Dinner on Tuesday night, May 26, Hotel L’Esplanade; Young Restauranteur of Europe cooking
Fortunately, as soon as we got back into
the room last night, Robert turned on the computer and started making a list,
using the photos we took, to remember everything, because honestly, an amazing
meal. So…to start:
We had reserved for 8:00 p.m. and were the
second couple into the lovely room (which reminds me, we still need to take a
picture of the dining room!) We ordered Kir Royales as aperitifs – that is
champagne mixed with Cassis, which turns the champagne a lovely pinky-red
color. (We both would have preferred
Prosecco, but that so far is not to be found here.)
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| Our first "amuse bouche" |
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| with Kir Royale |
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| Lapin with scallions and potatoes |
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| R's green asparagus starter |
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| My white asparagus starter |
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| R's shrimp main course |
Then, as we were looking at the menu – and
I was wishing I had brought Maggie (my iPad) down with us, so that I could look
things up … so far, at least in the dining room, the wonderful wait staff does
not speak English. And why should they,
when you think about it – we’re in France!
The menu also had not a word of English on it. So…to decipher.
As we were deciding, the amuse bouche (mouth-pleaser) arrived;
cheese cookie; trout with vegetables and white asparagus mousse with diced
pear. Robert had both of our trout, and
pronounced it wonderful! The asparagus
mousse was a bit bland, by the pear helped.
Then we ordered.
Robert selected one of the set menus. For his appetizer, he got green asparagus
with slivers of Granny Smith apple, and a very unusual but incredibly delicious
nut custard. (He then spent the
remainder of the meal trying to figure out how he could make that at
home!) His original main course was
duck, but it appeared they were out, so he went with the Gamberi (large shrimp)
in a broth with tagliatelle and fennel.
I went with the a la carte menu, choosing
first their white asparagus with orange vinaigrette, followed by something from
their special “truffle” menu … oh boy!
Tagliatelle with mushrooms stuffed with truffles with a foamy sauce on
top that I couldn’t identify.
But first – a little something else to
start with from the chef, before our appetizers were delivered – lapin with sautéed scallions and potato
slices. Honestly, neither of us had ever
eaten lapin before (I keep thinking
of the Easter Bunny…) but it was really delicious!
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| My tagliatelle and mushroom/truffle topped with foam! |
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| Sunset from our table |
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| My strawberry dessert |
And so was everything we ordered. Truly, this was one of the most interesting
and best tasting meals I have ever had, and Robert echoes that sentiment. The portions were not large, but they were
amazingly “tasti-full” (full of taste).
To drink, we had a bottle of Bergerac (local town) dry white wine, and
it was the perfect accompaniment to our dinner.
Robert’s dessert were raspberries with
white and dark chocolate and raspberry sorbet with almond cookie and caramel
wafers; YUM! I had what looked to be a
very thin layer of strawberry paste over cream with vanilla ice cream and
strawberry accents. And then, just in
case that wasn’t enough (which it was) the chef sent out a small tray with almond
cookies, banana cream over candied lemon rind and small cream puffs. Whew!
Robert did have a glass of Armagnac.
As Robert said, we have absolutely no idea what that meal cost, but boy,
it was certainly great value, that’s for sure! (Of course this is before seeing
the bill, which we probably do on Friday.)
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| R's raspberry dessert |
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| R's Armangac and extra goodies |
Then upstairs and it was almost 11 p.m. –
where does the time go? It doesn’t get
dark here until well after 9 p.m.! At
any rate, into our very comfortable king-size bed and the next thing I knew it
was morning!
Up and out for breakfast downstairs about 8
a.m. Not particularly impressive, but
after the meal last night, no problem!
Then, out of the hotel a little after 9 a.m., as we wanted to get to our
first cave of the day when they open at 10.
However…we decided to take some VERY tiny
back roads from Domme – in some
places, the road was so narrow that we were hoping that nobody would be coming
the other way! These are definitely the
size of one-way streets! Fortunately, when
we finally did pass a car, it was fine as I was able to run up into the
greenery at the side of the road so the other car could get by.
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| R found a castle he thought we might like! |
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| REALLY narrow little lanes...for two cars |
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| The Vezere river at Le Bugue |
Finally got to Rouffignac cave about 10:30 a.m. and were included in their next
tour to go in. Rouffignac has both cave etchings and paintings – many of which are
really stunning, and it has long been my favorite cave of all. Not only do they take you through the cave on
a little train, but you are able to get off the train and look more closely at
the figures. There are horses, mammoth, rhinoceros
– and they are really in lovely shape, considering that they allow people in on
an almost daily basis. I have included a
link below, which I hope will transfer OK so you can see some of what I’m
talking about. Unfortunately, none of
the caves allow any photography … grrr…but you can get a good idea by following
the link!
