Tour de Champagne

It was in June 2012 when we undertook our french road trip through Champagne. It was during this time that I sampled many a great meal. We tend to head to France several times a year - it's just so easy with the Eurostar, ferry and cheap flights. This year we also escaped the Queen's jubilee celebrations. It was amazing how many of the french commented on this.

So, we arrived in Dover and headed straight down towards Champagne. We stayed in a wonderful B&B in the picturesque village of Ay. The breakfasts here are worth a mention. Served in the orangery, they included the best of the patisserie-boulangerie, with a wonderful selection of cheeses (and meats for Gipsy Spread), condiments and fruit. I would most definitely stay here again with the warm and welcoming hosts. You can walk in to Epernay from the village which is a necessity really to take advantage of all the opportunities for sampling the Champagne.

 

After our champange tour, we headed further south towards the town of Vendome where we stayed at Le Saint-Georges. We dined in the Hotel restaurant here. I had a delicately spiced lentil soup with naan bread strips. Gipsy Spread took the opportunity to eat steak. 'When in France...'.

 

From Vendome, we visited the mystical caves of Troo. We had hoped to stay in one of these, they do however get booked up very much in advance. We then headed to the old town of Blois in the Loire valley (yet more opportunity to sample the local wine). Whilst here, we dined at the bijous bistro Le Castelet which is set within a splendid 16th-century building. The great news about this locale is that it also has a whole seperate vegetarian menu. The starters were wonderfully eclectic, Gipsy Spread's goats cheese starter was light and nutty. It was here that I sampled their vegetarian steak. I could not for the life of me understand what it was made of, but it was delicious in a sweet madeira sauce, served with quinoa and mushrooms. As you can see, Gipsy Spread opted for the steak again!

 

 

We continued on our road trip to the town of Trouville. It was here that we unearthed a local favourite that not many tourists frequent. Les quatre chats had a changing seasonal menu written out on their chalk board. I, again was favourably surprised to find a great variety of vegetarian dishes on offer. So, it was the confits des legumes avec mozarella. The vegetables had been softened and layered perfected. The bufala was soft, delicate and moist. This relatively simple loooking dish was perfectly executed. We drank sancerre rose and enjoyed the relaxed surroundings.

 



 

 

 

So, it was a tres joyeux trip for us, particularly where the food was concerned. I had done some research ahead of time, but I was truly inspired by the french vegetarian dishes that I was presented with. France has been evolving for some time and changing it's attitude to vegetarians; which is good news as they bring their long culinary history and cooking techniques to the humble vegetable. Also, lets face it, they've always had cheese - my favourite meals then, cheese with vegetables.