La Côte qui Descend

La Côte qui Descend
St Sornin
Phone: 0545 24 08 37

Tuesday, 24-January-17

Lunch here with Cath and Doug. We all had lamb meatballs for our mail. Nice desserts. Think the four courses must be €12 or €12.50 now since each couple was €27.60 including tea and coffee. Not great dining, but good value for money.

(We've eating here at least once in 2016, but don't know the date.)


Tuesday, 31-July-12

After a visit to the cave, including a calèche trip to the vineyards, four of us sat on the terrace and lunched here again. Still €11 for a meal including the salad bar, choice of main, cheese, dessert, and a liter of wine between us. Not great, but not bad. A pretty good value for the money.

Tuesday, 26-April-11

A group of eight lunched here after visiting the cave at St Sornin. The daily menu (menus ouvriers, for workers) includes a well-stocked salad bar, a large choice of main courses, dessert, and coffee, all for €11. The salad bar was great, the mains were so-so (although the steak-frites looked pretty good). Two of us had slices of ham topped with a sauce provençale, which tasted too much like Chef Boyardee for my taste.

Nothing special, but we'd consider going back if we needed to eat in the area.

La Bellone

La Bellone
St. Adjutory
Phone: 05 45 62 33 88

This is our closest French restaurant, not too fancy and a very good value for money (review).

Tuesday, 26-April-16

Lunch with Bill today. We all the the menu du jour, with a delicious parmentier of pig's cheeks. Yummy and good value as always.

Tuesday, 29-September-15

La Bellone was closed for a bit during the summer for a bit of remodelling. The interior has been repainted (and it still smells of fresh paint).

We had a lovely lunch with Terry and Shirley. We all had the menu du jour for €13.50. Starter was melon and ham with strips of pâté de canard. For the main, three bits of fish (cod, salmon, and something else) on a stick, topped with bit of chorizo, and some veggies including a slice of zucchini topped with the flower buds from a broccoli (it looked like moss growing on the slices). Then some cheese and salad. Then a delicious fig tart with vanilla ice cream. Still good value for money.

Monday, 18-May-15

Dinner here with Bill after his arrival in the afternoon. Ed and I had the cheapest menu; Bill had the next one up in price. Good value.

Thursday, 23-October-14

Lunch here with Bill and Yvonne. Bill had a fancy menu, while the rest of us had the menu du jour. Price unchanged. Very nice.

Wednesday 31-July-14

Lunch with Barbara, Shirley, and Terry before the walking tour of La Rochefoucauld. A starter of seafood, beef chunks around rice for a main, followed by salad and cheese, then fresh strawberries and ice cream. Still a good value.

Monday, 12-May-14

Lunch with Barbara Douma today. Traditional seasonal starter of melon and dried ham. The main was a breaded, fried chicken breast, with gruyèred potato slices, and some other veggies. Then cheese with salad. Then crème brulée. Not too bad at all.

Thursday, 6-February-14

Lunch out with line dancing friends before class; Ed stayed home in bed. Very good meal. The plat du jour is  now €13.50 for four courses. We had a nice starter of red cabbage in vinaigrette with mousse de canard and radishes. Then a leg of chicken with sauce suprême, a reduced cream sauce, and veggies. Then two bits of cheese with salad. Then apple compote in crèpes.

Wednesday, 1-January-14

A start-of-the-year meal with just the two of us. Very good, again, very like last year's meal. The portions tend to be just a bit big, the ball of sorbet for the amuse bouche too big, too much (very tasty) beef for the main course. It is nice to patronize our local restaurant, but maybe we should try another of our favorites next year.

Friday, 4-October-13

Lunch out seemed like a good thing today, so we ate here. Friday is fish day. We had moules marinées for a starter, some merlu (hake) with veggies (a trifle overcooked) for the main, two cheeses and a bit of salad, and finally some fromage blanc with strawberries. Still a good value for money.

Friday, 22-March-13

Took ourselves to dinner after wearing ourselves out gardening. Two menus for €23 each. Cream of mushroom soup and a tartine gésiers for starters, both with beef cheeks for main, cheese, crème brulée and clafoutis de poire for dessert. Yum.

Tuesday, 1-January-13

Another start-the-year meal, this time with just the two of us, since unpleasant in-fighting has broken up last year's fun group. The meal was a bit too much like last year's perhaps, so maybe we'll skip a year before going again.

Thursday, 18-October-12

Bill took us to dinner tonight. I had the lovely mousse ("cake" on the menu) of chicken livers for a started. And pig cheeks. And crême brulée for dessert.

