17 June 2015

Restaurant desserts around central France

We had a lot of meals in restaurants while CHM was visiting over the first half of June. The restaurants where we had good food — in Mortagne-au-Perche, Étampes, Vailly-sur-Sauldre, Loches, and Montoire-sur-le-Loir — served good sweets. Many of the desserts were French classics.


This one is a clafoutis aux cerises, a kind of moist pudding cake with whole sweet cherries cooked in it. The restaurant was Le Quai in Étampes, near Paris.

Canon SX700

At dinner one Sunday night in the restaurant at the Hôtel du Tribunal in Mortagne-au-Perche, I had this apricot dessert. It included a scoop of sorbet on a bed of finely chopped pistachio nuts, and an apricot cake with a lot of whipped cream on top.

Canon SX700

In Vailly-sur-Sauldre, near the wine village of Sancerre, I had a "floating island" — une île flottante — which is puffs of sweetened and beaten egg white served on a "sea" of crème anglaise (egg custard) flavored with caramel. The restaurant was the Hôtel-Restaurant du Marché.

Panasonic ZS1 (old model)

A few days later in Loches, at the restaurant called La Gerbe d'Or, our dessert on the day's special menu was lightly cooked diced apples served with a sabayon (zabaglione in Italian) cream made with egg yolks and sweet wine.

Panasonic TZ60

On a Saturday in Montoire-sur-le-Loire, in a small restaurant / wine bar called Le Café de la Paix (Chez Françoise), our dessert was a classic far breton. It's a very moist cake — a sort of firm, creamy pudding, really — made with eggs, cream, sugar, and prunes.

Canon SX700

Finally, at the Relais d'Artémis in Bracieux, near Chambord and Blois, our dessert was this Paris-Brest — a puff pastry shell filled with a coffee-flavored pastry cream and garnished with sliced almonds and a crispy waffle.

Panasonic TZ60

23 comments:

  1. Mmmmmmmm..............they all look fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...... and they were delicious!

      Delete
    2. I went back and added the name and model of the camera I used for each photo of a dessert.

      Delete
    3. It seems to me that the Cannon doesn't fare well in low light as in the second photo in Mortagne, compared to the first photo in Étampes where it was really bright and the overall quality is really good.

      The Lumix does well in the last photo at the Relais where the light was far from being as bright as in the other four

      Delete
    4. It was really dark in the restaurant when we were at the Tribunal hotel in Mortagne having dinner. There was no light directly over our table. None of my other pictures taken during that (dark) dinner is worth publishing. On the other hand, it was very bright at the Relais d'Artémis in Bracieux, except from where I was sitting there was terrible backlighting. I had to work on the Paris-Brest dessert photo for a while before deciding to publish it.

      The Canon camera did well in both Étampes and Montoire. I agree that it is fine in bright light but has problems in low-light situations. But you haven't yet seen my Lavardin church photos, and I didn't use a flash there. Maybe tomorrow. The Panasonic TZ60 also has problems in low light situations, but probably to a lesser degree. Of course, it cost nearly twice as much as the Canon SX700 when I bought it.

      Delete
    5. Trying to remember.... did you take any photos with your Panasonic camera in the restaurant at the Tribunal. I can't find any among the photo files you gave me that week. I wonder how the TZ3 would have done compared to the Canon in that low-light situation.

      Delete
  2. I could have sworn I took photos of that boudin thingy and the fish, but you're right, I didn't! Lol!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabulous photo taken from a car ! This is all the stuff of fairy tales .. so beautiful and your photos are perfect.
    What a distinguished looking gentleman he is :) and the deserts aren't bad either lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
    And now I'll go and make myself a peanut butter, breihz caramel and chocolat noir sandwich!
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  5. May I have an order of the île Flottante , le Paris Brest and the deiced apples with the sabayon please :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd like to eat my way through this post.

    That Paris-Brest looks wunderbar...I love anything coffee flavored.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I woke up this morning with this idea about doing a dessert post. I often get my best mealtime photos when dessert comes, because by then my appetite has been soothed and I have time to focus on what's being served. I often just gobble down the starter and main courses, forgetting the camera because I'm hungry when I get to the table.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Péché avoué est à moitié pardonné!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Je ne vois pas de péché dans tout ça...

      Delete
    2. ...bon... un péché mignon peut-être.

      Delete
  9. How do you keep from gaining weight when you eat all these wonderful desserts?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I take a long walk with the dog every day. And I don't eat restaurant-style desserts very often.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I gained a pound just looking at those great photos.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is a subject dear to my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love Bretons! I don't know why- they are very heavy. I never knew their name until now. I'll have one in August.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Speaking for myself: PLEASE, more dessert photos... no weight gain from photos and who does dessert better than the french??? I dare anyone to give me another choice!!! #l for me is the Paris-Brest. I LOVE coffee-flavored french pastries!

    (It doesn't really matter which camera one uses when the dessert looks so yummy - but I am thinking about buying a Lumix, now!)

    Mary in Oregon

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?