Text 33712, 169 rader
Skriven 2015-11-27 11:45:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: bibendum 568
====================
Pam and Rhys had invited Ian and Jacquie to an outing, but as
they had a previous engagement, they nominated Swisher and me 
to act as proxy. Thank you very much.

This involved driving along the beautiful Dordogne valley,
turning left at Bretenoux and making another left at Belmont,
and finding a weeping willow with chickens pecking around
around it. No sweat. One tip, though - when giving directions,
please specify that the willow tree is down in a hollow,
partially obscured! It took us a couple of tries to find Pam
and Rhys' place, which is a classily reconstructed but still
rustic farmhouse that would be beset with chickens except 
that the entrance is up some stairs.

Cocktails, and then they took us on a walking tour of St. Cere,
the local city best known for being the home of Jean Lurcat,
the tapestry artist and resistance hero. Pretty town.

A short drive out in the sticks is the hotel-restaurant Les 
Trois Soleils de Montal, the gastronomic shining light of the 
area, if you will. It's a smallish space that resembles and 
probably is a hotel breakfast room, maybe six or eight tables, 
but no doubt there's another room for functions.

As Pam and Rhys know the proprietors, we were seated at a
corner table with a view of the grounds, very pleasant. We
were early to arrive, but as the room filled up the noise
level didn't increase that much - in fact, we were probably
the noisiest people there.

The kirs are popular - peach and blackberry are available in
addition to the normal cassis. They all had various kinds,
but I didn't see the point and asked for a glass of Fino.

What came? Well, its aroma was exceedingly fruity, the body
medium, sweetish, moderate in alcohol, very fresh. I was a
bit confused, but then it dawned on me - instead of Fino (as 
in Sherry) they'd poured me a young Pineau (as in Charentes).
Okay, that was fine, understandable, and it was kind of good 
and in fact the sort of thing an elderly Cereen might order to
start a festive meal back in the day. And it went great with
the amuse, which was

langoustine and Chinese cabbage tempura, a fine combination
done with a very light hand at the fryer, though the shellfish
texture was maybe a little on the flabby side.

Starters.

Scallop cream soup for Swisher, who never touches seafood.
He ate it, it was that good.

The rest of us had a tartlette of cepes, trompettes, and 
girolles, all of the season; the pastry was flaky and good
- better than Pepperidge Farm or I could make, and the
filling perfect, though that's not rocket science if you
care to get your feet wet tromping around in the woods.

I forget why (according to my notes) Swisher had one fewer
course than we did.

Our version of soup was a scallop and oyster with an airy 
quenelle and a Jerusalem artichoke (one each of each) in 
an oniony cream. Similar to the other soup but just enough
difference to make one wonder why.

Cuvee Marie Jurancon sec 13 was pleasantly citrusy with a
little bitterness and was quite nice, rather Bordeaux-like. 
It's made of the Gros  Manseng grape, one of which I'd had 
little experience. 

Everyone else got the roast veal loin with cepes, which
was universally admired - I tasted someone's - it was
very good, close-grained, done medium, in a slightly
citrus-scented (I originally wrote tainted) veal jus.

To be different I had a filet of St. Pierre with passion
fruit pomelo sauce which was busier and I thought less
successful because of that. The Michelin guys have a lot
to anwer for. The fish itself was excellent, but the plate
had, let's see, beets, grapefruit bits, olive mash, braised 
fennel, and four Brussels sprout leaves stuffed with various 
preserved citrus - lemon, grapefruit, lime, and something 
else, maybe yuzu or Buddha's hand or something. This was all
covered with a light citrus foam.

Our other wine was the Verdanel Gaillac (Plageoles) 13,
rather appley and acid and quite nice apparently with the
veal. I returned to the Cuvee Marie, which seemed to go
better with the fish.

For the first time ever I looked forward to the cheese
plate. Rhys had said that the Fourme was the best example
he'd encountered, and it would maybe make me a convert
to blue cheese. Well, nice try.

These are what I tried.

Saint-Nectaire - a good example of the type, rich and
tasty with just a bit of that ammoniated barnyard quality;

Fourme d'Ambert - okay, it almost worked, the stuff having
great creaminess and a huge umami, but it was still a bit
blue for my tastes;

Camembert - rich, ripe, beginning to run; I still prefer
Brie;

Salers - surprisingly savory, like the vieux Cantal or
maybe one of the Swiss; I'd never liked it all before,
but this was quite okay;

Pont-l'Eveque - Pam said this was very good, so I called
back the waiter and asked for a taste: it had gone soft, a 
bit piquant behind the creaminess; not bad.

I didn't try the Rocamadour or some kind of aged chevre.

The whole cheese experience was interesting and pretty
good, though the bread brought for this course had a 
scorched bottom. This may have been deliberate or good 
for the cheese, I am not sure.

Pam and I had the fantasy of red fruits - this came
with a dunce cap of strawberry tuile over it; we were
instructed to hit it with our spoon to let flakes fall
into the dessert. I thought this beyond silly and 
carefully lifted it and put it to one side to be dealt
with in its time.

Underneath was a jumble of ingredients, each 
individually excellent, that included

raspberry-strawbery sorbet
jelly of unidentifiable fruit (colorless)
fresh and frozen strawberries
fresh fraises de bois
a raspberry
tiny meringues the size of Nestle's chocolate chips
shortbread (coarse for my taste).

Next to this a mini strawberry milk shake with a
plastic bubble-tea straw. I thought this was a missed
opportunity, the straw should have been edible.

I kind of liked this infantile mess in spite of
myself but still think a little more harmony might
have been hoped for.

By the way, the tuile, made with freeze-dried
strawberry powder, was quite tasty.

Swisher and Rhys got the chocolate and raspberry 
Napoleon, about which nothing need be said, it was as 
normal as normal could be.

For afters I ordered the Darroze Domaine de Coquillon 1991 
Bas-Armagnac, still a bit on the hot side but savory and
with a pretty long finish. Actually, I'd ordered the 1992
or 1993, but they were out.

Mignardises - dark chocolate and red pepper, not too 
spicy but with a good paprikaish taste, and duck fat
shortbread.

Madame bowed us out (rather, she bowed out Pam and Rhys,
and we tagged along).
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)