18 January 2016

Dessert, and the "menu"

Our meal at the Moulin de Chaudé consisted of an hors-d'oeuvre, an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. We could have ordered a cheese plate but opted not to do so that day. Here's the dessert that Walt and I had.


It's a pear poached in vanilla-scented cream, caramelized, topped with a sprig of mint, and bathed in a hot chocolate sauce. It was outstanding. The woman who served us brought a pitcher of the hot chocolate sauce to the table and poured some over each pear as we watched and oohed and aahed.

Here's an idea of the other desserts.


As I said, we didn't ask to have the cheese "chariot" (cart) rolled to our table this time. We just moved on to dessert. I think my translations are basically correct:



And after dessert we all had coffee (espresso). It was served with tiny sweet treats called mignardises — fancy little cakes and candies.

By the way, here's how the menu works in a French restaurant. The French word menu is a set price meal composed of several courses. What we call the menu in English is la carte in French, as in à la carte, where you mix and match the different foods you want to eat.


The Moulin de Chaudé offers three "menus" — they're listed above. For about $20, you can have a two-course lunch, with either an appetizer plus a main course, or a main course followed by dessert. If you want three courses — appetizer, main course, and either cheese or dessert — you'll pay about $25. And if you want the whole shebang — four courses, including cheese and then dessert — that will set you back $30 (all prices in approximate U.S. dollars). The least expensive menu, by the way, is not available on weekends or holidays.

The previous menu images I've posted are actually sections of la carte. You can order "à la carte" if you want to, but there's not much point, since you'd pay a lot more. The smoked salmon appetizer alone, for example, is priced at $20 on the carte. That's the same price you'd pay if you ordered the two-course meal. The main courses range from $20 to $26 each. So in effect, there's a discount for ordering several courses instead of just one.

20 comments:

  1. Wonderfull menu and dessert,best regard from Belgium.


    http://louisette.eklablog.com

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  2. Hello, local neighbors. Is it snowing where you are? It is coming down hard here, and we have 2 or 3 centimeters, more than an inch, on the ground and hedges.

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  3. It's snowing here, too. It's real, proper Derbyshire snow, but I doubt it will end up being up to our knees.

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    1. Well, it's certainly not Chicago or Upstate New York snow, but it's still falling. We'll stay in touch.

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    2. Still snowing at 1:20 p.m. I think it will change over to rain later this afternoon.

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  4. Oh yeah, I'll take one of each of those deserts! Snow has come and gone in this part of Michigan.

    -craig-

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  5. This is the first snow we've had in maybe three years.

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  6. 3:15 p.m. Still snowing. Almost time for me to take a walk with the dog.

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    1. Where are based? No snow here in Dordogne yet.

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    2. We are in the Loire Valley, near the city of Tours. North of the Dordogne.

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  7. Enjoy your snow walk, Ken! Lovely pear dessert....

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  8. This all looks delicious. I'm glad you showed the "menu" prices. I was a little taken aback at the individual item prices you showed the other day.

    I share your happiness about the current euro:dollar ratio.


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  9. Good morning,

    I have just done my first pass of clearing the snow - driveway and main entrance and it is still coming down but not as bad as some places in the US or Atlantic Canada

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  10. I will have the molten chocolate cake , please, thank you .

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  11. Well, for someone who doesn't go to restaurants that often, it's great that you chose one where it looks like everything was just a delight :)

    Hope to see a photo tomorrow of your snow-covered yard... unless it's all rained away by now? We're expecting our first snowfall of the season, late Tuesday -- 2 to 4 inches. Probably no school on Wednesday. No school today, to honor MLK :)

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  12. These desserts all look creative. I really enjoy seeing these menus and the items featured. Quite different than our local offereings.

    The mousse pomme verte with black tea sounds like an interesting combination of flavors.

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  13. This looks wonderful! Thanks so much for the lesson on menus. Hopefully some day I will be able to go back to France and put it to good use! The only time I went was back in 2001. I went by myself so I went on a tour, with a few extra days on either end. I remember on the first day that we were all permitted to go out to lunch on our own (in Rouen, I think), someone asked our tour guide how we could be sure we were selecting a good restaurant. She assured us that the French take pride in their food and that all of the restaurants we might encounter would be good! She was correct! I never had a bad meal.

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  14. that coffee... thank you for posting the pic. i could just fall right into it!

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  15. Our snow ended in the night and now the streets are clear and it is just frigid out. I am perfectly content to think about a warm climate and taking cat naps .. with the cats. I would not mind a cup of that coffee and something sweet ..

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