Shirosaka * - Hideki Li – Tokyo - Japan

Ishaara – Dipesh Shinde – Mumbai – India

Hide Above * – Ollie Dabbous– London– England

Solstice – Eric Trochon - Paris – France

Rijks Restaurant * – Joris Bijdendijk – Amsterdam– Holland

Enyaa – Daisuke Endo – Paris – France

Fleur de Pavé  – Sylvain Sendra– Paris – France

Armonia – Andrea Di Giovanni– Paris – France

Le Mavrommatis * – Andreas Mavrommatis – Paris – France

Le restaurant du Palais Royal * – Philippe Chronopoulos– Paris -France

Restaurant de Tourrel * – Jérémy Scalia– St Rémy de Provence - France

Kei  ** – Kei Kobayashi– Paris –France

Mos * – Egon Van Hoof – Avignon - France

Corner House * – Jason Tan – Singapore, Singapore

Lume * – Luigi Taglienti – Milan – Italy

Tokuyoshi * – Yoji Tokuyoshi – Milan – Italy

Automne – Nobuyuki Askishige – Paris – France

Adrian Quetglas * – Adrien Quetglas – Mallorca – Spain

Villa in the Sky** – Alexandre Dioniso – Brussels - Belgium

Dan B.* – Dan Bessoudo – Ventabren – France

Oka – Raphaël Rego – Paris – France

Atomix * – Junghyun Park – New York – USA

NE/SO – Guillaume Sanchez – Paris -France

Gabriel Kreuther ** – Gabriel Kreuther – New York – USA

L’Hommage – Jonathan Lor – Paris –France

Pollen – Mathieu Desmaret – Avignon - France

La Compagnie, the boutique airline, operates a 74-seat 100% business class flight between Paris (Orly Sud) and Newark, NJ airport. There are two flights a day.

• Checking in with La Compagnie at Orly Sud was smooth and easy: 7/10.

• Priority lane to immigration and custom checking relatively quick: 6/10.

• The Icare lounge at Orly Sud was average with a small offering of foods and beverages: 5/10.

• The boarding and the flight were timely : 8/10

• The plane, a Boeing 757, looked clean and well maintained but extremely noisy: 6/10.

• The 160-degree reclining seat was spacious with a good system of removable tray but with no storage space besides the overhead compartment, a fluffy pillow and a warm blanket:  5/10.

• The entertainment system was displayed on a 21"x22'' tablet and equipped with a good headset, but with a limited choice of films, music and TV shows: 5/10.

• The food and the drinks were surprisingly good and tasty, good bread too: 8/10.

• The crew on board was professional and helpful: 7/10.

Overall rating of our outbound flight: 7/10.

Our return flight B01200 from Newark, NJ to Orly Sud on Saturday, November 3rd 2018 was not as enjoyable, unfortunately:

• Checking in with La Compagnie at Newark airport Terminal B was smooth and easy: 7/10.

• No priority lane to immigration and custom checking, it was crowded: 4/10.

• The Art & Lounge lounge was undergoing renovation works so all the seats were packed, it was overcrowded, not very clean, smelly, worst than a third world garage with a very poor food and beverages offering: 2/10.

• The boarding and the flight were one-hour late due to a couple who arrived late and who forgot their luggage at the gate: 3/10.

• The plane, a Boeing 757, looked worn out and extremely noisy : 4/10

• The 160-degree reclining seat was spacious (the foot rest was not as comfortable as the one on our outbound flight though) with a good system of removable tray, a fluffy pillow and a warm blanket but again no storage space:   5/10.
• The entertainment system was displayed on a 21"x22'' tablet and equipped with a good headset, but with a limited choice of films, music and TV shows (the exact same ones as on our outbound flight even though the month had changed - other companies usually update their entertainment program monthly): 5/10.

• The crew did not give us prior notice they were going to serve breakfast, did not wake us up gently from our short night sleep by turning on the lights, making an announcement, asking us to pull up the blinds, put our seat in the upright position, etc. They just started serving breakfast when half the plane was still in slumber or half asleep in their reclined seats. They gave us the warm towel to clean our hands but never retrieved it and, last but not least, the breakfast itself was average with a terrible coffee: 2/10.

• The crew on-board looked overwhelmed, awkward, not well trained and badly managed: 1/10.

Overall rating of our return flight: 3/10.

Quasi-inconnu en France, Anthony Bourdain était un globe-trotter et surtout un globe-fooder. D'abord chef lui-même, sa passion l'a ensuite amené à voyager dans le monde entier pour découvrir d'autres cultures et d'autres lifestyles à travers les cuisines locales. Curieux insatiable (au propre comme au figuré), ses émissions télé No Reservations, The Layover et surtout Parts Unknown (dans l'épisode sur le Vietnam il avait réussi à convaincre Barack Obama, alors POTUS, de venir partager avec lui un Bun Cha dans un boui-boui à Hanoï, tous les deux assis sur des tabourets en plastique minuscules, Bourdain enseignant à Obama l'art du "slurp" pour manger les nouilles) avaient fait de lui un véritable ambassadeur culturel et de nous des fans assidus.

Anthony Bourdain s'est suicidé le vendredi 8 juin 2018, à Strasbourg où il tournait la nouvelle saison de Parts Unknown. Il avait 61 ans. Bien sûr je ne le connaissais pas personnellement mais j'adorais le personnage (et quel personnage !), son approche des voyages, de la bouffe et, malgré tout, de la vie. Et cette voix...

Anthony, tu nous manques déjà.

Article signé par Pivoine