main dishes and deserts. But it also includes an appetizer (cocktail and glass cup) and different wines. A large selection of tea is also suggested after the desert.

The food is filled of flavors and well presented. Even the truffle butter is delicious! Some gourmets will also appreciate wines which are selected to match with starters and main dishes. You can also try the'Best Bocuse', which revisits all the classics of the French great cuisine for the whole table. Last but of course not least, the desert is the best, so don't eat too quickly! And even if the menu is copious, the meal (and desert!) stills light, so when you will have finished it and get up from your chair, you will have no regret for eating so much!

Paul Bocuse grew up in cooks' family from father to son, which one immortalizes the tradition since the 17th century and in the same village. Today, Paul Bocuse contributes to the world fame of the French cooking, classified immaterial cultural heritage of the humanity since 2010.

The Paul Bocuse's old tradition doesn't prevent the freshness and novelty, as it brings the first'school-restaurant'in China. Twenty years after its creation, the Paul Bocuse Institute decided to handle the Expo 2010 opportunity to introduce its brand in China, which was a'hard task', according to Federico Duarte from the Paul Bocuse Institute. After having served 21 769 dishes during the Expo 2010 on the Rhone-Alps Pavilion's top floor, managers and students stayed there. The novelty can also be seen weekly and even daily in the restaurant, as one main dish changes every day and as the menu changes every six weeks.

The freshness is also important, as the restaurant provides local and seasonal products.'Before I went to China, I discussed with some colleagues. They all told me that I won't find quality products in China, that I would have to work with imported products only, that it will cost me a lot. I came to China, by imagining the worst, and I finally found excellent suppliers, with excellent quality local products'told Federico Duarte Director Executive Chef.

Thanks to cooperation between ERAI (Enterprises Rhone-Alps International), the Rhone-Alps Region and Paul Bocuse Institute, this 4,000 sq. ft.'school restaurant'provides gastronomy, service and management training to both French and Chinese students. Supervised by chefs and professors, 17 second-year French students from Paul Bocuse Institute contribute to the training of 42 Chinese students from the Shanghai Institute of Tourism, transmitting their know-how and professional behavior relative to French gastronomy and fine dining.'For the moment, what is the most important for us is to train well our students. Our aim is not to serve 3000 persons per day. When students have just arrived, we welcome only a few customers to be indeed able to show them the right way to cook, serve and manage. At the end of the month, we can welcome it a little more ', explained Federico.

Specialty: French cuisine

Average price: 300 RMB Yuan  per person for the menu

Address: Rhone-Alps Pavilion -379 Baotun Road (near Zhong Shan Road (S.) ) Shanghai

Telephone (021)33 07 11 03

Reservations at restaurantecole@erai.cn

Transportation: 10 minutes from South Xizang Road station of Metro Line 4 or 8.

OPEN ON RESERVATION ONLY

By Anne Dryvers