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Le
Jusant L'Herbaudière, Ile de Noirmoutier
Today Trevor and I set off early, we were going to Noirmoutier
and it would take us a good two hours to get there. The reason we were going was
for the “Fete de Bonnotte” which roughly translated was a festival to celebrate
the first harvest of the famous Bonnotte new potato. This fantastic tasting new
potato is said to eclipse even the Jersey Royal and is served in most of the
major fine dining restaurants in France and many others across the world. We
arrived in Noirmoutier-en- Ile, the island’s main town desperate for a cup of
coffee, and having wandered down the main street we arrived back in the harbour,
selected a cafe and ordered coffee. It was not cheap, costing the best part of
€6 but that is not uncommon in a holiday region.
We then set
off to try to find the festival, only to find that it consisted of potatoes
apparently being dug by those who wanted to buy them somewhere further along the
coast. That was to be followed by a cycle rally, although we never saw any
evidence of it. Finally there was to be a tasting which was being held in the
evening, by which time we would unfortunately be long gone, so all in all the
Festival was a bit of a waste of time so far as we were concerned. To cut our
losses we visited the local farmers’ co-operative and bought some of the newly
dug Bonnotte potatoes, which I have since tasted and can honestly say are very,
very good, although not so good as to warrant a 300 kilometre round trip and the
resultant cost in diesel. By now it was getting near to Trevor’s lunch time and
so we drove to L'Herbaudière, parked up on the harbour and went looking for one
of the many harbour side restaurants to eat in. As we were fairly early we had
to judge them by their menus rather than looking for a restaurant that was well
populated, which out of season is generally a good indicator. Choosing a
restaurant based entirely on comparing their menus is much more difficult but we
made our choice of Le Jusant and sat under cover on the restaurant’s open
terrace. We had a panoramic view of the port from the restaurant’s slightly
raised position. Sitting outside but under cover we were sheltered but eating
“al fresco”, it was a good start.
The Maitre d’ was a lady and she was
charming, giving us a very cheerful reception and sharing a laugh with us when
Trevor used some of his business cards to stabilise our table. There were
various menus starting at €16, we both decided
on the €19.80 menu and Trevor had a non alcoholic beer. Wine was not
included with the meal and there was no house wine, ½ bottles started at
€14.50 for a Fief Vendéen but I went for a ½ bottle of Cote de
Bourg Bordeaux, which was very nice but not cheap at €16.50, I would certainly not have wanted to pay €33 for a full bottle. The restaurant itself was quite a classy
place, the cutlery was individual and unique, as was the crockery and you do
expect to pay a premium to eat on the harbour side no matter where that is. I
must confess that before eating I was a bit sceptical about the likelihood of
getting extremely high quality food. My scepticism was to prove completely
unfounded. Our entrees arrived, I had chosen a salad of Ray in Balsamic vinegar,
it was a slightly unusual choice for me but I have to confess I was delighted by
the dish. The pickled Ray was fabulously tasty and the mixed leaf salad was
crisp and well balanced as were the colours with its variety of green and purple
leaves dotted with diced red pepper and with a dusting of paprika just for the
visual effect. The plate which intentionally had a slight slope towards me
looked appetizing and I was not disappointed with the taste, although on a
personal level, I do like big flavours and so for me I would have preferred a
slightly stronger balsamic dressing. Trevor’s fish soup was thick and looked
very tasty, it was served in traditional fashion with a trio of grated Emmental
cheese croutons and a puree, which in this case was flavoured with sweet peppers
and had a gloriously deep yellow colour. When I quizzed Trevor about the taste
he said for him all good fish soups tasted the same, and being his droll self he
said that it was souperb.
Entrees finished our main courses arrived, I
was having a Paupiette de Veau, for those who don’t know a Paupiette is a piece
of meat flattened and rolled around a stuffing, in the case of veal it is
usually bacon, garlic breadcrumbs and parsley. This Paupiette was served in a
Kerisac ( which is a famous Brittany cider) sauce with sautéed chipped potatoes.
As with every dish they served the restaurant paid great attention to detail and
the plate was decorated with red peppercorns and a Chinese Lantern (that’s the
fruit not a lamp with a dragon on it). The veal was superbly tender and
succulent the stuffing was well seasoned and the cider sauce was an absolute
delight, it was slightly fruity and although I’m not normally keen on fruit
sauces with savoury dishes this sauce gave the dish a perfect balance. If I was
going to be picky I would say that the elastic string tying the paupiette
together had been left on the veal, when it really should have been removed
before serving, I removed the string myself with relative ease and so it was
only a minor irritant. Trevor gave me a bit of stick for eating veal at a
harbour side restaurant, he takes the view that one should eat fish at seaside
restaurants, it’s a view that I personally don’t subscribe to and I have no
regrets whatsoever at ordering veal. Trevor had Grilled ray which he said was
cooked to perfection and it was served in a well balanced lemon sauce, it was
accompanied by new potatoes, which were not Bonnotte but were nevertheless very
tasty, which one would expect as besides Bonnotte potatoes Noirmoutier is
renowned for its potatoes almost as much as its salt. The final flourish was a
salt water crayfish and the meal was decorated in a similar manner to my veal.
Trevor loves his fish and he seemed to enjoy it. Both courses were served with
freshly made brown bread rolls which were a perfect accompaniment.
The
desserts arrived, we had both chosen apple crumble and it was spot on the apple
was sweet but not cloying and the topping was just crunchy enough, and the dish
was, as was everything, visually excellent. It was served with candied orange
and lemon peel, with a thin slice of banana and a thin slice of Kiwi fruit.
There was a string of cranberries a star anise a white and a dark chocolate
button with a spoon of apple puree stuck to the plate with caramelised sugar.
The plate was dusted with cocoa powder and was a delight on the eye as well as
the palate. Of course being English the crowning glory would have been a
generous spoonful of Crème D’Isigny, which is a thick high quality crème fraiche
from Normandy and is the closest thing in France to clotted cream, but you can’t
have everything. We finished our meal with a coffee and both agreed that it had
been excellent. The service throughout had been efficient and friendly, the
Maitre d’ was amusing and the young lad who served the meal was very
concentrated if a bit serious, I would guess from observing his service at other
tables and the assistance given to him by the very attentive maitre d’ that he
was fairly new at the job and was still in training, although you would not have
known from the way he served us. We were eating in early May and the restaurant
was quite busy, the outside terrace was virtually full by the time we had
finished and I can imagine that in season the place would be absolutely packed.
Of course in simple terms of supply and demand, that is bound to affect the
price that the restaurant can charge. It is true to say that €65.85 is not cheap for lunch, it is perfectly possible to get a
great five course lunch including wine and coffee in the Vendée for half that
figure. It is however also true to say that everywhere in the world you do have
to pay for the situation that you dine in, and harbour side restaurants
generally charge a premium for the view and the ambience that they give you. The
decision as to whether that is worth the extra money that you pay is really a
personal one, all I can say is that the view was good although not spectacular,
L’Heraudiere is hardly Menton, the ambience was good, the food was very good and
the wine was good too. Trevor and I both enjoyed the meal very much and would be
happy enough to eat at the restaurant again and I would happily recommend it.
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 http://www.vendee-guide.co.uk/
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