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:

• Molten chocolate cake with Bourbon vanilla ice cream
• Pear poached in vanilla-scented cream and a hot chocolate sauce
• Panna cotta imbibed with whiskey and served with chestnut foam
• Green apple and black tea mousse served with a Speculaas butter cookie and a brandy granita

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.