Thursday, 20-September-12

Took ourselves to dinner to celebrate 30 years in Europe and the installation of the new kitchen water heater. We were the only people there. :-( Ed had a delicious starter, a very light mousse of chicken livers, with strips of dried duck breast. Kaye has mouclade, mussels in a creamy curry sauce. We both had pig cheeks for the main and crême brulée for dessert.

Thursday, 12-July-12

Dinner with Bill and Panos. Very nice dinners. Three of us had the €27 menu; one had the €23 one.

Monday, 14-May-12

Lunch before flying off to US on Tuesday. Very nice idea to have a good meal while packing and not need to prepare something in the evening.

Tuesday, 14-February-12

Because it looked like the roads would still be in bad condition, we had our Valentine's lunch here. The plat du jour was a lovely lunch: nice salad with shrimp and avocado for a starter; parmentier with duck and zucchini "flan" for a main; some plain salad with the cheese; and crème brulée for dessert.

The plat du jour is now €12 per person for the four courses.

Sunday, 1-January-12

Another big new year's day meal with friends, Barbara and David, Shirley and Terry, Lesley and Toby. Didn't take notes, but it was a lovely big meal.

Friday, 29-July-11

Lunch with Lesley and Toby, prior to playing some petanque. Nice weather for sitting outside. We all had the plat du jour, which was a nice chunk of fish for the main.

Monday, 25-July-11

Dinner with Patrice and Wim. Same menu, I think. Three of us had the rabbit terrine entrée and the fish with lemon confit for main. Good as always. Glad to see it was quite full when we arrived.

Saturday, 18-Jun-11

We picked up Sam and Pat in Bordeaux today and went here for dinner. Sam had a very nice fishy thing that I will try next time if it's still on the menu. Everything was good, as it always is.

Friday, 29-April-11

Dinner with Bill. Very nice as always.

Friday, 8-April-11

A group from Ed's choir frequently eats here after the choir sings at a Friday night service. This was our second dinner with the group. (The first time was shortly after the 1st of the year.) We both had the cheaper menu, and very good it was.

Saturday, 1-January-11

We had a super multi-course new year's lunch with Barbara and David. The restaurant was very full and they had brought in another woman to help with the service. We started with an apertif, peach-flavored wine, maybe home made, the glass rimmed with pink sugar. Then a plate of fresh veggies with some real mayo. Then some foie gras with salad. Then a little soup of crevettes (some kind of shrimp or crawfish). Then a piece of dorade coated with sesame seeds. Then a bit of grilled beef. Then a cheese plate. Then dessert. Seems like a lot, but the portions were small enough that you could eat it all and feel full but not overstuff. Very pleasant indeed.

Saturday, 23-October-10

Ate here with Jack and Jeannie.

Friday, 29-January-10

We had lunch here, but not further notes.

Le Terminus

Le Terminus
Angoulême
Phone: 05 45 95 27 13

Monday, 24-August, 2015

Lunched with Sam and Pat before they caught the train back to Paris for the rest of their European visit.  Three of us had the two-course lunch menu, now €14.99. No starter; cod or lamb for main; cheese or a sweet for lasts. All looked good. I had the simplest, no choice, three-course menu for €21.50. Melon soup with chives and radishes for a starter; linguine basquaise (a nice tomato sauce with bits of broccoli around the side); and a sweet. Ed and I each had a glass of red wine, very nice.

In between these, we've been here again, with Bill before he left on the train, but neglected to record it.

Tuesday, 21-June-11

Le Terminus is across from the train stations, so we lunched here with Sam and Pat before they caught the train for Charles de Gaulle to fly home. It's a very attractive restaurant and the service was quite good and unobtrusive. There's a menu for €15, with a main and either dessert or cheese. I opted for the €19.50 menu so I could have the languoustine soup with perles du japon, which turned out to be grains of tapioca, looking a bit like clumps of frogs eggs. OK, but not sure I need to have that again.

A bit pricey, but nice food.

L'Aromate

L'Aromate
Angoulême
41 Bd René-Chabasse
Phone: 05 45 92 62 18

Monday, 24-August-15

Uh-oh, one of our favorite Angoulême restaurants appears to be closed. Their phone is disconnected and their website is dead. I've found on the net that they chance from a SARL to a EURL (or the other way around) about 3 years ago, and now the EURL is in the process of termination. We went by this afternoon and it was closed up, but no notice of any kind. Sad.

