Our reason for going to Châtillon was to have lunch with friends. We were also exchanging garden produce. Our friends gave us a bagful of garden-grown cayenne peppers, and we gave them some little red tomatoes and a French butternut-type squash called « une sucrine du Berry » from our vegetable garden.
Anyway, here's where we had lunch. It's a restaurant called L'Auberge de la Tour which gets a lot of good write-ups on TripAdvisor. The photo above is actually one that I took several years ago, in wintertime, when we were driving through Châtillon on our way to points south.
The first course at lunch was what is called « une mise en bouche » — a little appetizer to "get your mouth going." In this case it was a little bowl of pumpkin and foie gras pureed into a warm soup. It was good, and the dishes it was served in were unusual.
Our real first courses, the ones we ordered, came next. Mine was a plate featuring foie gras with a layer of beet jelly and another of chopped cooked chicken breast. There was some salad, some toast, and a little savory « profiterole » — a cream puff filled with whipped, foie-gras-flavored whipped cream. Nick had the same « entrée ».
Walt ordered what was called « un tartare de bœuf » but which turned out to be more like a kind of carpaccio. That's raw, seasoned beef served in thin slices with some lettuce leaves, an herby green sauce, and a little rolled crêpe filled with cheese-flavored whipped cream.
Finally, our friend Jean chose a first course called « crémeux de fenouil et écrevisses marinées au citron vert ». That's a fennel-flavored cream served with crayfish tails marinated in lime juice. She said it was very good, if I remember correctly. More tomorrow...
Great meal.Yummy
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DeleteThat is a lovely looking set of starters...
ReplyDeleteYours and Jean's particularly...
I like the mini-bowl, giant-bump plate your taster-soup was served in...
but I often wonder where these restaurants store all the different plates that they now all seem to use....
and then, there are the seasonal-theme decorations, that a lot of them have, that need storing, too!
On yesterday's post, I am wondering if there was also, at one time, an outer, town wall...
to the South there is a group of houses that echo the curve of the wall... totally out of character with the rest of the town's layout.
As you've seen, the Auberge de la Tour is in a big building. They must have plenty of storage space in the back.
DeleteLovely-looking food. They certainly like their plates to offer space to catch any drips or drops - must save on the laundry bills!
ReplyDeleteIt was a good precaution for them to take, knowing I was coming in to eat lunch. I can never finish a meal without leaving spots of sauce or red wine on the tablecloth!
DeleteThe whole picture from the plates to the food arrangement is extremely artistic. Wonderful that it tasted as good as it looks. And there is more tomorrow.....!
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DeleteWow, that's some creative food! Great looking, too.
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DeleteThat food is almost too pretty to eat! I love the way the restaurant looks.
ReplyDeleteThe interior (typique, not fancy) and service (informal, friendly) were pleasant but slightly rustic, as the small-town location would lead you to expect. A fly buzzed around our table (they come into houses and buildings this time of year, as the weather turns chilly) for most of the meal and then fell into our pitcher of water. We told the server that a mouche was doing the back stroke in our piscine and she whisked it away and quickly replaced it.
DeleteI'll echo the other commenters. Unusual is the word! From the odd shapes of the plates to the combination of food. But, as far as looks go, it is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNext year, I'll take the train to Châtillon-sur-Indre and we'll switch from Artémis! Probably, trains don't stop there any longer. Sad!
AFAIK, there's no longer any train service to or from Châtillon-sur-Indre. You'd have to take a bus... Really, the food at the Auberge is not as refined as the food at the Relais d'Artémis up near Chambord and Blois.
DeleteJ'aurai eu l'embarras du choix- they all look appetizing
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DeleteEverything looks wonderful. The foie-gras whipped cream sounds interesting. I bet it was good!
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