November 15, 2004
Restaurant Maxime, Poitiers, France
Restaurant Maxime,
4 rue St. Nicolas,
Poitier,86000,
0549410955,
De-luxe restaurant, French clasical,30
Imaginative food in classic drawing room-style surroundings.
The menu degustation I had included a creme brule style dish made of moules, Foie gras, Ravioli with the seafood sauce in a separate glass, langouste with caviar and scrambled eggs, St. Pierre with morels, sweetbreads, strawberries zambione. Need I say more?
Posted by Sam at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)
Au Saumon, Wasselone, Alsace
Au Saumon,
69 Rue du Général de Gaulle,
Wasselone,67310,
0388870483,
Local restaurant, French classical,70, Restaurant avec chambres
Just off the central square of this classic old Alscaiene town this is an attractive restaurant avec chambres.
There is nothing pretentious or over-stated just a good solid country restaurant. The wine list is more impressive than the menu which features the usual favorites. Good outside dining area in the summer.
Posted by Sam at 1:32 PM | Comments (0)
Restaurant du Cygne, St Omer, France
Restaurant du Cygne,
8, Rue Caventou,
Saint Omer,62500,
0321982052,
De-luxe restaurant, French clasical,70
St Omer has rather become the place for Brits escaping from Calais. The result has not been good for many of the town centre restaurants who have become complacent with a stream of pseudo gourmands. The Cygne is just off the centre and represents a real attempt at a decent restaurant. A great deal of hard work has gone into the operation and for me the food was okay rather than at the high level aspired too. But none the less in Saint Omer it is a good option for a decent meal.
Posted by Sam at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
La Poule au Pot, restaurant, Les Halles, Paris
La Poule au Pot,
9 rue Vauvilliers,
Les Halles,
75001,
042363294,
Local restaurant, French classical,80
La Poule has been around for a long time and often visited by the great and famous as the brass plaques around the room attest.
Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra are two such names. The food is to a good brasserie standard and the service is on that par. Nothing really exciting or new about the menu but all the old favorites are there. A pleasant Paris restaurant.
Posted by Sam at 1:28 PM | Comments (0)
Paul Maton’s L'Escargot restaurant, Cambrai, France
L'Escargot,(Guy Maton),
10, Rue du General de Gaulle,
Cambrai
03 2781 24 54
Local restaurant,French,40
From the outset the impression is of a very ordinary restaurant, but this is far from the truth.
This is in fact a very good restaurant and has been so for many years. Paul Maton controls from the front of house and the cooking is both inventive and traditional.
Posted by Sam at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)
La Rapiere Restaurant, Arras, France
La Rapiere,
44, Grand Place,
Arras,
0321222428,
Local restaurant,French,45
A very pleasant, modern but traditional restaurant in classic Baroque square.
The menus are typical even if the production is contemporary. The staff are young and enjoy themselves. A safe place for a pleasant meal.
Posted by Sam at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)
La Taverne de Maître Kanter: good food at fair price
La Taverne de Maître Kanter
http://www.tavernes-maitre-kanter.com/
These are a group of similar Alastian-style establishments owned by Kronenbourg brewery.
I have always found them to serve good food at fair prices with good service. A safe place to stop for a quick lunch or even a longer meal, you'll find them in many towns in France.
Posted by Sam at 1:22 PM | Comments (0)
Le Calmar, La Tamarissiere , near Cap Agde
Le Calamar,
Side of the river,
La Tamarissiere,
0467940506,
Local restaurant, French classical,60,
http://restaurant-le-calamar.com
Le Calamar is located on the bank of the river Herault, just before it runs into the sea.There are some good outside tables where the view can be appreciated as well as a pleasant interior restaurant. The menu is written on blackboards and obviously inclined towards seafood. Clearly the dishes offered depend upon what is available locally that day. However I found the menu adequately broad enough to cover most tastes. I had moules mariniere followed by veal kidney. I thought the moules could have done with a touch of wine in the cooking, they seemed to me to be steamed in water rather than wine, and there was little onion and garlic. However the moules themselves were good and meaty and I enjoyed them. The kidney was cooked rose as requested and came with a nice selection of fresh vegetables. Others at the table had poussin salad and oysters as a starter, and steak as a main course. There were no complaints and everybody enjoyed a jolly Sunday lunch.