Wednesday, 27-May-15

Again, lunched here for Bill's farewell meal. All was nice.

Sunday, 26-October-14

Ate here again for BIll's farewell lunch, now that the train schedule has changed to make this possible again. All our meals were very nice. It ended up being about €35 per person, counting aperitifs, wine, and coffee.

Wednesday, 30-November-11

We recently noted in the Charente Libre, that this restaurant, which has been one of our favorites, have been taken over by a new couple. So we took the opportunity of Bill's farewell lunch to give them a try. Verdict: still good, maybe not as good, but worth a visit. One thing that was not especially liked was chopped pistachios in the crèmes brulées.

Tuesday, 3-May-11

This is the second or third time we've eaten here. Today, a farewell lunch for Bill before he caught his train. The menu du marché is €15.50. (I seem to remember it was €14.50 before.) A bit pricey, but excellent food and service makes up for it.

Ed and I had the fish terrine starter, while Bill had the goat cheese, which was wrapped in a sheet of filo or brick. Both sitting on a nice green salad. For the main, we all three had the bavette, which was very nicely done. For dessert, Ed and I had individual raspberry claufoutis with ice cream of fromage blanc, while Bill had the sablé with apple and rhubard. Both were good.

Lauryvan

Lauryvan
St. Junien
Phone: 05 55 02 26 04

Saturday, 15-February-15

Valentine's day at the auberge/brasserie. The weekend menu was €27 for three courses with wine. But we both ate à la carte. Ed skipped the starter and had a filet mignon du porc with sauce diable, which was nice. We both expected the sauce to have lots of pepper, but he said it didn't. I started with salmon tartare on minted taboulleh, which was quite nice. Then I had la fameuse tête de veau ravigote. Never had tête du veau, so thought I'd give it a try. Don't need to do that again. I thought I'd read that after the head is cooked, the meat is removed for serving. The meat was removed, in bits attached to a thick layer of fat. Very tedious to cut it all off. A nice chunk of tongue, though. For after, we both had the cheese plate. We shared a demi of Vacqueyrac, a côtes du Rhone sort of wine, not bad, not wonderful. Ed had a nice coffee to finish off. I asked for a tisane. They brought a box, but had only regular teas, plain or scented. Odd since the French are generally big tisane drinkers.

Thursday, 14-September-11

Kaye's birthday lunch. We ate at the auberge part and had the cheap menu du jour, 3 courses for €13.90. Started with sautéed veggies and cheese in brick with a bit of salad. Then some cod with a sauce of red wine (?) and balsamic vinegar over rice. Surprisingly good. And a Dame Blanche for dessert, how can you go wrong?

Selections from the chalk board started about that price for the main. Many interesting choices for the entrée, main, and dessert. Worth a return visit. The restaurant side is probably worth a visit also.

Café de la Mairie

Café de la Mairie
Montemboeuf
Phone: 05 45 39 63 60

Monday, 6-Oct-14

Lunch today with Yvonne and Aimée. A nice starter (a bit of quiche and some salad). Rabbit with a mushroom sauce and a side of rice for the main. Two bits of cheese. So far so good. The dessert was a let-down, canned fruit cocktail, yuk. Still, all in all, a good value at €13 per head now, including wine and coffee.

Thursday, 16-Jan-14

Lunch with Barbara, Shirley, and Terry today, since we went to a concert in Limoges in the evening and dinner would be difficult.  First time we've been here since Sami, the owner, died. Still good, plain food, cheap. Friendly atmosphere.

Monday, 10-Dec-12

Lunch before an "event" (that was a bit of a fizzle). Good plain food, cheap. They're not pushing the wine on you like they used to do.

Thursday, 27-Sep-12

We lunched here with Victor and John. Four courses plus wine for €12 a head. Good plain food. A salad for starters, beef and potatoes for main, cheese, and dessert. The dessert was a bit weird, a cup of Nestlé pudding and a tiny slice of appeltaart. Supposedly a new chef, but can't say I noticed a difference.

Friday, 7-Oct-11

A big group for a pre-boules lunch today with Shirley, Barbara&David and friends, Lesley&Toby and parents. Only four courses on the €12 menu today, but still good value for money. Started with ham and cheese rolled up in a croissant, accompanied by a bit of salad. Then a lasagna filled with fish and fresh veggies. Then a cheese plate with two chunks. Then a cream puffy thing, with applesauce (?) on the side. Wine is included and they are very generous with this.

