After a long break, we are back trying out the local restaurants and comparing the menus ouvrier again, and today it was the turn of le Moulinet at Jarze. This is a definate truckers' stop on the main non-motorway route from Tours to Angers a little further on towards Angers from Bauge.
The menu here is 11 euros, wine and coffee included. You enter via the bar and then are either directed to the right (macho workers) or to the left (posh restaurant). Either way, there is a buffet of starters (we thought the chorizo had bite, the rillettes were good and the herring salad particularly fine, the home made mayonnaise was also very tasty) with bread, before you get to the matter of the main courses. Today there was a choice of three - kidneys in a red wine sauce, chicken leg stuffed with wild mushrooms and roast pork. There was also a choice of side dish - home made mash, a gratin of courgettes and tomatoes or garden vegetables. John had the kidneys with the gratin and said it was good, I had the chicken and mash and it was very tasty indeed but rather rich. The house red to wash it down was very nice indeed. Cheese was brought round and served (no chance to try everything), and the Morbier was particularly pleasing. Puddings were a little more adventurous than normal - coconut tart and creme brulee mousse. The coffee was very strong.
The ambience is very good and there is ample parking. We have been told it can get full between 12 and 1pm, but we had no issues getting a table, but it is half term in some parts of France. Well done, le Moulinet.
Another advantage of lunch there, was that one of the routes home goes past the One Acre Wood, which meant that we had a very good excuse to stop off for a walk and to see how everything was doing. The hazelnut catkins are nearly over, but the snowdrops are still out, and the cyclamen leaves are still visible and pretty, while the primroses are starting to push through. The newt pond has a bit of water in it - there needs to be more to give the newts a chance to spawn, hatch, develop and move on, this is not enough!
However we did break up a union meeting of the local buzzard group, and they lifted off and soared on up, but if you look very closely, you can see three of the four that we startled in this photo.
Finally, as we headed back to the car, we spotted evidence of a mole on the move in one of the mole runs I had jumped up and down on, as we entered the wood. I blame the moles for a lack of cepe mushrooms, hence the need to jump up and down on their runs. We tried to get face to face with him to explain the error of his ways, but he wasn't having any of it!
The food all sounds wonderful - and the price very reasonable indeed. I like the image of you jumping up and down on the mole run!!
Posted by: Anne Donald | 22 February 2011 at 07:07 PM