So, finished by about noon, at which time
the cave closes for several hours.
(Definitely annoying, but when you’re just happy they let people in at
all, it seems very churlish on our part!)
Headed then toward Les Eyzies,
the “hometown” of decorated caves, and a town where we have stayed in the
past. However, before we got there, I noticed
the turn-off to Le Bugue, where we
rented a house for a week several years ago.
I remembered their big grocery store, and we decided that rather than
finding a restaurant for lunch, we would get the makings for a picnic lunch to
have somewhere along the river!
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| Me having lunch! |
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| Cast of ancient footprints in museum |
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| Preserved ancient rhino from Poland |
It was fun going through the store, aisle
by aisle. Obviously, we don’t need much
besides Kleenex and picnic supplies – oh, and of course, a knife! (How many single knives and wine openers have
we bought through the years, we wonder?)
We got some Maille mustard, a
knife, some sliced ham and some sliced cheese, and voila, we were all set! Out
of the store’s parking lot, and just a kilometer or so back along the Vezere River, voila! A picnic area! It was really lovely. We sat on a park bench and made sandwiches –
baguette avec fromage et jambon avec
moutard (ham and cheese sandwiches on baguette with mustard). Such a beautiful day, especially to sit by
the stunning Vezere River, which at Le Bugue runs fairly swiftly.
Then, packed everything up and headed to Baru Bahau Cave, not very far away. As they were also closed until 2 p.m. we were
the first (and only) people there! The
nice lady that sells tickets also does the tours, and we just had to wait while
she posted her “back in a few minutes” sign and lock the door of the shop! Then back into the cave. This one contains a variety of etchings, and
no paintings. They included a bear,
which is very unusual, as well as a hand done on the wall. We also saw horses and aurochs and a
bison. All in all, a very nice visit,
and the guide was very proficient in English, and very enthusiastic about “her”
cave, so it was fun.
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| Museum/chateau as part of the cliff |
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| Quite an overhang! |
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| The museum and rock wall as one! |
From Baru
Bahau, we were driving back through Le
Bugue, when I spotted La Poste –
the French post office. (There is one
here in Domme, but believe it or not,
it is only open M-F 9 am – 12:30 pm – and that’s it!) Even found parking right
in front of the office, and in we went, with our carrier bag stuffed with
things to ship home! Fortunately, the
nice lady in charge spoke some English, and she was really a hoot! (I should point out that while we have often
used La Poste to send things back to
the States, there are often really long lines for the variety of services that
are on offer. In this case, we
basically, for some reason (pure dumb luck!) had the place to ourselves from
when we first walked in until we were finished!
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| View of Les-Eyzies from museum terrace |
We then made our way to Les Eyzies and the National Museum of
Prehistory, where we have been before.
And, just like before, we weren’t really impressed. It’s a beautiful building, but the signage is
difficult and there is no real “flow” to get through the exhibits. [They need a good curator to select the
exhibits. For now, it looks as though
every flint tool and arrow head in their collection is on display, which can
get awfully repetitive. Really, folks,
can’t you put out a representative sample?
– R] Resolved, like we had done the last time, not
to come again … but this time we won’t forget!
The interesting thing about the building, though, is that there had been
a chateau in the original location, and it was basically incorporated into the
finished museum. They have opened up the
upper terrace, and the view over Les
Eyzies is terrific.
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| Me & gelato on balcony! |
By this time, we were definitely running
out of gas (we, not the car, which we had filled before going to the museum),
so high-tailed it back to Domme in
half an hour or so, and up the hill and around the walls to get to the parking
area. We did make one stop – French stracciatella
gelato, but it was very good! I was able
to finish it on our balcony, as the weather is much warmer today – shorts tomorrow,
possibly?!
We have decided to eat dinner here in Domme tonight, but not at L’Esplanade. We did find several places, but we’re both
looking for something VERY simple after last night’s lavish affair! In fact, including our wonderful dinner at
the Chateau de Creissels near Saint-Affrique, we have had two amazing
dinners in a row – definitely time for a break!
So – more later!
Much love,
m
xxx
Food looks too pretty to eat...NOT!
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The food looks wonderful...definitely a dining "experience"! And the St. Afrique area is so beautiful!
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