Normandy Trip… French Cuisine

We decided to leave the kids at the chateau with some mac and cheese and head out for dinner with Chris’ parents.  Our landlords had suggested this restaurant in a nearby town, so we thought we’d check it out.  The area we stayed in wasn’t touristy so it was real French cuisine at it’s finest and definitely one of the best meals we’ve had in Europe.  

The problem with ‘not touristy’ is that the menus were only in French and the restaurant owners and employees only spoke French.  Hmmm…  I studied the menu hoping my middle school French might help me understand a few things but I’m afraid it didn’t help much.  (head hangs in shame)   We ordered our drinks and because they didn’t have my normal Orange Fanta I ordered ‘pamplemouse’ (grapefruit juice) just because I was excited that I knew what it was.  So funny.

The menu items were all specialty foods and so fancy that we could barely figure out anything.   We found the word potato… caramel… grilled… cheese sauce… but really we were at the point of just picking something and hoping for the best. 

Then our waitress came over with a phone.  She had called one of her friends who spoke English to translate for us.  She described some of the dishes and we were able to order still not entirely sure what we were getting ourselves into.  She was a life saver.  Thank you random French friend.

Del and Shelley order the Beef for 2 Dinner which was 4 courses each.  Chris and I shared one 3 course meal and it filled us up just fine—although it was so good we easily would have eaten more if it was there.

Here’s our appetizer (Del’s too)… round sausages, under a mound of heavenly potatoes covered in fabulous creamy cheese sauce with a tomato something on top.  Boy, oh boy.  Shelley had a baked avocado appetizer that was amazing too.

 

Trying to describe to the waitress how ‘medium rare’ Shelley wanted her beef was the funniest part of the whole night.  She actually ‘mooed’ at the waitress hoping that that would solve all communication barriers.    It was pretty funny.  The huge piece of meat was cooked in an open fireplace just feet from our table so that we could watch it the whole time.  The waitress checked on it and turned it frequently but Shelley was positive it was being overcooked – she almost got up herself to take it off.  When the waitress brought it over, it was cooked to medium rare perfection, and had all kinds of delicious toppings to eat with it.

Our meat was cooked in the kitchen and was just as fabulous, covered in the same cheese sauce as the potato appetizer.  So good.

Del and Shelley’s third course was a Normandy cheese plate which we all sampled and then we had dessert.  A chocolate mouse cake for Shelley and some kind of delicious spice caramel cake for us.  So fun to really experience a 3 hour, 4 course, fancy French meal.  I want to go back!