François Simon, masked food critic. (Credit: G.K.)
We would have liked to describe him, as we usually do in these pages, to show his expression as he quietly watches a restaurant he won’t return to, or how his face lights up when something truly moves him. But we can’t, because for nearly 45 years, François Simon has chosen to stay invisible.Masked, anonymous, always in the shadows, François Simon is a mystery by design. Though often labeled a food critic, he prefers “a hybrid being who floats,” moving between newspaper columns, travel guides, past television shows, and nearly fifty books. His latest, "Will I go back?", published by Flammarion, takes its title from the catchphrase he uses to end each of his now-iconic restaurant videos on Instagram, followed by over 380,000 fans. In his world, food is never just about taste — it’s about vibrations, faces, resonances, and the...
We would have liked to describe him, as we usually do in these pages, to show his expression as he quietly watches a restaurant he won’t return to, or how his face lights up when something truly moves him. But we can’t, because for nearly 45 years, François Simon has chosen to stay invisible.Masked, anonymous, always in the shadows, François Simon is a mystery by design. Though often labeled a food critic, he prefers “a hybrid being who floats,” moving between newspaper columns, travel guides, past television shows, and nearly fifty books. His latest, "Will I go back?", published by Flammarion, takes its title from the catchphrase he uses to end each of his now-iconic restaurant videos on Instagram, followed by over 380,000 fans. In his world, food is never just about taste — it’s about vibrations, faces,...