Veronique Jacquet’s bistro Bouche a Oreille, in Bourges, is cheap and cheerful, but probably not Michelin material. Picture: Google

You probably won’t think of a place like Bouche a Oreille in central France, a humble eatery that specialises in home-style stews and plastic tablecloths.

So undeserving does this Bouche a Oreille seem of a coveted Michelin Star, that when it was awarded one this month, its owner was the first to point out there must be some terrible mistake.

“I laughed out loud,” Véronique Jacquet told the New York Times about the moment she heard about the latest Michelin Guide on the radio.

“It was impossible that this could happen to me. I run a small working-class brasserie, nothing to do with a gourmet restaurant.”

Ms Jacquet’s instinct was right on the money.

In a Michelin mix-up, the top honour not was intended for Ms Jacquet’s Bouche a Oreille (“word of mouth”), in the small city of Bourges, but for another restaurant by the same name in Boutervilliers, southwest of Paris — and about 160km away.

Bouche a Oreille in Boutervilliers, which is now a two Michelin-starred restaurant, is notably more fancy. Picture: TripAdvisor travellerSource:Supplied

Even its burgers are impressive — this one’s made with lobster and foie gras. Picture: TripAdvisor travellerSource:Supplied

Now this looks more like a Michelin star-restaurant meal. Picture: TripAdvisor travellerSource:Supplied

To add to the confusion, Ms Jacquet’s bistro is on a street called route de la Chapelle. The restaurant that should have received the Michelin star is on rue de la Chapelle.

But that’s where the similarities between the two restaurants end. While Ms Jacquet’s lunch-only menu consists of $18.30 beef bourguignon and pints of tapped beer, the fancier La Bouche a Orielle — which already has one Michelin star — serves showstopping dishes of lobster, foie gras and calf’s brain of up to $72 a pop.

It took about a week until Guide Michelin France updated the error on its website.

In the meantime, hungry punters flocked to Ms Jacquet’s eatery to experience France’s latest gastronomic sensation.

“We’re swamped,” Ms Jacquet told the La Parisien newspaper.

“I don’t have much space and there are only four waiters.”

Over at the other Le Bouche à Oreille in Boutervilliers, chef and co-owner Aymeric Dreux didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“One of my customers called me to ask if I had opened a second restaurant in Bourges. I had no idea what he was talking about,” he told the New York Times.

When he was informed about Michelin’s mix-up, he called Ms Jacquet in Bourges and shared a laugh over the confusion.

“It was a little boo-boo that caused no harm and was corrected,” he said. “The whole thing made us laugh.”

Claire Dorland-Clauzel from Guide Michelin France apologised for the uncharacteristic blunder.

“We apologised to the two establishments and we are sorry to have misled our clients,” she told Le Parisien.

— with AFP