Monday, 14-Feb-11

Valentine's Day lunch. We've been in the neighborhood two years now and only just eaten here. A simple restaurant in the back of the bar/tabac. Five-course menu €12—quite good value for money. Nothing adventurous, but good solid, well presented food. Started with a cream of mushroom soup. Then a salade composée, a sort of kitchen-sink affair, including witlof and slices of poached chicken breast. The main was a chunk of grilled beef, smashed potatoes, and some sautéed veg, zucchini, bell pepper, etc. Then a cheese plate, two chunks each. Then a too-big slice of chocolate cake, the kind with pudding in the middle. Including wine and coffee.

Chez Steph

Chez Steph
La Rochefoucauld
Phone: 05 45 62 09 11

Have not recorded several recent meals here.

Thursday, 15-Jul-13

Stopped here for lunch after slipper shopping with Jody and Steve. Big salads for three and a tartine for one. Although it sounded yummy, there was too much cheese on the salmon tartine. The salads were great.

Sunday, 14-Apr-13

Stopped here for lunch while visiting a bric-à-brac. We both had very nice entrée salads. Can't think of eating more after this.

Tuesday, 23-Oct-12

Lunched will Bill before taking him to the train station in Angoulême. He had a bavette with shallots. Ed and I, having eaten too much protein in the last days, had tartines with a green salad. These made a nice lunch.

Sunday, 29-Jul-12

Wim and Patrice took us to dinner. Lots of meat, good, but lots. With frites. Starters were nice, but big. Ditto desserts. A pleasant experience, even if we were stuffed afterwards.

Aside: The "new" blogger/blogspot stinks. Just in case you didn't know. WYSIWYG it's not.

Tuesday, 15-Nov-11

Ed's birthday lunch. A very nice meal. Lots of meat on the menu and what we had was quite good quality, a beef filet for Ed and a faux filet for me. Both with frites. The house wine was a Côte de Duras, which we didn't know, but was quite good. One crème brulée and profiteroles for dessert. Good stuff.

La Ferme de Panivol

La Ferme de Panivol
Bussière-Badil
Phone: 05 53 56 40 66
Email: panivol-perigord@wanadoo.fr

Sunday, 5-May-13

Another pleasant meal, with Bill this time. We had a choice of five main courses, but only one non-tomato dish for Ed. They would rather have served one dish for all of us, but managed the civet de canard for Ed, while Bill and I had colombo de cabri, a goat curry. All was good, but maybe not as special as it could be.

We did have a trouble finding the restaurant. The trick is to stay on the highway and not take the turn to the center of Bussière-Badil, where you'll find no sign or direction to Panivol.

Sunday, 30-Oct-11

Had a pleasant meal in a lovely setting with Barbara and David. Duck à l'orange was the main. The general feeling was that the Forges de Lavallade was better, although I'd like to try this again when we know goat is on the menu.

Ferme Auberge des Forges de Lavallade

Ferme Auberge des Forges de Lavallade
Busseroles
Phone: 05 53 56 57 63

Sunday, 22-Jul-12

Barbara and David again hosted us here for a thank-you meal. And another nice treat it was. The meal was essentially the same, with roast guinea hen as the main course.

Sunday, 25-Sep-11

Barbara and David hosted us here for a thank-you meal. What a treat! Lovely location (in the house of the master of a 15C forge on the Tardoire), warm hospitality, and wonderful food. For €22 each, we had soup, salad with gésiers and goat cheese on toast, vegetable tart, magret de canard with potatoes dauphinois and haricots verts, cheese (cow and goat), and dessert.

La Toscane

La Toscane
3 Rue Limoges
Montbron
Phone: 05 45 70 83 31

We've eaten here quite a few time, unrecorded. Pizzas have been better of late.

Tuesday, 2-Apr-12

Pizzas for dinner. Disappointing. Tomato sauce was tasteless; crust is thinner than crackers.

Wednesday, 21-Sep-11

Pizzas for dinner. Not bad.

Wednesday, 8-Jun-11

Pizzas for dinner. We ordered two pizzas, half of each without tomatoes. They came with a string of dough down the center to separate the parts. Nice touch.

Friday, 20-Aug-10

Italian in Montbron, had been recommended. We had two different pastas for dinner. Ho-hum. Pizzas looked good though.

Ferme-Auberge Trapateau

Ferme-Auberge Trapateau
Font Bellone

16310 Mazerolles
Phone: 08 99 69 74 18

Have missed a couple of visits here, including one on 11-November for the commune.

