Restaurant in Tournus, France
One Michelin star, harder to book than it looks.
Jean-Michel Carrette's one-Michelin-star table is the strongest modern cuisine option in Tournus and one of the most credentialled restaurants in southern Burgundy. Ranked Remarkable by OAD in 2025 and rated 4.7 across 866 Google reviews, it earns its €€€ price point. Book well in advance and time your visit around the seasonal menu rotation for the best return.
If you have already been to Aux Terrasses once, there is a strong case for coming back — and coming back at a different time of year. Jean-Michel Carrette's one-Michelin-star table in Tournus holds its rating into 2025 and carries a Remarkable classification from Opinionated About Dining's 2025 European rankings (#412), which together make it one of the most credentialled modern cuisine addresses in southern Burgundy. The price sits at €€€, which is honest for this level of kitchen. Book early: this is a hard reservation in a small town with limited competing options at this tier.
The first time at Aux Terrasses, most diners are orienting: the room, the rhythm of service, the register of the cooking. On a return visit, the question shifts to timing. Carrette's menu reads differently across the seasons, and that is the central argument for coming back. Southern Burgundy transitions sharply between a produce-rich spring and summer and a denser, more mineral autumn and winter. A visit in late spring — when the Saône valley is running green and local markets are at their most active , will put different ingredients in front of you than a visit in October, when the kitchen leans into game, root vegetables, and the earthier notes that suit a stone-walled dining room. Regulars who have visited in both seasons report meaningfully different menus, not merely a dish or two swapped out. If your first visit was in summer, plan the return for autumn or early winter.
The atmosphere reinforces this. The room at 18 Av. du 23 Janvier is the kind of measured, unhurried space that Tournus does well: not loud, not theatrical, but warm in a way that feels more genuine in cooler months when the town itself quietens. Noise levels stay conversation-friendly throughout service, which makes it a better choice for serious dining companions than many comparably-rated addresses in Lyon or Dijon. Google reviewers rate it 4.7 across 866 reviews, a figure that holds up consistently rather than spiking on novelty.
Database does not list specific dishes, and Carrette's menu changes with the season, so naming fixed items would be misleading. What is consistent, based on the OAD ranking and sustained Michelin recognition, is that the kitchen performs at the level of modern French cuisine that takes classical technique seriously without being nostalgic about it. On a return visit, resist the temptation to re-order what worked last time. The seasonal rotation is the point. If it is autumn or winter, lean into whatever the kitchen is doing with local game or aged dairy. If it is spring or early summer, the lighter, herb-forward plates are where the cooking will be most expressive. Ask the server what has just come into season rather than working from a previous visit's memory.
Tasting menu format makes the most sense here. At €€€ pricing in a one-star house, you are paying for the full arc of a meal, and the kitchen's logic is clearest when experienced in sequence. A single return visit taken as a full tasting menu across a different season will tell you more about what Carrette is doing than two à la carte lunches.
Aux Terrasses is a hard reservation. Tournus is a small town on the A6 corridor between Lyon and Dijon, which means it attracts diners driving between the two cities as well as those specifically making the journey. Weekend tables fill weeks out; if you are planning around a specific season, book before you confirm travel. The address , 18 Av. du 23 Janvier, 71700 Tournus , is direct to reach by car and within walking distance of the town centre and the Abbaye Saint-Philibert, which makes it viable as a long lunch destination if you are spending a day in Tournus rather than staying overnight. For hotel options nearby, see our full Tournus hotels guide.
No phone or website is listed in our current data. Book through the restaurant directly or via a reservation platform; availability at this level requires checking in advance, not on the day.
For broader context on eating and drinking in the town, see our full Tournus restaurants guide, plus guides to bars, wineries, and experiences in the area.
If you are building a wider Burgundy itinerary around serious modern French cooking, Aux Terrasses sits in good company regionally. Troisgros - Le Bois sans Feuilles in Ouches and Flocons de Sel in Megève both operate at higher price points with more stars, but Aux Terrasses is the better choice if you want serious cooking without the full ceremony of a three-star occasion. Further afield, Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern and Bras in Laguiole are the obvious regional anchors for multi-day gastronomic trips in France, while Paul Bocuse - L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges remains the historical reference point for the broader Lyon corridor. For the highest-end modern French cooking in Paris, Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen and Mirazur in Menton sit at the leading of the European tier; comparing them to Aux Terrasses is less useful than acknowledging that Carrette's kitchen punches at a level that makes the detour to Tournus worthwhile on its own terms. For a sense of how modern cuisine operates in other international contexts, Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai offer useful points of reference for the format, if not the geography.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Aux Terrasses | €€€ | — |
| L'Écrin de Yohann Chapuis | €€€€ | — |
| Le Bouchon Bourguignon | €€ | — |
| Le Quai | €€ | — |
| Le Terminus | €€ | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Manageable, but not the most natural fit for a solo diner. At €€€ pricing with a tasting menu format, the full experience is easier to justify across two or more courses shared with a companion. That said, Carrette's Michelin-starred kitchen gives solo diners a serious reason to show up alone — treat it as a focused, single-subject meal rather than a social occasion.
Yes, if seasonal French cooking is your format. Carrette holds a Michelin star and ranks in the Opinionated About Dining Classical Europe list (2025), which signals cooking grounded in technique and produce rather than spectacle. At €€€, the price sits in the mid-to-upper range for the region — comparable to what you'd pay at other starred addresses along the Lyon-Dijon corridor, but Tournus is smaller and the experience is less formal.
check the venue's official channels ahead of your visit. Carrette's menu changes with the season, which means flexibility is possible, but a tasting menu format at this level requires advance notice to accommodate restrictions properly. Don't leave it until you arrive.
For a lower-commitment meal in Tournus, Le Bouchon Bourguignon covers the regional bistro format at a lower price point. Le Quai and Le Terminus are useful options if you want something closer to brasserie pace without the tasting menu commitment. L'Écrin de Yohann Chapuis is the closest like-for-like comparison if you want another chef-driven, finer-format option in the area.
The menu changes seasonally and no fixed dishes are listed in available records, so arriving with a specific dish in mind will likely disappoint. The right approach is to book the full tasting menu and let the kitchen lead — that is the format Carrette's cooking is built around, and resisting it undercuts the point of the visit.
Yes. A Michelin star, a chef with OAD Classical recognition, and a small-town setting that keeps the atmosphere personal rather than corporate make this a strong pick for a birthday, anniversary, or celebration dinner. It works better for two than for a large group, given the tasting menu format.
At €€€, it sits at the higher end for Tournus but is priced in line with Michelin-starred cooking in rural Burgundy. Given Carrette's 2024 and 2025 star retention and the OAD Classical ranking, the cooking credentials justify the spend. If €€€ feels steep for the area, the alternatives in town won't replicate the cooking quality — they serve a different purpose.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