Le Patron grew on one as he got less stressed as a full Sunday lunch crowd were satisfactorily fed and watered!
Posted by Sam at 1:18 PM | Comments (1)
Le Victoria, Castres premier restaurant
Le Victoria
21 Placa du 8 Mai
Castres 81100
05 63 591468
De Luxe Restaurant French classical, 50
Le Victoria is rated as the top restaurant in Castres and I think that is a fair call.
It is located in an old square behind the rather dull cathedral but this little basement restaurant is anything but dull. The steps down from the ground floor reception-area-cum-bar are not for the feint hearted. I dread to think what happens to anybody silly enough to become incapacitated: not a good place to need carrying out of!
The top gastronomic menu is a real demonstration of the class and style of this operation. From the amuse bouche, unusually listed as part of the menu but almost a course in itself, to the vast pudding plate, every dish is interesting and different.
I had suggested to Lord Toad that the menu would not be a challenge after our lunchtime indulgence because menus tend to serve smaller portion: I could not have been more wrong. After the amuse bouche we had three kinds of foie grass: two classic preparations and a small piece of suitably pink plain goose liver. The half lobster was not small, the palate cleaner was an excellent apple ice cream in calvados and the so-called main course was a beautifully tender and cooked piece of beef with a rich ceps sauce. Then came that desert: eight supposedly sampler sizes of different deserts; I have been in restaurants where those sampler sizes were the size of a fully priced desert!
The only disappointment was the wine, mainly because we chose a local wine, a Fitou, that was really not good and nothing like the Fitous I am used to which are robust and strong: this one was best described as anaemic and camp!
Posted by Sam at 1:16 PM | Comments (0)
Le Pescadou, Fish restaurant in Castres
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Le Pescadou,
Rue des 3 Rois,
Castres 81100,
0563723222
Local restaurant, Fish,50,
Finding Le Pescadou was a pleasant surprise as some of Castres' other and supposedly better restaurants had closed at 1.30 pm and we had still not lunched. The jolly patron obviously knew two players when he saw them, and he declared his place to be still open at 1.45 pm.
At first glance Le Pescadou does not look particularly auspicious, but the place had good local support and later that night a local assured me this is one of Castres's better eateries.
We sat outside, as the inside restaurant is fairly small and was full, although there is also a sort of metallic poissoniere area with seats. Our outside tables and chairs were more suited to a burger van but they sufficed. I had excellent fish soup with all the bits and Lord Toad had fresh large prawns. We both had turbot and expected a slab of meat from a large fish. Instead we had a smallish fish each, I would estimate about three quarters of a pound. They were very good although we could not but help wonder how much longer Turbot, already a rarity, will last if the small fish are being taken.
All in all it was an excellent food and a charming lunch in the sunshine with a jolly, caring patron.
Posted by Sam at 1:15 PM | Comments (0)
Hotel de la Poste, Oust, Near Foix
Hotel de la Poste,,
Oust 09410,
0560668633,
Local restaurant, French classical,70, Hotel
We left the well-worn main road on a whim that this Michelin recommended Hotel de la Poste, at Oust, might be the place to stay for the night.
It was early and we arrived in time for lunch. We had a beer and a huge ham sandwich in the garden and decided that we could do a great deal worse, so we decided to stay. The village was a bit quieter than we hoped for, but a quite night is not a bad thing. I fear the rooms are very average but the food was not!
We had the top menu at 25 Euros. Toad had fresh water ecrevisse (crayfish) which came from the local river. I had foie grass. I wish I had had the crayfish because I used to serve them in the Cotswolds where we caught them in the local river. I had not realised what was on offer until I saw them. They are quite a treat, if not a little picky to eat, unless it is just the tails that are easy to acquire.
For main I thought I was going to get hare, but once I started eating it I remarked it was a bloody big hare if the meat I had indeed came from one. It was very good and was in a thick rich gravy. However later talking to the chef I discovered my "grand lapin" was in fact roe deer. With a decent little pud and some local cheese it was a very pleasant meal of mainly local products served in a surprisingly grand and comfortable dining room.
The Hotel de la Poste is a lovely old fashioned rural hotel of the type that used to abound all over France, but are a dying breed. Well worth a visit for a quite night even if the bedrooms are little too rustic.
