I’ve always wanted to dine at a Michelin starred restaurant but unfortunately a glampacker’s budget doesn’t usually stretch that far. When you’re travelling on a budget usually the first thing you sacrifice is eating at fine restaurants. Once in a blue moon, or for a very ultra special occasion, you have indulge in a fine dining experience.

The occasion? Seeing my best friend in Paris, who I hadn’t seen for nearly 18 months, celebrating her birthday and the beginning of her first European adventure.

On a quiet street in Saint Germain is a boutique hotel. It has an unassuming exterior, which perhaps suggests nothing grand or luxurious about the hotel or restaurant inside.

The main restaurant is a medium sized salon with heavy ornate chandeliers, gold gilded mirrors and cushioned upholstered armchairs. Breaks of sunlight filtered in through the sun roof, during a rather bleak and rainy day. Our table overlooked a small courtyard with a giant clam shell fountain. Perhaps in the 18th century the salon hosted grand literary debates…

The service was extremely attentive at the restaurant, though we arrived for an early lunch at 12.30pm with a Top Table reservation, the easy-on-the-eye waiter sat us down in the lounge before preparing our table. They whisked away our shopping bags and coats before leading us to a table on the edge of the salon.

Le Restaurant has a set menu as well as ala carrte, with drinks being an additional cost. The entrée and main meal was 42 euro and entrée, main and dessert was 53 euro altogether. We deliberated over the two set menus – would we be tempted by dessert? Would we have time to go have afternoon tea and eat macarons elsewhere? With much willpower, we resisted dessert – tart or pistachio crème cherise or fromage (cheese board).

“Would you like to start with champagne?” the waiter asked before taking our order. There’s only one answer to that question!

We toasted with our Rose and Blanc Champagne to a summer in Europe and were soon presented with an Amuse Bouche – to amuse the palette. Two small morsels of a pastry encased cheese and grand manier infused prawn with sauce. We also started on the bread, crusty though soft on the inside with heavy handed slatherings of butter.

To cleanse our palate before our main course we were served sorbet. At least I thought it was sorbet! It turned out to be cream with tomato and ginger finely chopped which was refreshing.

Our entrees were red mullet and lamb sweetbread. I was dubious about sweetbread as I knew it was a euphemism for lamb innards. However it was well cooked with a chewy interior complemented by a spinach sauce. My red mullet was served cold dressed with flower petals and a light tart sauce. It was a light starter which was too pretty to eat!

We were also offered wine to complement our main and I received a recommendation from our waiter to have a Loire Valley blanc which was rather fruity. Only one waiter spoke English to us and the other waitstaff served us in French, it was neither rude nor patronising although my dear friend understood more French than I did!

The main salon had a few other guests who were mostly locals enjoying the set menus although a mature couple were indulging in the degustation – seven courses accompanied by four wines. One day I may come back for this, even though I’m not certain that I could finish seven courses!

For our mains we ordered roasted veal and black cod, prawn and chicken with rice. It was a bit strange to have chicken and seafood on the same plate! Nevertheless the cod was steamed perfectly so the fillets smoothly fell apart when cut. The veal was well done yet remained tender.

After polishing off all of this we felt sated but not overly full. Instead the Champagne and wine combination was allowing us to melt away into our salon chairs. When our waiter cheekily asked us if we had changed our minds about dessert, it was impossible to say non!

It was a decision that we could not regret – the dessert was the finale of the meal. Pistachio crème with cherries sliced in half on top a piece of shortbread-like biscuit and caramel slices. It was great for sharing even if the greedy part of me wanted it all to myself.

With such a grand finale we thought the meal was over until we were served with petit fours – a mini macaron, a citron tart with a gold leaf and a small vanilla tapioca-like cake. Even after completing the feast we didn’t feel like we were bursting but rather well-fed like French ariostocrats or ladies of leisure.

In great timing the sun had finally arrived for an afternoon of shopping as we stepped back onto the streets of Saint Germain to enjoy the Parisien lux lifestyle – if only for a day until we returned to glampacking by night.