08 June 2012

Gourmets

I use the word « gourmets » not because we particularly are, but because the restaurant where we had lunch yesterday is called Le Rendez-vous des Gourmets — "The Gourmets' Meeting Place". It's up in Bracieux, just south of the Château de Chambord and 25 miles north of Saint-Aignan.

We first heard of the Rendez-vous des Gourmets a couple of weeks ago, when we had dinner with some people who live across the river from our village. Leon and Sue from Australia were passing through, and their friends Carol and Mikee had all of us over one evening. The other guests, a French couple named Annick and Gérard, told Walt about their son, a chef who has a restaurant in Bracieux. They gave him the restaurant's card.

Bracieux is the first town on the road
leading south out of Chambord.


This week, CHM asked us to choose a restaurant where we could
go and have a celebratory lunch. The first one we thought of was
Le Rendez-vous. We had looked it up on the Internet and realized it had replaced another restaurant in Bracieux, in the same building, where we had had a nice lunch 12 years ago. Le Rendez-vous des Gourmets got some very good customer reviews on web sites I scanned through.

The restaurant's décor is simple but slightly formal.

The place did not disappoint. CHM said we should have the Menu Découverte, which looked especially "gourmet". It includes seven courses, if you count the little hors d'oeuvres called « amuse-gueule » and the mid-meal "cold interlude" of sorbet that is served between the fish and the meat courses.

We chose to have what is called « Le Menu Découverte ».

I'm going to make this report on the Rendez-Vous des Gourmets into two posts, because I have a lot of photos. It was a memorable meal, including dishes made with asparagus, lobster, foie gras, beef filet mignon, cheese (of course) and several desserts. We had a bottle of white wine from the area near Blois called Touraine-Mesland — a Chenin Blanc — and a bottle of red — Pinot Noir — from the village of Oisly near Saint-Aignan.

This white Touraine-Mesland was good with the soup
and fish courses that started the meal.

And this red Pinot Noir from Oisly, near Saint-Aignan,
was good with the meat and cheese courses.


More about the food tomorrow...

8 comments:

  1. Wow! Your digestive systems are going to be stretched to the limit!

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  2. I enjoyed your post Ken. After we left your place on our way back to Paris, we passed the sign post to Oisly. I rode through many times back in 2009 on the bike and never knew it was a wine producing town. We really enjoy a good Pinot these days. Look forward to your next Post on the restaurant that we won't be able to try until 2014.

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  3. Miam, miam! The white decor is lovely to look at, looking forward to more tomorrow.

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  4. The menu looks great...had to look up a couple words though.

    Good picture of chm and Walt checking out the window.

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  5. I'll bet you three were some of the most informed clients they have had, in terms of local wine and cheese and other ingredients. Ooooh, I can't wait to read more (and I really liked the interior.)

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  6. Is there really that much room between tables?

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  7. Looks like a nice place.

    "Amuse-bouche" I know; "amuse-gueule", not so much. Google Translate still gives me mouth for "gueule." What's the difference?

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  8. Simon, gueule is an informal term that's synonymous with bouche ("mouth"), and it's used in a lot of expressions, with either positive or negative connotations. Gueule is probably related to the English word "gullet". Literally, it describes the mouth or jaws of an animal. Gueule can also mean "face" in general... avoir une sale gueule means "to be ugly, unattractive". Amuse-gueule is probably more slangy and informal than amuse-bouche.

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