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#1
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire.
and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! tim PS Le Tour is going past some the Chateau next week - if anybody wants to watch |
#2
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
"tim....." writes:
18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! Yikes. I have to say my experience of the same region is completely different. But maybe I'm looking for something different than you. It has been easy for me to find small pleasant restaurants with decent prix fixe dinner menus at a sensible price. I will also point out that haute cuisine is not something the french necessarily eat every single night! The fact that some of the pinnacles of French cooking include complex elaborate meals does not mean that _every_ meal is like that - after all, if anyone ate that way at every meal, they would be obese. There is a point I agree with you about. Restaurants in a region tend to serve food of the region, and thus one finds that menus are often similar from restaurant to restaurant. (But if you are happy to eat in fast food restaurants, one would think that this detail shouldn't bother you so much.) |
#3
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
"Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: 18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! Yikes. I have to say my experience of the same region is completely different. But maybe I'm looking for something different than you. It has been easy for me to find small pleasant restaurants with decent prix fixe dinner menus at a sensible price. Available in the evening? Or were they in the middle of nowhere? I did see one or two restaurants in small villages offering the MdJ all day, but as I need to walk to a restaurant for an evening meal (I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader as to why) they were of no use I will also point out that haute cuisine is not something the french necessarily eat every single night! The fact that some of the pinnacles of French cooking include complex elaborate meals does not mean that _every_ meal is like that - after all, if anyone ate that way at every meal, they would be obese. I wasn't really using the term in its true technical sense ;-) There is a point I agree with you about. Restaurants in a region tend to serve food of the region, and thus one finds that menus are often similar from restaurant to restaurant. (But if you are happy to eat in fast food restaurants, one would think that this detail shouldn't bother you so much.) Actually it does. If I'm only paying 6 Euro for a take away, I'll have the same each day. If I sitting down for a "proper" meal I expect to get something different each day You can call that strange if you like, but that's how I am tim |
#4
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
"tim....." writes:
"Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: 18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! Yikes. I have to say my experience of the same region is completely different. But maybe I'm looking for something different than you. It has been easy for me to find small pleasant restaurants with decent prix fixe dinner menus at a sensible price. Available in the evening? Yes. Or were they in the middle of nowhere? Small pleasant restaurants with decent prixe fixe dinner menus are not rare. One finds them in virtually any reasonably sized town, and often in very small places too in tourist areas. It seem unaccountable to me that you couldn't find such places. I think you mentioned Blois. I type a search into tripadvisor and I get 100 restaurants. I clicked on the third one as I have a vague memory of eating there (but it may have been another restaurant in another city with the same name) many years ago. They have a website, which shows a prixe fixe menu at 16 Euros. Open for dinner 7-11. http://aucoindtable.com/crbst_1.html. There seems to be a large selecction of restaurants on the north bank of the river near Pont Jacques Gabriel. You could really never find such places? In my experience there is nothing especially restaurant friendly about Blois, and one can find a similar density of similar places in most cities and towns. Either I don't understand what you are looking for, or you are looking in some strange non-tourist friendly parts of cities, or I don't know what. I did see one or two restaurants in small villages offering the MdJ all day, but as I need to walk to a restaurant for an evening meal (I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader as to why) they were of no use I will also point out that haute cuisine is not something the french necessarily eat every single night! The fact that some of the pinnacles of French cooking include complex elaborate meals does not mean that _every_ meal is like that - after all, if anyone ate that way at every meal, they would be obese. I wasn't really using the term in its true technical sense ;-) There is a point I agree with you about. Restaurants in a region tend to serve food of the region, and thus one finds that menus are often similar from restaurant to restaurant. (But if you are happy to eat in fast food restaurants, one would think that this detail shouldn't bother you so much.) Actually it does. If I'm only paying 6 Euro for a take away, I'll have the same each day. If I sitting down for a "proper" meal I expect to get something different each day You can call that strange if you like, but that's how I am I'm the opposite. I tire of fast food very quickly, but something presented well with good ingredients I can eat several times in a short period, enjoying the small difference from place to place.. |
#5
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
"Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: "Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: 18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! Yikes. I have to say my experience of the same region is completely different. But maybe I'm looking for something different than you. It has been easy for me to find small pleasant restaurants with decent prix fixe dinner menus at a sensible price. Available in the evening? Yes. Or were they in the middle of nowhere? Small pleasant restaurants with decent prixe fixe dinner menus are not rare. One finds them in virtually any reasonably sized town, and often in very small places too in tourist areas. It seem unaccountable to me that you couldn't find such places. I think you mentioned Blois. I type a search into tripadvisor and I get 100 restaurants. I clicked on the third one as I have a vague memory of eating there (but it may have been another restaurant in another city with the same name) many years ago. They have a website, which shows a prixe fixe menu at 16 Euros. Open for dinner 7-11. http://aucoindtable.com/crbst_1.html. There seems to be a large selecction of restaurants on the north bank of the river near Pont Jacques Gabriel. You could really never find such places? Not by wandering the streets, no As I have said (twice) all of those I saw offering fixed priced menus had a lunchtime only rule, no doubt that if I had tried harder I might have found one that didn't, but after the first 20 you kind of get the idea that it is a lost cause. tim |
#6
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
On Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:05:46 +0100, tim..... wrote:
"Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: "Doug Anderson" wrote in message ... "tim....." writes: 18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! Yikes. I have to say my experience of the same region is completely different. But maybe I'm looking for something different than you. It has been easy for me to find small pleasant restaurants with decent prix fixe dinner menus at a sensible price. Available in the evening? Yes. Or were they in the middle of nowhere? Small pleasant restaurants with decent prixe fixe dinner menus are not rare. One finds them in virtually any reasonably sized town, and often in very small places too in tourist areas. It seem unaccountable to me that you couldn't find such places. I think you mentioned Blois. I type a search into tripadvisor and I get 100 restaurants. I clicked on the third one as I have a vague memory of eating there (but it may have been another restaurant in another city with the same name) many years ago. They have a website, which shows a prixe fixe menu at 16 Euros. Open for dinner 7-11. http://aucoindtable.com/crbst_1.html. There seems to be a large selecction of restaurants on the north bank of the river near Pont Jacques Gabriel. You could really never find such places? Not by wandering the streets, no As I have said (twice) all of those I saw offering fixed priced menus had a lunchtime only rule, no doubt that if I had tried harder I might have found one that didn't, but after the first 20 you kind of get the idea that it is a lost cause Many restaurants offer the cheaper price menus only at lunch time. For dinner only the more expensive menus are available, when menus are available at all. I agree that good value restaurants are not so easy to find when you walk randomly in the streets. tim |
#7
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:52:27 +0100, tim..... wrote:
But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! I have not been in Blois recently, cooks change and the quality of restaurants with them. I am told that there are still some restaurants where you can eat a decent meal for 20EUR in Blois, for example: La banquette rouge La boucherie Le bistrot du cuisinier Le bistrot de LĂ©onard Le Maldras La palmeraie Le lapin gourmand Les planches I happened to be in Deauville saturday where I though that any restaurant would cost an arm. But actually we had a very decent 3 courses meal for 23EUR at night, and the bottle of wine was very reasonable. |
#8
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:01:15 +0000, Paul Aubrin wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:52:27 +0100, tim..... wrote: But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! I have not been in Blois recently, cooks change and the quality of restaurants with them. I am told that there are still some restaurants where you can eat a decent meal for 20EUR in Blois, for example: La banquette rouge La boucherie Le bistrot du cuisinier Le bistrot de LĂ©onard Le Maldras La palmeraie Le lapin gourmand Les planches I happened to be in Deauville saturday where I though that any restaurant would cost an arm. But actually we had a very decent 3 courses meal for 23EUR at night, and the bottle of wine was very reasonable. 18 EUR http://www.castelet.fr/ |
#9
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
"Paul Aubrin" wrote in message ... On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:01:15 +0000, Paul Aubrin wrote: On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:52:27 +0100, tim..... wrote: But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! I have not been in Blois recently, cooks change and the quality of restaurants with them. I am told that there are still some restaurants where you can eat a decent meal for 20EUR in Blois, for example: La banquette rouge La boucherie Le bistrot du cuisinier Le bistrot de LĂ©onard Le Maldras La palmeraie Le lapin gourmand Les planches I happened to be in Deauville saturday where I though that any restaurant would cost an arm. But actually we had a very decent 3 courses meal for 23EUR at night, and the bottle of wine was very reasonable. 18 EUR http://www.castelet.fr/ perhaps I should have asked for recommendations before I went :-( |
#10
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Loire Chateaux - follow up
On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:52:27 +0100, tim..... wrote:
18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la Loire. and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit. I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-( As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them all. But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/ and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at least another 10 not subscribing to that site. So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least another week to finish them all :-). Thanks for all you help guys. I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can go that way. But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive (basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So much for the home of Haute Cuisine! tim PS Le Tour is going past some the Chateau next week - if anybody wants to watch RESTAURANT LES DEUX PIERROTS 9, Route Nationale - 41320 Saint-julien-sur-cher TĂ©l: 02 54 96 40 07 FeuilletĂ© d'escargots Ă* la crème d'ail, terrine de foies de volaille, rognons de veau Ă* la moutarde... 30-40EUR. |
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