Life has been a bit hectic recently with John's birthday party organisation, so it was a wonderful surprise and very welcome to be taken out to dinner by our friends Angela and Ian the night before the big event. We went to the Hotel du Chateau in Bauge as it was close, open and not full up.
I include the link above so you can see for yourselves what you get. The dining room is light and airy with a few weapons of painful destruction around the walls. There are a number of menus, but we went for the Menu du Chateau at 18,60 Euros a head.
We chose different starters. The chaps had red mullet fillets on a sort of pizza style base, which was nicely balanced. I had the goat cheese starter which turned out to be a sort of mousse and was very nice indeed with a well dressed salad to complement it. Angela had the rabbit terrine which was also good and liberally spliced with pistachio nuts to make an interesting change.
We also managed to cover all the main courses on the menu! I had the salmon escalope, which in true French fashion was served with beurre blanc sauce and rice. If I am being ultra picky, I would have to say that the edges of the escalope were a little crunchy - no doubt from sitting under a heat lamp until the other dishes were ready, but the flavours were lovely. Angela had the duck filet with Layon sauce - a very nicely judged dish, while the chaps had beef kebabs with a shallot sauce. The meat was meltingly tender and they understood the "a point" cooking instruction.
On the pudding front, the panacotta was very good and well judged with the acidity of the fruit. My tea mousse was nice but didn't go with the lime sorbet, so I ate one after the other, and both were fab. The chocolate pudding was pronounced to be a suitable chocolate hit. We had a nice pichet of local rose wine and a big jug of tap water that was refilled when down to a quarter. Service was fine, and all in all it was a nice, convivial experience, with good food, nicely cooked - not haute cuisine with all that entails.
Many thanks to Angela and Ian for treating us.
There will be tales from the Party shortly, but as the Comice will be on us shortly, time is getting rather precious so apologies now for any delays!
That all sounds absolutely delicious - and very reasonbly priced!
Posted by: Anne Donald | 12 August 2010 at 08:34 AM