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 Salamandre

La Salamandre
Angoulême
Phone: 05.45.95.00.27

Friday, 29-April-16

We had lunch here before taking Bill to the train. We all had the menu du jour (€20 for three courses), although Bill skipped the starter, which was goat cheese medallions on toast, a bit of salad, and some jambon cru, very nicely presented. For the main, Ed and Bill had a chunk of grilled beef (onglet) with some fresh pasta, while I had some lieu noir on a bed of veggies. The steak was a bit had to chew, but otherwise tasty. Dessert was a pistachio crème brulée with a tiny scoop of raspberry sherbert.

Tuesday, 15-September-15

Birthday lunch today. An unprepossessing restaurant in the same strip with Le Terminus, opposite the train station. But chockful of people. We didn't have the menu du jour, but both opted for the menu découverte. We started with a very nice cold soup of peas and mint and maybe a touch of lemon, with a  ball of tzatziki "ice cream". Then some grilled tuna, with cannelloni stuffed with vegetables. with a  nice sauce of soya and citrus. Enjoyed with with a demi of Sancerre (cheaper than glasses). Ed had strawberries and ice cream for dessert. I had a fluffy cheesecake with abricot sorbet. (Judging by the number of frozen things on the menu, I think the chef likes ice cream.)

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.

Brise Bois

Brise Bois
Rouzède
Phone: 05 45 70 26 04

Wednesday, 20-April-16

When we first started coming to this area, we enjoyed eating at this restaurant several times. The dining room was small, the menu was limited, and the food quite good, if a bit along the steak-frites line. The last time we went was when Angela and Mat and family visited. The large new dining room was open and the food just so-so. The kids had a good time, though, since there were other Dutch kids around to play with. Six or more years later we tried it again the night Bill arrived. We were the only diners and  service was very nice. The food was so-so again. Lots of choice. Nothing very special. Ed and Bill had the strangest crème brulée with pudding instead of custard. Someplace to go if it's convenient, but not especially for the food.

La Vache au Plafond

La Vache au Plafond
Limoges
Phone: 05.55.10.10.20

Tuesday, 5-April-16

We had a hard time finding a restaurant that was near tonight's concert venue, open on Tuesday, and open with time for us to eat before the concert. This restaurant was a 15-minute walk from the theatre, but opened at 18.45, rather early, so it suited our needs.

Ed and I had a wonderful salad with scallops and a beet vinaigrette as a started. Cath and Doug liked their starters, whatever they were. For mains, everyone else had steaks while I had pig cheeks. Everyone was pleased. We split a nice bottle of Bordeaux-ish wine between us, but I've forgotten what it was. No dessert since we needed to be on the way.

Definitely worth going back to if we are in the area.

Yes, there's a cow on the ceiling. A whole meadow in fact.