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La Grand Voile La Faute-sur-Mer
28 Ave. Plage, La Faute-sur-Mer. Tel. 02 51 97 03 42
It was
the first Sunday in July and we were in La Faute visiting the large
market there to buy some wine to bring back for friends to taste with a
view to making a larger purchase later in the month. Trevor and I were
accompanied by my French neighbour Dominique who until his hip
replacement had worked on the markets for many years. The market, which
compares favourably to the Sunday market in La Palice, La Rochelle was
very busy and after tasting the wine and making my purchases we went on
into the town proper to find a restaurant to have lunch in. I had been
recommended to try Le Canot but Dominique insisted on asking his market
friends where to eat and we set off up the main street. Unfortunately he
took us to La Terrace, a very good restaurant that is frequented by the
locals and is recommended by everyone. We have eaten their previously
and reviewed it, and so Trevor refused to go there again. Dominique was
not able to walk back to Le Canot and so against my better judgement we
ended up in La Grand Voile which is two restaurants down from La
Terrace.
It was a very hot day and we sat outside on the pavement under the
awning with the world walking by as we dined and exhaust fumes from the
cars as a condiment. We had a round of cold beers and looked at the
menu. We didn’t have entrées and Trevor chose the Vendéen Ham and
Mojettes, Dominique went for the Entrecôte and Frites and after some
deliberation I made the error of going for Moules and Frites. The meals
came and we had another round of drinks, Trevor’s Vendéen Ham and
Mojettes were standard fare, cooked well enough although it is a hard
meal to get wrong other than overcooking the ham which literally takes
seconds to cook. Dominique’s entrecôte was well cooked it had a small
salad accompaniment and the frites were as is often the case from a
packet and not home produced, that notwithstanding Dominique was
perfectly satisfied with his meal. That just leaves me. My meal was
awful I had chosen the mussels because L’Aiguillon and La Faute are the
main mussel producing area in France, and I had, mistakenly as it turned
out, expected the mussels to be fresh. The mussels were not fresh and
were undoubtedly re-heated which, even though they were in the usual
light wine sauce, made them dry and tasteless. The sauce itself was no
better, instead of it being tasty and soup-like combining the saltiness
of the water from the mussels with a good white wine shallots and
butter, it was thin, tasteless and watery. The frites which undoubtedly
came frozen from a packet were definitely the best part of the meal,
which in all was as big a disappointment as I can remember since
eating at Le Cond’or, and on reflection I think even that was less of a
disappointment.
I had the misfortune of picking up the tab for this meal, which made it all the more galling, and at €17.00 per person for a single course I couldn’t possibly recommend either for the quality of the food or as value for money,
I understand that it was a busy day in La Faute, however the restaurant
wasn’t full, unlike when we ate at La Terrace which was bursting at the
seams and still managed to deliver a 3 course meal of very high quality
for €15 a head and offered a formula meal at €12.
The quality of my meal was without doubt very poor indeed, in fact it
was sub-standard and I suggest that if you find yourself in the main
street of La Faute, you don’t hesitate in passing by La Grand Voile
going two doors down and eating at La Terrace, even if you’ve eaten
there before, I promise you that way you won’t be disappointed and
you’ll get a decent meal at a good price. I’m sure that you will not be
surprised when I say that I could not recommend this restaurant under
any circumstances. Tate - 2011
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
The coping of this article is permitted as long as the complete article along with these credits are published.
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