France: 3e Jour

Dîner


Dinner was at Table D'Amis, a restaurant that was somewhat difficult to find, and one that had a two star reputation.


The amuse-bouche was once again, a tomato gazpacho. With tomatoes as fresh as the ones we saw in the market, it's hardly surprising that just about every restaurant serves tomato gazpacho as a starter or appetiser.


A terrine of goat's cheese with salad was starter. I became very fond of goat's cheese over the two weeks in France, and I quite enjoyed this starter. The cheese was mild and creamy, enhanced with some fragrant olive oil and fresh vegetables.


Main course took the form of magret de canard, or duck breast, served with carrots, potatoes and leek. One thing about food in the South is that they opt for very simple foods and presentations, eschewing the spirals and towers and garish colours we so often see in haute cuisine. While the duck was good, I did think it suffered from a heavy hand with the salt, as there were conspicuous grains of salt in it. I used to think basic elements of taste like sweetness and saltiness were universal, but food in France was generally a lot saltier than it is at home.


Once again, I was faced with a restaurant with no viable chocolate dessert, so I decided to go for the pineapple tart. It was quite interesting, as it featured a fruit sorbet atop some pineapple mousse sitting in a tart shell filled with pineapple syrup. Not too bad, even if it was different.

So did the restaurant live up to its two star rating? Personally, I thought not. The food, while satisfying, didn't seem either creative or spectacular enough for two stars. The restaurant looked like the inside of someone's cottage house, so it did feel slightly cloistered, and didn't provide as much ambience as say, Le Chateau de Saint Paul. I was starting to feel slightly mystified as to what the star system was based on.

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