Posted by Sam at 1:13 PM | Comments (0)
Oppoca, Ainhoa: a very interesting restaurant
Oppoca,
Centre,
Ainhoa 64250,
0559298103,
Local restaurant, French classical,80, Pub style rooms
Staying at the Ithurria we were sent here when they were closed on a Wednesday evening.
With that recommendation we felt more confident than a quick peer at the outside might have engendered. In the end we were more than pleasantly surprised. We had a menu gastronomic which would not have shamed some of the finest chefs. We found innovation and a certain style with both the ingredients and the presentation. The starter a millefeuille of goose liver, smoked duck and cheese was fascinating with the ingredients quoted being placed between slithers of light chocolate cake and finished with a caramelised sugar on the top. I can not say it worked that well: it was not bad but I think certainly the smoked duck was an ingredient too far. And I was not sure about the caramelised top. The other dishes were an artichoke dish and a duck with ceps. Both were okay rather than excellent although once again the question was more over the finished product than excellent ideas. Certainly worth a visit.
Posted by Sam at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)
Ithurria hotel and restaurant, Ainhoa, in the Pyrenees
Ithurria,
Main road,
Ainhoa
France 64250,
0559299211, De-luxe restaurant, French classical,100,Hotel,
A superb building, at the bottom of a Pyrenees pass to Spain, in a classic unspoiled village.The hotel and restaurant has been in the same family for years and the family are still everywhere with Father in the kitchen and Grandmother on the reception and the various sons acting as General Manager, chef and waiters respectively. Thus a great deal of care and attention is evident in all areas.
The restaurant is an old baronial style room with plenty of history evident in the discarded items on display. The menus include a Menu Gastronomic which included perfect Foie Gras, duck, local cheese and pud. After dinner there is a vast range of Armagnacs to choose from. All was excellent.
Posted by Sam at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)
Chez Dominique, Cobourne, nr St Jean du Luz,
Chez Dominique
Quai Maurice Ravel
Cobourne (St Jean du Luz)
France 64500
05 59 472916
De Luxe restaurant: French classical: 60 (inc. terrace)
From the outside the restaurant belies the standard (and prices) within. This is a very serious restaurant with a very good patron/chef. The food concentrates on the products of sea, which is barely surprising when the fishing port is across the road. The presentation is well thought out and clever with some nice original touches. The finest products from the nearby ocean are often offered as special dishes: thus we had Turbot, nowadays a rare and therefore expensive fish. The desert menu is well worth saving space for. There was a desert items that had to be ordered at the outset of the meal: something we were not told and thus were disappointed when we saw the said desert going to another table and then asked for it. Lord Toad threw all his toys out of his box: but still no joy.
My one reservation was the boss lady, presumably the Patron's wife, seemed to be less than keen on "Les Anglais!"
Posted by Sam at 1:08 PM | Comments (0)
Chez Karlos: A small Portuguese restaurant in St-Jean-du-Luz
Chez Karlos
10 Rue de L'Abbe Onaindia
St Jean du Luz
France 64500
05 59 269911
Local restaurant: Portuguese; 30
A small Portuguese restaurant run by a hard working couple: he on the stoves, she as greeter, server and general factotum.
Chez Karlos is located in an appealing old shop premises. The food is interesting, but basic, with the owner's Portuguese origins at the forefront of every thing: fortunately we avoided the Mateus! Clearly fish is the predominant menu item but meat is also lovingly cooked. Not haut cuisine but a charming small restaurant where TLC make up for what might be lost in presentation.
Posted by Sam at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)
Diego Plage, Arcachon: an archetypical seafood restaurant
Diego Plage,
Front de Mer,
Arcachon,
0556542820,
Local restaurant,Fish,100
This is the archetypical French seafood restaurant with piles of seafood outside and a man ready to open shells and build fantastic seafood platters.
Located on the sea front, with a promenade area between the tables and the Arcachon basin, this is not only a place serving great seafood, but also a place serving great views. On a sunny day sit outside and enjoy that atmosphere!
