l'Auberge du Parc restaurant at Coex

Trevor and I found ourselves in Coex, a fairly nondescript town on the main road from La Roche-sur-Y’on to St Giles-Croix-de-Vie. We had intended on visiting the gardens in Coex after having looked around the yachting village and having had lunch, in St. Giles-Croix-de-Vie. Due to appalling misinformation in the publicity for the opening time of the yachting village we found ourselves at a loose end and following a tour down the coast to Les Britignolles-sur-Mer and Brem-sur-Mer we ended up having lunch at the Auberge du Parc in Coex.

The dining room of the Auberge was pleasant enough, though unremarkable, it was probably the only place in Coex serving lunch and it was as a consequence very busy. We decided to try the 15.90 euro lunch menu rather than the 10.50 euro menu of the day. The menu of the day had a supplement of 2 euros for the steak as an alternative to the dish of the day, which was a sea fish served with rice. Now I’m a carnivore and not a great fish lover, I’ll eat and enjoy fish if I’ve cooked it myself, or if it is served at a dinner party. I rarely choose fish from a menu, unless it is something that I know and know that I like. Trevor on the other hand is a lover of fish, but when he was told the name of the fish on offer he decided against it, saying to me that it was inexpensive and not one of his favourites.

So it was the 15.90 menu for us both. Trevor went straight for the hors d’oeuvres table for his entrée while I decided on the Feuilettes de St Jaques (Scallops in Puff Pastry) in a Saffron Sauce. The delay in serving my entrée was I think due to the fact that the Auberge was not geared up to serving anything but the menu of the day at lunchtime. This was further evidenced by the fact that the diners were selecting their hors d’oeuvres as they entered the dining room and the staff were writing out their tickets often after they had started eating. The waitresses were very proficient and they were turning the diners, many of whom were workers and obviously had limited time, round with great efficiency however I had to wait for some considerable time before being served my entrée. In the meantime Trevor was tucking in to his food with gusto, there was a good selection on the hors d’oeuvres table including a vegetable terrine, prawns with avocado, a large choice of cooked meats nd the usual salad suspects. It looked good and Trevor said that it was all very tasty. When my food did arrive it was without doubt worth the wait, the beautiful yellow of the saffron sauce was visually complemented by the deep orange of the coral and the creamy whiteness of the scallops it looked delightful and was in fact delicious. The flavours were a perfect balance with the sweetness of the scallops, the saltiness of their coral and the depth and richness of the saffron sauce all held together by crisp flaky pastry. It simply couldn’t have been any better in my opinion no matter where it had been cooked or who had cooked it. My steak was also well cooked, tender enough and very tasty, although I am not a fan of char grilling, the stripes if too deeply burnt into the meat can tend to leave a burnt slightly bitter taste, as they did in this case. Trevor had the leg of a duck it was described on the menu as being home grown and Trevor said it was not only very tasty but also very tender, which is not always the case with duck legs. There were large chips served with both meals, they were perfectly acceptable but I rarely eat a chip in a restaurant these days that even whispers let alone screams fresh not frozen, and these were no different.

There was a decent selection of sweets, but both Trevor and I had the tart au pommes with the chef’s special Chantilly cream. I can honestly say that the tart was good and not too sweet, but coming from Devon with its fabulous clotted cream I’m generally not a fan of Chantilly cream but I thought that this Chantilly cream was sensational. It was finished with very small hundreds and thousands and was rich with just a hint of the taste of chocolate, Trevor however thought it was a bit sweet. We finished with large coffee’s and the bill came to 36.80 euros, which made the coffees 2.50 euros each, This in my opinion is scandalous for after lunch coffee. It is the same price that one would complain about having to pay for coffee in the tourist cafes on the seafront at Les Sables D’Ollone, or St Giles-Croix-de-Vie, and having already spent over 30 euros on lunch I would expect the coffee to be much less expensive, in many lunch menus the coffee and the wine are included in the price. The waitress that served us was absolutely delightful and was happy to stop and have a chat even though she was very busy. It was a very friendly place and apart from the outrageous price of the coffee, if you ever found yourself in Coex, which is a little unlikely, I would have no problem in recommending it. Tate - 2010

About the author: Tate spends the summers in the Vendee and is passionate about good wine and good food,he writes exclusively for the www.vendee-guide.co.uk
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Auberge du Parc Coex