3 Days; 3 Different Restaurants

Our daughter, Tracy, came to Dordogne to visit us for three days before the three of us went by train to Paris for a week. More of that later. Being her first time to France, we decided to take her to three different restaurants in the area.

Now Tracy is not at all adventuresome in her eating. Her idea of risk-taking gastronomically, is to switch from raspberry to strawberry jam on her peanut butter sandwich! When she was a teen she once phoned a special restaurant that we were all going to, to see if they had hamburgers. She has been stressing about her trip to France, worried that her dad was going to cajole her into eating something unfamiliar. But she was in a quandary as she was visiting us and I was paying for these three meals.

Restaurant #1 - A Bistro - Bistro de L'Octroi in Sarlat

Perhaps our favourite location, Bistro de L'Octroi is a busy place, frequented by locals and visitors. particularly at lunch. It has several "menus" - an appetizer, main plate and dessert for a set price or a daily "formula" - main plate, dessert, glass of wine and coffee for a set price. Despite being a "bistro" with typically simple food, the selections are quite inventive and always excellent!

We opted for the "Menu" for €18, each of us choosing a different appetizer, a different main and a different dessert. The appetizers were a pumpkin soup, salad with potato and duck, foie gras and pate with small salad. The main plates were duck a l'orange, pork roast and rump steak with bearnaise sauce. The desserts were fromage blanc with berry coulis, apple tart with creme anglaise and ile flottant (floating island). Their floating island is the best! The pictures will do better than I could describe.

Restaurant #2 - A Restaurant - Bistrot d'Epicure in St Cyprien

Despite the name saying "bistrot" this is a restaurant, more formal and more inventive in cuisine. It is run by a young couple, with her looking after the front while he is the chef. There is no "menu" at this location, you order a la carte (each part of the meal separately).

Two of us had appetizers - pumpkin soup and a gateau of sweetbreads (these sweetbreads are not cinnamon toast or sticky buns!). Our mains were pheasant, lotte (monkfish) with cepes (wild mushrooms), and duck confit and mushrooms. The two desserts (Sandra was brought an extra spoon) were apple tarte with ice cream and palette of 3 chocolates. A wonderful 3 hour meal for a Sunday.

Restaurant #3 - An Auberge - La Ferme Le Bareil in La Chapelle Aubareil

By this time we had lulled Tracy into a false sense of confidence. She had handled two French dining experiences. Bring it on! ...and we did. An auberge dining experience is a farm house where they are obliged to serve a certain percentage of the meal from products they have produced themselves. There is no menu, no explanation... you eat whatever is served that day. The lady of the house spoke no English and food descriptions are perhaps the most difficult translations to do.

We started with the house aperitif - a sweet, spiced wine (Sandra finished Tracy's). Next was a vegetable soup with bread in it that was served family style - some of us had more than one bowl (scrumptious). Next came three huge hunks of homemade pate, coarser than usual, served with gherkins which are lovely in France. The main was a duck sausage served in a stew of lentils, again family style. The cheese course was a brie, a hard cheese, a blue, a fromage blanc and a cream cheese with herbs and garlic. This course was served with homemade marmalade and cassis conserve and hunks of wonderful homemade bread. The dessert was a blackberry tarte. The wine bottle on the table was kept filled and the total meal was €15 per person and was amazing. I don't think Tracy was as impressed as with the other experiences although she was a good sport about the whole thing. If you ever get to the country in France you must do this!

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