On an official visit to France, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected for lunch in a traditional restaurant in Tourmalet at an altitude of 2,156 meters. An idea from the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who intends to introduce his guest to an establishment that he has been frequenting for around thirty years. On the menu, the owner of the place explains on RMC that he intends to introduce local specialties to his guests.
Chinese President Xi Jinping continues his state visit to France. After being received by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron on Monday at the Elysée, Xi Jinping is now expected in the Pyrenees for a presidential lunch in a high-altitude restaurant.
The two presidents met at “L’tape du Berger” a restaurant in La Mongie in the Hautes-Pyrénées at the Col du Tourmalet at an altitude of 2,156 meters. A meal in an establishment that Emmanuel Macron knows well and has visited since he was a child.
“Emmanuel Macron has been coming to us for around thirty years, he already came with his grandparents,” explains this Tuesday on RMC and RMC Story Eric Abadie, breeder and owner of the restaurant “L’tape du berger” in La Mongie in the Hautes-Pyrénées.
“I didn’t imagine myself receiving the Chinese president one day. But in February or March Emmanuel Macron told me ‘I would like to bring the Chinese president’ and I said ‘no problem'” .
Shoulder of lamb and blueberry tart
On the lunch menu, “nothing exceptional” assures the restaurant owner: “I cook local cuisine and I’m going to do what I usually do: garbure, confit suckling lamb, shoulder lamb, Tarbes beans, with internationally recognized products, with one of the best hams in the world, black pork. And he wanted a blueberry pie so there will be some.
A menu developed by Eric Abadie after having had the green light from the President of the Republic to do what he usually does.
If it should not be too hot, Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping could take advantage of the currently clear view. And also entertainment: “We have a small group of folk singers who will sing when the presidents arrive and depart,” explains Eric Abadie.
“The Chinese didn’t ask us anything”
Concerning the protocol, he assures us, he has not received any particular request apart from those related to security: “There is a protocol because it is not the same culture but the Chinese have not asked us anything, this are people like the others, perhaps that’s why they come to us,” concludes Eric Abadie before heading into the kitchen.
According to BFMTV, this lunch should be an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron to break protocol to speak more directly with Xi Jinping and discuss in particular the war in Ukraine. After this lunch at Tourmalet, the Chinese president is expected from Wednesday to Friday in Serbia and Hungary.
Guillaume Dussourt Journalist BFMTV-RMC
