Vendee
Information Vendee History
Accommodation, Photos,
Reviews, Maps,
|
Mary Stuart
Restaurant Review By Tate
86 Boulavard Louis Blanc, La
Roche-sur-Yon. Tel.02 51 37 02 24
Earlier in the week some French friends, Roger and Christine
Goudeau, had visited me. They had been highly renowned Traiteurs (outside
caterers) until Roger was diagnosed with a heart condition and was forced to
give it all up and retire. In the course of their visit the conversation turned
to restaurants and Roger recommended that we try the Marie Staurt Hotel in La
Roche-sur-Yon. Now in my opinion when someone of Roger’s culinary experience
suggests that one tries a restaurant one would be foolish to the point of
arrogance not to listen, and so last night Trevor and I made the not
inconsiderable trek, about an hour’s drive, to La Roche-sur-Yon. The Marie
Stuart Hotel formerly the Voyager is owned and run by husband and wife duo of
Margaret and René Drapeau, Margaret formerly Margaret Donald is a Scot and the
restaurant reflects that with a tartan carpet, walls painted royal red and
draped with various tartans and brasses and the ceiling hung with chandeliers.
There is a Scottish bar with stags heads and over one hundred different
whiskies, and a menu that drips with Scottish accented food. I thought at first
it might all be a bit twee but in actual fact it was warm and welcoming and
totally unpretentious. There are formula menus at €16, €27 and €29 and an A La Carte
menu which includes Highland Steak at €29. All of the menus had Scottish accents and
I mixed the €27 and €29 menus paying of course the higher tariff, where Trevor stuck to
the €27 menu, had we seen the Highland Steak being cooked before we
ordered we would have probably pushed the boat out and gone A La Carte. As it
was we ordered aperitifs, there was, as one might expect from a Scottish
influenced establishment, no alcohol free beer so Trevor had tonic while I had a
Kir Royale. I was offered the choice of it made with Crème de Mûres which is a
blackberry liqueur or the rather more traditional Crème de Cassis which is a
blackcurrant liqueur. Trevor’s suggested that I tried the Mûres as I had never
tried it before, so I did and I enjoyed it very much. With the aperitifs we were
served some Mis-en-Bouche which are little appetizers and in this case they
consisted of two puff pastry fingers and half a mini scotch egg each all of
which were very tasty.
The restaurant started to fill up, a young
couple’s arrival quickly followed by a young family from the Ile d’Yeu with two
other couples coming in later, and as always the ambience was immediately lifted
with the extra people. The accepted form of aperitif at this restaurant was
whisky and the waitress, a very nice young lady, wheeled around a trolley with a
large selection on it. It didn’t appeal to me as I’ve never really been a whisky
drinker. Our entrees arrived, Trevor had chosen Scottish smoked salmon, there
was plenty of it, and it was served with a salad, black radish and a cream side
dish. Trevor cut me a piece of the salmon and it had a very good flavour. I had
chosen a Scotch egg, it was halved and served warm with a dressed salad and a
side dish of home-made mayonnaise, as a starter here in France it was as unusual
as it was delightful. We had ordered a pitcher of House red wine which once it
achieved room temperature was good enough at €7 for 500cl, and in what I thought was one of
many nice hints of Scotland, it was served in a pewter jug. Our main courses
arrived, I had chosen a Pavé of Fillet of Beef served in a pepper sauce which
was not creamy but had a great savoury taste, while Trevor had plumped for the
Entrecôte. Both meals came served with an abundance of sautéed cubed potatoes
and a small dressed salad. Both pieces of beef were perfectly cooked, were
tender and had a great flavour, the potatoes were in such profusion that had
they not been so delicious I would probably not have finished them. While we
were waiting for our desserts the waitress wheeled out a flambé trolley and
proceeded to cook the highland steak for the young couple and the adults from
the Ile d’Yeu. The steaks looked marvellous and she seasoned them while melting
butter into the deep flambé pan, they were cooked with shallots and mushrooms
before being coated with oatmeal and flambéed in whisky. The sauce was finished
with cream and I can honestly say that I was tempted to order it there and then,
even though I’d already eaten, if only I was eloquent enough to adequately
describe the odour that filled the restaurant you would understand why, even
though I was pretty full my taste buds were doing the Tango and telling me that
I wanted it, I have vowed that I will return and indulge myself. Our desserts
arrived, I had ordered Eve’s Pudding which was a warm almond cake on a bed of
cooked apple surrounded with a sea of cold crème anglaise, it was good but not a
patch on Trevor’s Butterscotch Dumplings which were the consistency of Christmas
pudding with a great taste of butterscotch and served with cream. We both had
large white coffees avoiding the Irish coffee which I’m sure would have been
delightful but Trevor doesn’t drink and I couldn’t justify the indulgence.
As the coffees were served we were joined by René Drapeau, he was a
charming man and spoke excellent English, he regaled us with stories about the
hotel and his wife and told us that there was a village locally which had twenty
seven English families living in it and the English association that they had
formed. During our conversation his wife, the legendary Margaret phoned him and
I was privileged to be asked to speak to her on the telephone, she seemed a
delightful lady and they both belied their ages René being seventy four and
Margaret seventy nine. She was even gracious enough after talking to me to say
to René that she wished that she had come in that evening and met us in person.
René was visiting all of the tables but he came back to talk to us frequently, I
don’t suppose that it was our magnetic personalities that drew him back, it was
probably his desire to speak English, however he did recount a tale about
Margaret that I think eminently worth repeating. He told us that in the early
days of their occupancy of the hotel, they were one of very few outlets for
Scotch Whisky, and as such were courted by all of the whisky distributors.
Margaret is a Donald and as such is a sworn enemy of the Campbells and when the
Campbells’ Whisky representative came calling he was always sent away without an
order. This irked the head of the Campbells distribution company so much that he
decided that he would visit personally and open an account with the Hotel,
telling his sales representative to watch and learn. Now Margaret had a Scottish
shop on the first floor of the building, after about an hour in her company the
Campbells’ senior executive had to concede that he wasn’t going to sell Margaret
any whisky however he left with his arms full of the things that Margaret had
sold to him. She sounds a formidable lady and Trevor and I both found the story
as interesting as it was enchanting. Alas the time was getting late and poor old
Trevor had an hour of driving to get me home so reluctantly we had to pay the
bill and say our goodbyes. The bill came to €78, the food had been delightful, the service
understated, friendly and efficient the ambience of the restaurant was very
welcoming but what made the restaurant captivating was René, he was a great guy,
he took photos of everyone, printed them out and gave them to the diners, and he
made everyone feel that they were his invited guests. Restaurants in my opinion
should be about more than just the food, they should be about the overall dining
experience, and I can’t remember an occasion when I have enjoyed myself as much
as I did at the Marie Stuart Hotel, it was a terrific evening and it was so
enjoyable that I am as we speak trying to organise a group of my friends to
return and try the highland steak, I’m sure we’ll have a brilliant time and
hopefully meet Margaret in person. I highly recommend this restaurant it is
simply one of the best. - 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 http://www.vendee-guide.co.uk/
The
coping of this article is permitted as long as the complete article along with
these credits are published.
Return to find more Restaurants of the
Vendee
In
accordance with the law "and Freedoms" of January 6, 1978, you have the right to
access and rectify information concerning you. If you wish to exercise this
right, please contact
us.
© Copyright Vendee-Guide.co.uk 2009-10