Sunday, 27-November-11

This is our local ferme-auberge. For our second visit, we ate with Bill and our friends Sally and Mike and Mike's dad, Ken. We had the fancy menu, with foie gras as the starter. The main was roast duck. I thought it was very good. Ed not that good. Very nice place to each, though.

Le Français

Hotel Restaurant Le Français
La Flotte-en-Ré
Phone: 05 46 09 60 06
Email: lefrancais@nerim.net

Sunday, 16-Oct-11
 
One of our worst French restaurant meals. The food was so-so at best, the service was slow and inattentive. I have a feeling this might have come from an anti-Brit feeling. Definitely no return here.

Le Nautic

Le Nautic
La Flotte-en-Ré
Phone: 05 46 09 60 50

Email: le.nautic17630@gmail.com
Saturday, 15-Oct-11

We ate here our first evening on the Ile de Ré, under the awning on the heated terrace. Not spectacular, but not bad. We both had a three-course menu, but later we noticed locals having a seafood platter that looked quite good. Next visit, perhaps.

Le Bouche à Oreille

Le Bouche à Oreille
La Rochefoucauld
Phone: 06 99 46 44 13

Tuesday, 23-Aug-11

This is the old L'Oubliette, open now just over a year and we finally made it. The plat du jour at lunch was €12 including four courses and wine. For a starter you could have crudités or charcuterie (a homemade terrine). The main was a leg of guinea hen with rice. The sauce was nice and peppery, some of the table thought too peppery, but I liked it. Then an amazing cheese platter. And a choice of desserts. There was a gratin de fraises which I skipped but looked delicious. Next time perhaps.

L'Auberge des Arts

L'Auberge des Arts
Bussière-Badil
Phone: 05 53 60 52 47

Friday, 24-Jun-11

A group lunch organized by Lesley and Toby with Barbara, David, Shirley, Terry, and us. Lovely setting with terrace outside by church. Menu with €14 with several selections for each course. Ed and I both started with a terrine of scallops topped with asparagus, quite nice. All the mains looked good enough, if not terrific. Then a cheese course. Then dessert. Not bad. English hostess married to French chef.

Bistrot du Boucher

Bistrot du Boucher
16 rue Raymond Poincaré
Angoulême
Phone: 05 45 95 00 51

Thursday, 26-May-11

Had a quick dinner before going to a movie. I had the salad Bistrot, while Ed had one with shrimp and chicken. Red and white house wines good. And desserts.

Sunday, 27-Feb-11

Lunched before going to a movie down the road. No menu du jour on Sundays. I had scallops, five, each served on a dollop of smashed potatoes and topped with a garlicky crumb mixture. Yum. Ed had a duck breast wrapped in phyllo or brique. Barbara and David each had steaks. House wines pretty good also.

Tuesday, 28-Dec-10

This is a chain, but the food is good, realsonably priced, and the service is friendly and fast. Usually we have a menu from the chalkboard. Today neither of us were very hungry, so we each had the starter house salad, with gésiers and a tiny piece of foie gras. Just the right size.

Friday, 22-Oct-10

Lunched here after picking up Jeannie and Jack from the train station. Nice meal.

This isn't the first time we've eaten here. There's good parking for shopping nearby, so it's a good place to eat when you're in town for the day.

Buffalo Grill

Buffalo Grill
Angoulême - Gond Pontouvre (also in Soyaux)
Phone: 05.45.20.31.31

Friday, 20-May-2011

An American fast-food chain, I guess. Very depressing. On the one hand familiar, all these places look alike. But too familiar in that the food was pretty icky. Everything tasted alike, and not especially good. Makes me think I really could have worked up the energy to cook. Pasta Whatnot would probably have been better.

Service was friendly and speedy.

Camping de l'Etang

Camping de l'Etang
Le Lindois
Phone: 0545 65 02 67

Saturday, 30-Apr-11

Camping de l'Etang is a Dutch-run camping with restaurant. We went here (on Yvonne's recommendation) for a steak-frites dinner, except for Ed who opted for something pork. My bavette/steak was probably the best I've had in recent year, perfectly cooked and delicious.

The restaurant is in a lovely location on a lake. We sat outside for aperitifs, but it's still too cool to eat out in the evenings.

Min punt: people were smoking in the bar (right under the No Smoking sign), very Dutch. Even though we sat in the restaurant, we came home stinking of smoke. Boo. Will only return when we can eat outdoors.

They have 3 largish, very nice dogs who roamed the restaurant. These terrified poor Pogo who really didn't understand when they invited him for a romp on the beach. He should stay at home next time.