Moulin de la Tardoire

Moulin de la Tardoire
La Forge, Montbron
Phone: 05 45 66 41 46

Tuesday, 14-February-17

Valentine's day lunch today. We didn't have the fancy Valentine's menu, but the regular menu du jour. We both started with a tartare of beets and hazelnuts, with some salad and a bit of toasted goat cheese on the side. And we both had a ballotine de volaille, wrapped around something tasty, including the dark meat. I had a frangipane for dessert, Ed had some big profiterole-ish things. All delicious.

Maybe because of the crowd, they had moved the entrance door to the end, meaning you really have to walk all the way around the building. That actually makes sense once you're inside.

Tuesday, 21-June-16

Lunch with Cath and Doug. Ed and Doug had a very nice starter with shredded rabbit; Cath and I had shrimp and avocado with a bit too much of a Thousand Island-like sauce. Our choices for the main were a bavette with frites or a slice of ham wrapped around Cantal, all breaded and fried. We all chose the ham, and found it quite good. (I found the bavette a strange choice for their menu.) Desserts were a chocolate thing topped with raspberry sherbert or a banana-Nutella thing that looked interesting as it passed by. And a bottle of Perchament.

Wednesday, 25-May-16

Lovely lunch with friends. We all had the lunch menu, now up to €19, but still worth the money. We shared a bottle of Madiran, the third time we've had this wine now.

Friday, 1-January-15

The new year's day menu was a bit lighter and cheaper than the one for new year's eve. Still, a bit pricey, but delicious and lovely service. Neither of were crazy about the champagne-Pimm's thing, but the rest of the meal was excellent.

Monday, 3-August-15

Broiling hot day. Lunch with Peg and Jim and Patrice and Wim. We all had the menu du jour, now €19. All delicious.

Sunday, 19-July-15

Lunch with Tosca and Mike. Such a nice meal. We all had the cheaper menu (€32 vs €34, I think), with dorade on risotto for the main. Ed and I each had a soft-boiled egg over tiny asparagus for a starter. Nice fruity desserts for all. The wine was a Chardonnay from a St Sornin vineyard, pretty good.

Thursday, 1-January-15

A lovely new year's meal, if a bit expensive, but very good quality. The wines chosen for each course we very nice. Both of us over-indulged on the cheese plate, so had a bit of trouble with the dessert.

Tuesday, 9-September-14

Lunch with Victor and John, a very nice menu de jour. Three of us had a lovely magret de canard while Ed had a giant chicken leg. Nice starters and desserts, but I've forgotten what they were.

Thursday, 22-May-14

Lunch will Bill this time; all with the €17 menu du jour. Ed and I had paneered goat cheese with salad for a starter; Bill had the melon and ham. Ed and I had a little baby pork thing for the main and Bill had what was a Weiner schnitzel. I had a half-cooked chocolate thing sitting in a little pool of crème anglaise, while Ed and Bill had a millefeuille. All good. They recognized us from last week.

Friday, 16-May-14

Lunch with Barbara from Amsterdam. We each had the €17 menu du jour. We all had the starter with shrimp and shellfish. Ed had fish, nicely cooked, while Barbara and I had magret de canard on sticks. Chocolate eclairs and an apple tart between us. All good. A trifle expensive but value for money and in beautiful setting.

Sunday, 15-September-13

My birthday lunch. We had the €32 dinner menu, less choice this time, only three each for starters and mains. Ed had roast maigre (a fish) as his main, and it was very good. Last time we went someone had the cromesqui, a croquette of pig's feet, that look very good. I substituted this as my main. This wasn't as good, has less of the meat and more of the fatty, cartilaginous bits.

Wednesday, 24-July-13

The old mill, Chabrot, has been transformed into a really good restaurant. Unfortunately it looks like a lot of the mill work, the bread oven, and the sifter have been removed. But the food is good and the location is lovely. (Reviews: Charente Libre, Sud Ouest)

The lunch menu is €16.50; we had the dinner menu for €32. Three courses with a choice of six dishes for each course. All we tasted were very good. Definitely worth a return.

Le Roc du Boeuf

Le Roc du Boeuf
Rochechouart
Phone: 05 55 03 61 75

Saturday, 14-May-16

Dinner here for Cath's birthday. The menu hasn't changed from our last visit. I had the vegetarian menu, which always looks promising and was. The starter was essentially the pannacotta de chevre without the dried pork "petals". The main was a tart, with a base of something, puréed beans and nuts perhaps, filled with an assortment of roast veggies. With a dab of sweet potato and another of kasha and barley on the side. Good stuff all. The Cath and Doug managed the duos of lamb, while Ed had the pork with udon (except they were rice noodles, but I won't tell). All dessert good too. Maridan for the wine again.

Saturday, 23-April-16

We ate here last May with Brette, but I see I neglected to record it. It was nice, but that's all I remember.

