L’Air de Famille is a family restaurant in the center of Toulouse. The menu is not known in advance, as both lunch and dinner menus are prepared individually each day based on seasonal ingredients available at the market. On Saturday evening, it was full to the last seat.
There is a wide selection of appetizers, main courses, and desserts. A two-course evening menu (appetizer + main course or main course + dessert) can be purchased for 35 EUR, and a three-course menu for 38 EUR.
The chalk-written board looks very effective, but for non-French-speaking guests, the translation is even more challenging. The restaurant does not have a website, but it was possible to make a reservation in advance via email. Although the staff did not speak much English, they were very friendly, helpful, and tried to explain everything.
The first appetizer was homemade duck terrine with nuts, pickled vegetables, and salad. Very well done.
For the second appetizer, we chose Greek-style vegetables. It was a light and refreshing dish, with the vegetables perfectly prepared.
The third appetizer to arrive at our table was smoked herring with apple, pickled vegetables, and salad. A very interesting and tasty combination.
For the main course, the veal steak from the French Ségala region won 2:1, accompanied by a pasta salad with parmesan and Iberian chorizo sauce. The veal was well prepared but not outstanding, and we were quite spoiled by the excellent beef from our previous visit to Le Genty Magre. On the other hand, the salad was great, with a very interesting taste. If you come across a pasta salad called crozet in France, I recommend trying it.
Upside-down apple pie tarte tatin in a mini dessert version was very successful, complemented by a delicate cream ice cream. The caramel was excellent.
As the very last item of our dinner, we chose the typical French dessert mille-feuille. It consists of three layers of puff pastry interspersed with two layers of vanilla cream. The oldest mention of this dessert appeared in 1733 in a cookbook written by French chef Vincent La Chapelle. The dessert was again flawlessly processed.
In 2022, the L’ Air de Famille restaurant is the holder of the Michelin Bib award – an extraordinary price/performance ratio.
More information can be found by clicking on the link on the map: