Life through the lens...

By ValC

Not for the squeamish!

Our first overnight stop on the way home, in Southern Burgundy.
Very hot when we arrived and then a thunderstorm at night.

Photo of our hotel "La Marande" in a small village called Montbellet.
Very old French "maison bourgeoise". Owned by a lovely couple. Elisabeth Michel runs the front of house, and her husband Philippe is the chef. (a master chef of France)
I was a bit apprehensive, as there was no choice on any of the menus.
However we needn't have worried as all the food was exceptional.
We chose the 28euro menu( which was the cheapest) 3 courses, plus Amuse bouche to start with(These are different appetizers not ordered from the menu, but served free by the chef) and a plate of petit-fours (again free) to finish.

In the collage the top right photo is of the Amuse bouche, and underneath the photo of our starter. As I said in the title "not for the squeamish"
This was "Les escargots de Bourgogne a la creme d'ail"
Snails to you and me , served hot in a cream and garlic and parsley sauce.
Both MrC and I thought it tasted wonderful! You would never have known you were eating snails. They were so tender and the other flavours were wonderful.

We then had "Filet de dorade rotie, tomate Marmande et ananas marinee aux herbes, legumes en tempura."
This was sea bream, with so many other wonderful flavours on the plate and beautifully presented.(as usual)
We then decided to have the cheese platter (5 euros extra) can't remember the names of them all!

For dessert "Framboise a la creme mousseline et son sorbet citron basilic"
This was a dish of fresh raspberries, a delicate raspberry sauce, sorbet of lemon and basil(unbelievable taste) and topped with a very fine chocolate biscuit.

All in all a wonderful end to our holiday.
Will certainly stay here again. ( Nice room and bathroom 70 euros)
Next time I hope the weather is nice enough to sit out on the terrace.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.