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.

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.

Parquei Pai

Parquei Pai
Les Ajaux, Rochechouart
Phone: 05 55 71 48 55

Sunday, 14-February-16

Lovely Valentine' Day meal today. We'd studied the menu, but it turns out they had a special menu for the holiday. We started with a very nice (and expensive) aperitif, rose syrup, lime, and champagne with a long, thin slice of ginger to use as a swizzle stick. Then a tiny soup of carrot with cumin an chorizo. Then pigeon breast medallions on smashed potatoes, with a half brussels sprout, a mousse of mushrooms, a chestnut, and some other veggies. We had all this with a half bottle of Bandol. The dessert was a sample of four, a macaroon with raspberries, a fruit salad, a crème brulée with saffron (from the garden), and a creamy chocolate thing. Very nice.

We had a nice meal here last fall with Cath and Doug, but I neglected to record it.

Wednesday, 28-May-14

Excellent lunch today with Bill and Barbara. For starters two of us had coudenou, a kind of sausage (boudin blanc perhaps) and the other two had a salad with scallops. For the main, there was veal saltimbocca, a lovely lamb pot pie sort of thing, and féra, a fresh water salmon, very tasty. Three of us succumbed to the temptation of dessert. All very good and lovely presentation. And very nice service.

Thursday, 8-Aug-13

Lunch today in celebration of leaving Houston 31 years ago today. Maybe not as good as last time, but still good. We each had a non-alocoholic starter, mine was a bit too sweet, Ed's tasted too much of coconut. I had carpaccio of (salmon) trout for a starter and very good it was. Ed had a salad with some goat cheese. Ed had quail for his main, while I had a stuffed filet mignon de porc. Feeling quite full, we skipped dessert.

Wednesday, 8-May-13

Bill treated us to lunch here. Now it's €30 per 3-course menu, but really nice. It's really hard to choose between five or six starters and five or six mains. For a wine we had St Chinian, new to all, and very nice. Excellent.

Friday, 30-Mar-12

I've had my eye on this place for a while. It opened a couple of years ago in a building that looked like a garage where you might have your car repaired. They've been slowly renovating and landscaping so that it looks much better now. All dishes are made with fresh products, many grown themselves and otherwise produced locally.

We took Lesley and Toby here to thank them from their help with Sophie and Oscar, and a very nice meal it was. A bit pricey at €29 per menu, but the selection was good and the food was excellent. Definitely a place to come back to for a special occasion.

Le Chergui

Le Chergui
Angoulême
Phone: 05 45 68 27 70

Friday, 23-May-14

We had a nice Moroccan dinner here with Bill before a concert. A three- menu was €18.90. Bourek, brick au thon, or Salad Orientale for starters. We had two boureks and one brick between us. (I made brick au thon not too long ago. Ed thought mine stood up pretty well. Happy face.) For the main, there was a choice of a couscous plate with various meats or a tajine. Between us we had each of the tajines on offer, lamb with prunes, chicken with prunes, lamb with olives. None outstanding, all reasonably good. For dessert, Ed had mousse au chocolate, which was quite good, while Bill and I had different choices from the oriental pastries. Worth another visit, at least for the couscous.

Le Lieu-Dit

Le Lieu-Dit
Angoulême
Phone: 05 45 95 17 17

Saturday, 17-May-14

Lunch here today before taking Barbara to the train. Nice shaded terrace. Menu with hamburgers, salads, tartines, etc. Pretty good. Service nice. Fun toilet.