A BIRTHDAY AND A NICE LUNCH

It was Hugo's birthday last week.

He is nine years old and still such a handsome boy.

This time last year there were four places to eat in the village.  

Chez Grandma closed at the end of last year.  The owners are hoping to sell it.

La Cabane was a short lived venture.

It was a bar come tapas style restaurant.  They held music evenings and served good food.

They closed last autumn when the owners moved on to other things.

Rumour has it that it has been sold to someone opening some kind of tearoom but there is no sign of any activity yet.

Brody's was immensely successful restaurant.

It closed in mid June and the new owners plan to re-open in September, I believe.

And so now we have just one place to eat in the village.  When we first came here it was called the Hotel Savoie-Villars.  We stayed there for a few nights when we very first moved here and have eaten there frequently over the years.  It has been through several owners with different styles and now it is called L'Auberge.

The owners post a lunchtime menu which changes every day and I check their Facebook page every so often to see if it's something we could fancy.  The evening menu is a-la-carte and sometimes a little too out of the ordinary for our taste but their lunchtime menus are excellent.  Hence we found ourselves eating there one day last week. 

Because they are now the only act in town, the tourist season in full swing and the weather good, they were very busy.  We made a last minute decision to go for lunch and arrived to find it already buzzing.  The waiter/co owner asked if we had reserved and when we said no he sucked in his cheeks, ummed and ahhed and found us a table in the courtyard.  He said we would have a bit of a wait.

He was true to his word and we waited twenty minutes to have our order taken but we were in no rush.  He offered us extra alternatives to the set menu du jour for starter and dessert.

My starter was a delicious gazpacho chilled soup served with anchovies.

Nick had tarama on toasts with a cabbage slaw.

We both had the main course of poached chicken in a curry sauce.

For dessert Nick had apricots roasted with honey and a boule of pistachio ice cream.

My dessert was a pear and apricot clafoutis with ice cream.

 All followed by a delicious espresso coffee.

Total bill for lunch including aperitifs and wine, 65€.