Le dîner

Tuesday was the day of the big dinner at Richard and Christopher Coutanceau’s two Michelin starred restaurant.  In preparation for the big night we decided that a bit of walking was in order so we decided to do a little exploration of the Vieux Port and Centre Ville.  The day like most of the days that we have been in France was grey with thick low cloud providing a low ceiling.  It was cold at around 7° so we were well wrapped up.

We walked to the old part of La Rochelle looking for the advertised closed market and with some excellent navigation on my part it was found.  This is a permanent market with butchers, some green grocers and a few delicatessens or charcouteries. 

We continued walking around the town finding lovely arcaded streets with some interesting shops.  I even found a bookshop,  une librarie pour jeunesse, where I had a conversation in French about my need for a young adult’s book that I could read easily with contemporary language.  The bookseller was most helpful and I walked out with a couple of nice books to read.  The transaction was all done in French so I was rather pleased with myself. 

After and nice lunch in a café we decided it was time to find precisely where the restaurant was situated.  This entailed following a self made route that turned out to be overly complicated but I did get us to the right place.  It was a large restaurant with a lovely view of the sea and beach, although at night there was to be no real view. 

Our route back to the apartment took us past one the towers so we went for a look at it given it had been around for a while.  They had no English versions of the guides and the server asked me if I was able to understand French and I said yes so received the guide in French. 

We climbed up the tower and all was fine until I got to the top of the stairs and was about to go around the outside of the tower.  I looked at the age and quality of the stonework and had a sudden irrational imagining of it all crumbling under my feet.  At that point I gave Bev my camera and said she could risk her life on the narrow ledge, which she did and survived.    The tower did provide some great views of the city. 

We returned back to the apartment and read a bit and I also I finished off another post. 

Celebrating at Christopher Coutanceau

We were due at the restaurant at 7:30pm and we had decided to take the little ferry across to the Vieux Port.  This involved calling the ferry by using a buzzer.  I pressed the buzzer and it seemed to operate so we went down to the quai to wait for it - and waited and waited.  It was getting on a bit so I went back to see what had happened, rien. So I pressed it again and this time I got a different sound.  Then another woman turned up who also pressed it longer than I had the first time.  Of course at this point the ferry could suddenly be seen coming out its dock in the Vieux Port.  Crisis averted and no need to walk a kilometre or so.

Scallops 3 ways

Duck Pate

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We were welcomed by a bevy of people when we arrived at the restaurant with a person coming out to escort us into the restaurant.  Our coats were taken off our backs literally and we shown to a table by the windows.

The Maitre’d  said it was one of the better ones.  No view due to the reflection of the interior.  We were asked if we wanted them to talk with us in French or English and we chose English because Bev’s French would not be up to the food terms.  In the event we got a mix of English and French with many verbs in English and the names of the ingredients in French. Our main serveuse was delightful and passionate about the food she was serving.

Lobster

Venison

We were provided with the menu.  Apart from heart stopping prices the descriptions of the food looked wonderful.  We chose the degustation menu which the Maitre’d said was a good choice as we got smaller proportions of a selected range of the dishes of the restaurant including their signature dish.   There were two options for each course which we decided to have both and to share the tastes of each.  I chose a wine but had some help from the Sommelier who suggested another wine instead - a red Les Brunes from Domaine de Caisses.  We started with a coupe de Champagne.  I should have written down what it was but I was too gobsmacked at the time to remember to make a note except to say that it was a decent one from one of the major houses.

Below is the menu as I don’t want to bore you with the details.  However before we got on to the menu we were given a little appetiser which was a paté consisting of figs and something else but due to the wealth of information coming to me I promptly forgot, however it was a delicious mix of savoury and sweet flavours and also a meld of smooth textures.  I would eat it again tomorrow.   Then we had the next starter which was a chestnut soup with a little baby corn in the centre of it and a little piece of bacon, I think, with a foam topping.  It not only looked gorgeous, it tasted wonderful.  In addition we were served fresh bread that they had baked.  One was very light and pastry-like which Bev really enjoyed accompanied by a seaweed butter. 

Then it was onto the menu proper, which I have reproduced below:

Noix de coquilles Saint-Jacques de nos côtes en trois cuissons
au caviar osciètre et truffes Melanosporum
(Scallops done three ways with truffles and caviar)
ou

Foie gras de canard des Landes grillé à la plancha
mandarines confites rafraîchies de leur sorbet
(Duck pate grilled with marinated mandarins & sorbet)


Civet gourmand de homard breton étuvé dans un beurre de crustacés
accompagné de ses petits légumes de saison et sa raviole de champignons
(Lobster from Brittany steamed in a butter of the crustacean with baby seasonal vegetables on a ravioli of Mushrooms)



Filet de turbot au beurre mousseux, gnocchis Mona Lisa
velouté de panais aux diamants noirs
(Turbot cooked in butter, with gnocchi and with a veloute sauce)
ou

Noisettes de chevreuil façon charcutière, laquées à la baie rose
        betteraves en trois couleurs et textures, spooma à la betterave rouge
(Venison with beetroot in three colours and different textures)



Représentation d’une tarte au citron, kumbawa et clémentines
sorbet au citron vert
(Citrus tart with mandarins and kumbawa)
ou

Croquant chocolat vanille aux griottines et kirsch
comme une fôret noire
(A croquet in the style of a black forest cake)

Mignardises

Between the plat principale and dessert we also had some wonderful sorbets.  Finally I had a house cognac and Bev had a coffee.  Just as I thought that it was about to end they turned up with some wonderful cakes.  Unfortunately I could not eat anymore but Bev had a bit of a pistachio  cake.  They all looked delicious and if I had room I would have had some.    

Sorber

Chocolate

We left in the same the style in which we had arrived.  The service was outstanding.  I was going to get a taxi to get back to the apartment but decided that we would walk as it was not too far.  The cool air was nice and it was lovely just to look at the Vieux Port et Ville lit up.  The exercise was necessary to deal with the calories that we had eaten.

Citron Tarte

It was a most enjoyable evening and a great way to celebrate a new decade of my life!!