Rural Life

Restaurant Review: Le Relais at Auverse

Auverse is on the main (but not Autoroute) road between Angers and Tours and boasts two restaurants, facing each other across the road.  We have already reviewed the Oeil de Boeuf, so this time it was the turn of Le Relais.  This is very much a lorry truck stop, and as well as a restaurant, is also a bar and tabac, so you can get ciggies and lottery tickets there too.

We went on August 19th - a hot, sunny day, when the Oeil de Boeuf was closed and it was heaving - I have never seen waiting staff work so hard over a lunch period.  We turned up at about 12:45 and were seated in the bar area (as my two lunch companions were large and took up too much standing space in an intimidating fashion as both are over 6 foot tall)).  Our unusual placement was a disadvantage in the end, but I will come on to that.

There is was a buffet of starters, and very good they were too - nice eggs, good mayonnaise and a very fine herring salad among other things.  The choice was a bit limited due to the number of people who had been through before us.  For main, there was a choice of veal with carrots, grilled gammon and steak, and with a choice of side order too.  Two of us went for the gammon and one for the steak, all with chips.  This took about 40 minutes to arrive (probably due to table placement and the numbers of people, including a party of pensioners), but was good when it all arrived.  There was then a small cheese board of well kept cheeses and finally a choice of flavours of cornetto style ice cream cones.  There was wine and water with the meal and coffee after, and the waitress did not bat an eyelid about the need for milk with one of the coffees.  It was 11,50 Euros all in per head.

The food was good and simple and the staff very pleasant, but note that it gets full quickly (lorries park up from 11:30am).  Somewhere we need to try again, when it is not so rushed!

 

Summer Storms

Last weekend for the Comice (story to follow), the weather was hot, really hot - like 32 degrees in the shade.  That sort of hot spell ends with a bang, and sure enough on Monday 22nd there were storms rumbling around.  We were on the edge of three during the day, but could see the major clouds tracking to the north west of us.  Angers got a hammering (40mm in two hours), as did La Fleche, and up near the Belgian borders, things were very unpleasant we heard.

Since then, the weather has been gently cooling down a bit, but that doesn't stop Atlantic depressions sending in more storms and we got hit last night.  It started to rumble around at about midnight, and eventually cleared off at about 3am, but not after freaking out the normally quite mellow cats, and completely trashing our garden abri.  We heard the thunder and rain and some distant knocking so John got up at about 1:30am to see if he could see the problem, and said he could see through the roof of the abri.  The following pictures show what was left of it this morning.

 

 

Dramatic stuff, wouldn't you say?  I would also add: what numpty thought that plastic sacking that wasn't up to being exposed to direct sunlight would be suitable for a summer shelter?  The stuff disintegrated, and disintegrated further when I was picking it up off the lawn to tidy up this morning - if anything was ever not fit for purpose, this was it!!  Next year I think we will have to invest finally in a decent summer shelter, after all, it is up for about 5 months of the year.

Restaurant Review: Le Belem at Savigny sous le Lude

As today was a special day, we went out for lunch, but a Monday in August is not always the easiest of days for this.  Our first thought was to try the workers' menu in Genneteil, but that is closed until the 22nd August we found.  Next stop was Savigny sous le Lude, where Le Belem was open - Plan C was Buffalo Grill at La Fleche!!

Le Belem is also a superette, and must be a lifeline for those living in this small and rather remote community on the border between Maine et Loire and Sarthe.  They do outside catering (traiteur), but we were interested in their menu ouvrier - 10,50 including wine, coffee extra.  They do have an outside terrace at the back, but the clouds were just a little too threatening, and there is a bar area in front, but the restaurant is laid out with a number of tables and a maritime theme - le Belem was a famous French sailing ship.

For your 10,50 Euros, you get a choice of wine, cider or mineral water, and naturally there is a carafe of tap water available (chilled and very palatable), while the red is perfectly pleasant.  There is a buffet of starters - this had a good mix of things with and without mayonnaise, the hard boiled eggs were without the black rim to the yolk, there was only one starter with fish, and the rillettes tasted home made and were fabulous.  There was a choice of main, including beefburger, andouillettes (and therefore not to British tastes in general), but we chose the roast sucking pig.  You also get to choose your vegetable, and while there was a healthy option (green beans), and a sporting option (pasta), we had to try the house style chips.  These turned out to be crinkle cut wedges of fried potato and were wonderful - and the pork was melting and the light sauce on it with garlic and thyme was the perfect compliment.  It was one of the best main courses we have ever had in our researches on the menus ouvrier.  There was a limited cheese board and a choice of puddings.  There were rich and sticky things, but we opted for iles flottant and lemon ice cream, both of which were very good.  The coffee has ensured we stay awake into the afternoon, if you know what I mean!

We were the only clients, and the music selection was a bit eclectic (les Pretres, Viennese waltzes and some form of celtic/country mix), but if complaining about the muzak is the only bad mark, I think you will agree, this has to be good!  Of course, first you have to find Savigny sous le Lude!