This time we ate here with Bill in the evening after going to the Phoenix book sale. Such a nice meal, lovely setting, good service, excellent food. Bill chose a really nice wine, Maridan 2011. For starters we had between us a balade d'escargots, a mille feuille de deux saumons et pomme, and a pannacotta de chevre. All beautiful and tasty. For mains we had two duos of lamb and a pork tenderloin. Then desserts. Then homeward.

Tuesday, 13-May-14

Lunch menus (€19 with a glass of wine) for three today with Barbara Douma. We started with a pork terrine (a coarse pâté) topped with a confit of onions and decoration of spirals of shaved beets and a dab of balsamic sauce. The main was galettes of ground chicken breast and chopped hazelnut, three little patties each. Very moist and tasty. Some fried potato chunks and a bit of salad on the side. Dessert was a trio of rice pudding, apple tart, and a dab of mocha with a swirl of dark chocolate. All yummy.

Tuesday, 16-Jul-13

Well, been a while since we've been here. No occasion tonight, just a late haircut in the area. I started with the vin du chataigne, which is nice every once in a while. We each had the €29 menu (dinner), three courses, with three selections for each course. Ed had an aspic-y terrine of beef tongue with ravigote sauce on the side and a roquette salad. I had a mousseline of salmon, with wedges of artichoke and some mussels. For the main, Ed had a brochette with the dark-meat breast of some kind of bird (quail? pigeon?) wrapped in bacon (like Canadian bacon), skewered with prunes and cherry tomatoes. I had a pastilla d'agneau, which was ground lamb, spiced and herbed with mint, topped with potato slices, wrapped in brik, a phyllo-like pastry. A little sauce of hazelnuts and mint on the side. We had a half bottle of Chinon to go-with. I'll try to find recipes for the pastilla and the tongue. For dessert, Ed had a trois drôles de dames with layers of pistachio, blackberries, and lavender. I had some chocolate and raspberries, can't be beat. All very good. Ate outside along the river.

Monday, 15-Nov-10

Ed's birthday lunch. This was the severalth time we've been here, and it's one of our favorites. We had a hard time finding something open on Monday, so opted for this. The meals are always interesting.

We started with an aperitif of vin du chataigne, which I like a lot and Ed not so much. We both had the menu du jour. The starter was a "cake" with a filling of smoked salmon, with a small green salad on the side. The main was a confit de porc with lemon and ginger, served around a disk of mashed potatoes. The menu included a glass of wine, Arrogant Frog (really!) , a red from the Languedoc. Dessert was a custard with a raspberry coulis. The topping includes a couple of gumdrops which was pretty but seemed a bit of out place. All presented very prettily.

Afterwards Ed had a café au lait chaud and I had a tisane, which was served a-brewing in a pretty glass teapot. Our cups were handleless, a glass cup inside another (like a glass ball that had been pushed in on itself). The insulating airspace meant the cups could easily be picked up.

Friday, 2-Jun-10

Another lunch, with no notes. Good, though.

Friday, 19-Feb-10

Lunched here for our first visit. Enjoyed it very much, but no other notes.

Cafe Clemence

Cafe Clemence
Chabanais
Phone: 05 45 31 83 95

Tuesday, 19-Dec-13

DORSOB lunch here, after we'd been meeting mornings for many months. Friendly atmosphere, ; nice salad bar; menu changes daily. Not great, but good value for money.

Wednesday, 17-Jul-13

Met Jody&Steve here for dinner before leading them back to our house. Reasonably nice meal. It's handy to meet visitors here, we discovered.

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 Ribaudière

La Ribaudière
Bourg-Charente
Phone: 05 45 81 30 54

Tuesday, 23-Jul-13

We had a fantastic Groupon dinner here with Jody and Steve. (A €156 meal for two was €99.)

• An amuse-bouche with softly scrambled truffled egg, a bit of smoked salmon on toast, and a mini-madeleine. 
• A spring roll stuffed with crab, shredded ginger and carrots, and other veggies and herbs. 
• Cold melon soup with little melon balls, flavored with something interesting, vanilla? nutmeg? black pepper? 
• A bit of sea bass sitting on something tomato-y and topped with a green sauce. 
• A dish of pho, a Vietnamese soup, with a chunk of langoustine, noodles, and seaweed. 
• Roast lamb, one rib with some bits shoulder, half a potato, turnip mayonnaise (?), and tapenade. 
• A slice of truffled brie with a bit of salad and a blob of finely chopped dried fruits (lots of fig) and nuts. 
• For dessert there was pineapple panna cotta, a bit of red fruit sorbet (topped with a bit of gold leaf) sitting in a meringue cup sitting on a ring of (rum?) cake, and chocolate mousse. 
• A lagniappe of a cookie, a cube of marshmallow (!), and a hazelnut candy. 
• With coffee and tea came a dollop of chocolate.

As an aperitif, we had some vieux pineau blanc. For the first courses we had a half bottle of Sancerre. For the later courses we had a bottle of St Emillion.

Really a super meal.