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It was lunchtime on a Tuesday in the middle of April, we
had just dropped my friend Ron off at Rennes airport and were making our way
back home. We, being Trevor and I, take every opportunity when travelling in the
north of the Vendée to try new restaurants. Last year at the same time we had
eaten a fine meal at La Digue in Montaigu which is associated with Le Presbytere
and where they had encouraged us to try Le Presbytere, so here we were ready to
give it a go. The staff were extremely helpful and they had to open the terrace,
which this early in the year was boarded up, in order that I could get my
mobility scooter into the building. Entering the picturesque main dining room
would have been a very tricky manoeuvre there were spaces and the staff were
prepared to move other diners to accommodate our entry but we opted for the
secondary dining room which was much easier to get into and we were soon seated
at a table of our choice being the only diners seated.
The main dining
room looked excellent and the secondary room was very good too, both were light
and airy and the decoration was very French, with clean and stylish table
settings which matched the decor. There were various menus starting at
€13 rising to €24 with a children’s menu at €8 and we both decided to go for the
€15 menu offering three courses with a decent
choice. Trevor had a non alcoholic beer and rather than having a traditional
aperitif I decided to have wine. As they didn’t have a house wine I ordered a
half bottle of Graves at €10, I could have ordered it by the glass but
Trevor likes a taste and three glasses would certainly be enough for a
lunchtime. Trevor had ordered Rilettes de Maquereau followed by Daube de Canard,
I had gone for Salade de Gesiers followed by Onglet de Bœuf. The entrées arrived
and Trevor gave me a taste of his rilettes, they were mackerel, cooked slowly
until tender enough to be shredded with a fork, then mixed with mustard and
crème fraiche into a creamy consistency and served in quenelles they were
absolutely delicious not too strong but with the distinctive mackerel flavour.
The dish was served with roasted red peppers, roasted courgettes, tomatoes, a
dressed green salad and several scallops, there was no doubt that Trevor was
delighted and on tasting the mackerel I could see why. Both Trevor and I love
gizzard salad, which is often to be found on Vendéen menus, this gizzard salad
was a triumph, the gizzards were large and cooked to perfection, retaining a
very red colour and loads of flavour. Unlike most gizzard salads the gizzards
were served in a separate little pot with a drop of olive oil, rather than being
mixed in with the salad and other ingredients. The beautifully dressed green
salad was accompanied by tomatoes, and rather than the normal lardons it had two
large slices of wafer thin cured ham. The final flourish was two slices of
goat’s cheese on toast and the juxtapositions of taste and texture were superb.
The goat’s cheese provided a salty counterpoint to the smooth taste of the ham
and the slightly gamey taste of the gizzards. I fail to see how this could have
been any better, for my palette it was excellence on a plate.
The wine
was going down well and I was pleased that I had chosen it, at €10 for a half
bottle it wasn’t cheap but it was 2008 and Château bottled and like most wine
was getting better with every glass I drank. Had the Buzet come in half bottles
I might have been tempted to go for that as I like Buzet and in general it has
been great value for money when compared to Bordeaux wines that are its near
neighbours. I have however noticed over the past couple of years that the price
of Buzet is creeping up so perhaps the days of value for money Buzets, like so
many other things, are over. Our main courses were served and my Onglet de Bœuf,
which is a cut of steak which has gained in popularity on menus over the last
couple of years, as it is a tender and less expensive alternative to entrecôte
or fillet. The onglet was absolute perfection, it was tender, perfectly cooked
and there was plenty of it. It was served with a béarnaise sauce, and a mixture
of sautéed lardons, mushrooms, cocktail onions and small balls of carrot. There
was a garnish of salad and a bowl of chips that Trevor and I shared. I know that
you might think it hard to enthuse over what was essentially steak and chips,
but the béarnaise sauce with its hint of tarragon was creamy and unctuous and
lifted the dish above the normal steak and chips. The little mixture of sautéed
lardons and vegetables was a perfect accompaniment and even though the chips
probably weren’t homemade they were double cooked and delicious and I loved it.
Trevor’s duck stew was also delicious, a whole leg of duck cooked in a sauce
with the same selection of sautéed vegetables and lardons as myself and the
shared bowl of chips. The duck was a little bit stringy in places but then it
was leg, but it was moist succulent and very tasty, I would have happily eaten
it.
Even though we had arrived a little late and were subsequently the
last people in the dining room, we never felt rushed in any way. Our desserts
arrived Trevor had unsurprisingly chosen tiramisu which arrived with a large
strawberry, a boule of coffee ice cream with chocolate chips inside, Chantilly
cream, crème anglaise and a piping of chocolate sauce, it was copious,
appetizingly well presented and Trevor said that the balance of flavours worked
perfectly for him, I had a taste and thought that it was absolutely excellent.
Unsurprisingly I had chosen chocolate fondant, it’s a bit of a mission for me to
find the perfect chocolate fondant, although I think in truth it’s more an
excuse to indulge my love of all things chocolate. Chocolate fondants in the
Vendée come in two different styles, the normal individual cake with the oozing
liquid centre, or as in this case the more traditionally Vendéen version which
is as a dense flat cake which is served in sections like any normal cake. I
prefer the individual version light and spongy with the oozing centre but this
fondant was very good, it was intensely chocolaty, very rich and had a wonderful
texture. It was served with coconut ice cream, a large strawberry, Chantilly
cream, crème anglaise and a piping of chocolate sauce and the mix of flavours
and textures were for me simply divine. Chocolate, coconut, strawberries, cream
and custard, who could ask for anything more? We finished the meal with coffee,
which I think rounds a meal off but is invariably expensive. The actual meal at
€15 a head was not expensive for what we ate, it was as usual the extras which
inflated the cost with the total bill coming to €46.50. The service was friendly
and efficient, the presentation of both the restaurant and the food was good,
the quantities were copious and the quality of the food was outstanding. I was
very impressed with the restaurant and for what we had I thought it was good
value for money. The north of the Vendée is my favourite part of the region both
for its scenery and its cuisine, we have had more good quality value for money
meals in the north than anywhere else in the Vendée. You could find many
restaurants in the area that would be less expensive but you would be hard
pressed to find any that would offer you a better meal for the money. I would
highly recommend this restaurant. Tate - 2012
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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coping of this article is permitted as long as the complete article along with
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