When I lunched there the seafood platter was a vast offering with langoustine, oysters, prawns, mussels and a whole crab; as usual this vast offering was bulked out by bulots (snails). This was my one, and standard, complaint. I do not particularly like raw snails. And just to make matters worse I am allergic to snails. For that I can blame the Trust House at Manchester airport: but that is an awfully long time ago! However we did our worst and not much was left by the end. We did reflect that one platter between the two of us would have sufficed! I then made a decision based on indecision. I could not decide what pud to have: we had decided to forgo a main course. So I had the dessert gourmand - 'the greedy plate' as it was dubbed in English. It was indeed that: I was expecting a tiny portion of all deserts: instead I got a full portion of most deserts. For once I happily let others feed from my plate!
One item had caught our attention among the main courses: it was a large Dover sole. We had set our hearts on that: the surfeit of seafood had rather knocked us back. So there was only one thing to do: go back for dinner and have the sole. This we did and it was delicious!
The inside restaurant is well appointed and fun. The staff was first rate and worked hard despite the rush. And the food was almost faultless. Judging by the attendance here, as opposed to nearby restaurants, also on the promenade, this is the number one in that area.
Posted by Sam at 1:05 PM | Comments (0)
J C Pequet: Family run in Lyon
J C Pequet,
59 Place Voltaire,
Lyon 69003,
0478954070,
Local restaurant, French classical,30,
This is a family run restaurant which I found via Michelin.
My first impressions were not that good and except for the recommender I might well have moved on. However the staff was keen and it all looked interesting enough. "Solid not spectacular" I said to my friends. And that is exactly what it was, except that we ate Grouse, which was cooked pink, gamey and served with an interesting accoutrement of cabbage stuffed with a meat and liver mix: reminiscent of haggis. Everything was well done and the service excellent.
Look at the picture near the bar: it is Le Patron looking large and splendid. I commented upon the picture and his wife called him out of the kitchen. We could all see the resemblance but the artist had used his licence to the full: not that he was not a nice guy and an accomplished chef!
Posted by Sam at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)
Le Peita, St Jean-du-Luz, a small Spanish restaurant
Le Peita,
Rue Tourasse,
St-Jean-du-luz, 64500,
0559268666
Local restaurant, Spanish, 20
Small restaurant in an old narrow street close to the seafront.
A local menu that has a heavy Spanish influence with the starters including a tapas plate. The food is basic and sometimes lacks colour although the taste is good. As you would expect a limited menu cooked in a tiny kitchen at the back. Good service from a mainly family staff.
Posted by Sam at 1:00 PM | Comments (1)
Gregoire, Perigaux a Michelin restaurant in the making.
Gregoire,
12 Rue de La Sagesse,
Perigaux, 24000,
0553466975, Local restaurant, Contemporary European,50
Located in the back streets of old Perigueux, at first sight this is anything but an impressive restaurant.
I think we might have fled except for the staff that were clearly keen to have us. We were stuck in the old shop area rather than the favoured garden area (complete with canopy.). However thus persuaded to stay we found a small gastronomic gem. The Chef is clearly young but also inventive, every dish we had had a different angle on it. It did not all work as well as it should, mainly due to lack of colour in the dishes. We had Ravioli of duck hearts and liver with morels which turned out to be the ravioli ingredients on a single sheet of pasta with another single sheet placed over it but at a diagonal angle. The Ris de Veau was served in a beautifully polished copper pan, and my green figs crumble were green figs oven baked with a crumble mix sprinkled over them just before service. Even the walnut cheese was smooth and devoid of obvious walnut bits.
By the time we left there was a queue of locals waiting down the street. The decor would never make Michelin but the cuisine will soon be there!
Posted by Sam at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
Hostellerie Le Saint-Laurent Restaurant with style and garden
Hostellerie Le Saint-Laurent,
St Laurent De Mare, Lyon
0478409144, Garden restaurant, French classical, 60, Restaurant avec chambres,
A chance find whilst driving from Geneva to Lyon, we had left the motorway to join the old road and thus acquire lunch.
It was a great September day and the garden at the back of the hotel was an idyllic spot, with the packed car park and the shortage of tables telling their own tale. We had red mullet fillet which was quickly roasted and delivered with an attractive salad and whiskers. Likewise the pan fried calves liver was cleverly presented sliced, pink and with minimal but colourful accoutrements. A very good restaurant with some sensibly priced rooms in this attractive old hotel.
Posted by Sam at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)