The first courses at the restaurant on the lake at Chemillé-sur-Indrois are harder for me to write about than the main courses were. I'm not really clear on what they all were. That day, if I remember correctly, all four of us had the same first course: smoked salmon with a savory herbed waffle.
The salmon is smoked by the chef on site, according to the menu. It was very tender and the smoky taste was not too strong. It was also salted just right, I thought.
Above is the section of the menu that describes the first courses being served the day we had lunch at Le Moulin de Chaudé. Notice that the word entrée in French means the first or "starter" course, and not the main course as in America. I'm embedding some links for anybody who wonders was the highlighted terms mean. Translation:
- Velvety pumpkin soup with a soft-boiled egg and slow-cooked octopus
- Terrine of foie gras with jelly and pulp of quince and saffron-scented melba toast
- House-smoked salmon with a savory herb waffle and Yuzu-flavored fromage blanc
- Beaumont cheese sablé with pig's trotter and Berry snails in a watercress-garlic butter
There was actually a pre-first-course tidbit served at the restaurant that day. That's called a mise en bouche or amuse-bouche in French restaurants — I think we'd call it an hors-d'oeuvre in good plain English! You have it with your pre-dinner apéritif drink. At Le Moulin de Chaudé, it was a tiny bowl of creamy soup. For the life of me, I can't remember if it was made with watercress or some other green vegetable like broccoli.
The salmon looks good!
ReplyDeleteIt was really good. So was the steak, and so was the dessert... more tomorrow.
DeleteThe prices aren't cheap by our standards but for made from scratch food prepared with care, not too bad. I really like the tiny bowl of soup. While it happens here now, it was in Japan while we were having a drink before a friend turned up who we were dining with, that we were presented with a bowl of olives to snack on with our drinks. They were superb.
ReplyDeleteOlives in Japan! You can expect them here in France -- especially in summer with a glass of white or rosé wine.
DeleteWe were given them in Japan. We saw many olive trees too, some on a little island not far from Osaka where I guess the climate is more of a Mediteranean one.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea.
DeleteThe Japanese grow their own olives .. and make olive oil too. In Shodoshima.
ReplyDeleteI've learned something.
Deletethe salmon looks so delicious
ReplyDeleteIt was delicious.
DeleteThe herbed waffles along with the salmon look really tasty. I would have had a hard time reading that menu with so many exotic terms. I love looking at French menus.
ReplyDeleteThe savory waffle was good, as was, especially, the salmon.
DeleteI love octopus, but poulpe confit sounds a little strange. Maybe I would have tried it anyway.
ReplyDeleteI guess confit in this case just means cooked slow and long. I've only eaten octopus a time or two, but it is good. They feature it here during "Portuguese week" in the supermarkets. I should ask if the fishmonger at the weekly market ever has any to sell.
DeleteAll the entrees sound good. The salmon looks wonderful. I might have tried the terrine of foie gras.
ReplyDeleteRestaurant meals must seem more affordable now that the dollar is so string versus the euro.
strong versus the euro...
ReplyDeleteThe strong dollar certainly makes a difference for us. My retirement pension, with slight increases in its dollar value and the better exchange rate against the euro, is now about 40% higher in value than it was in 2011, when I started collecting it.
DeleteLooks lovely. Although I love quince so much I might have had to try the second appetizer.
ReplyDelete