LeeRitchie

I am trying to decide between Beaune or a village near it to best tour the Cote d'Or. I generally do not prefer cities (too big and busy) but I'm looking for a charming "village like" location but with several good restaurants to walk to and avoid drinking & driving after dinner. I'd like to stay under 100E per night and gardens and/or yummy breakfast would be a big plus

StuDudley

We stayed in a Gite just outside of Beaune for 2 weeks in '06. Although we loved the immediate area and Beaune itself, we felt that we spent too much time on the freeway to get to the places we wanted to visit in Northern Burgundy - Auxerre, Vezelay, Tanley, Ancy le Franc, Fontenay, Semur en Auxois, Noyers, and others.

Stu Dudley

iris1745

www.chateauderibourdin.com This would meet your requirements for lodging and food if you considered Stu's suggestion. We stayed two nights and had more than enough to do. Great restaurant within walking distance. Richard

Eurocentric

We cannot recommend more highly Domaine des Anges in Puligny-Montrachet. It meets all your requirements and we had an absolutely wonderful experience there in October. Beautiful village in the heart of white Burgundy country but only 10 km to Beaune. Fabulous hosts and food (breakfast included, dinner 25 euros and worth more), tea and cocktails in the afternoon. If you are wine lovers, you can do the 40 or 50 euro dinner at Olivier Laflaive (poor food, great wine - 15 of them!) and walk home.
Please tell them Ron and Charlotte sent you.
E-mail:
[email protected]

LeeRitchie

Thank you Eurocentric,

Domaine des Anges certainly gets glowing reviews from Trip advisor. I searched the we and couldn't find a web site...but I have e-mailed them.

Other than Olivier LaFlaive...are there other restaurants close by with reasonably priced food? Did you have dinner at Domaine des Anges?

Any other tips you have to share about Burgundy would be welcome.

Thanks again!

StuDudley

We found that the restaurants in Burgundy were more expensive than in neighboring regions - Beaujolais, Franche Comte, etc.

Top 3 restaurants

Stephane Derbord in Dijon – one of the top 5 meals of all time in France (we dine out about 40 times per year in France)
Michelin 1 star

First round of Amuse Bouches
Bite sized squares of Croque Monsieurs
Carp mousse with black & white sesame seeds
Parmesan chip and a bite sized tomato “truffle” with a semi-liquid center
Second round of Amuse Bouches
Sushi (California roll) with cockle, with Asian spices & bean sprouts
Potato puree
Leek Mousse with green beans
55E menu
-Smoked sander – thin rolls stuffed with finely julienned vegetables served with tart greens (incl dandelion greens) topped with paper thin lengthwise sliced carrots. The plate was edged with a piping of honey mustard and crumbled hazelnuts
-Perch with a wild mushrooms and green beans served in a deep plate with a “soup de poisons” reduction sauce
-cheese chariot
-Poached , pealed pear with a red wine sauce in pain epice with sage ice cream – all very refreshing

65E menu
-Sauteed scallops, each served on a cucumber “coin” with a topping of lemon cream & caviar, with julienned apples & dandelion greens
-Sandre on a bed of spinach with a butter sauce accompanied by a small tomato stuffed with diced cepes on a squash “coin”
-Filet of Cerf, served with berries & a dark berry reduced sauce with green beans & wild mushrooms with a ‘grain” of some sort
-Cheese chariot
-pre-dessert refresher
-Chocolate fondant – top & bottom layers of dark chocolate “sandwiching” lighter chocolate mousse with dark chocolate wafers & vanilla ice cream
-Post-dessert refresher


Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin in Bouilland, just north of Beaune
Also a hotel
www.le-moulin-de-bouilland.com
Michelin 1 star

Amuse Bouches
Skewered rolled duck breast slice, with mustard dollop
Homard tartare “confit”
Arugula sorbet with whipped cream top layer & balsamic drizzle (in a glass cylinder)
39E menu
-Seared tuna with fennel sorbet and a side of pickeled vegetables
-Supreme de Pintade thinly sliced in a “spiral” presentation on a bed of herbed crushed potatoes, with vegetables in a side casserole
-Excellent cheese chariot
-Seasonal fresh fruit with pepper-flecked yoghurt ice cream

65E menu
-Daurade with vegetables a la Pistou
-Rougets with a confit of fennel and a bouillabaisse reduction with macadamia nuts
-Pigeon with polenta and zucchini “packet” stuffed with caviar d’aubergine and a rich reduction sauce
-Cheese chariot
-Poached plum with amaretto cream and puff pastry triangles

-Post dessert if Marc de Bourgogne ice and assorted sweets


Charlemagne in Pernand-Vergelesses just north of Beaune
Slight Asian twist
Michelin 1 star

37E menu
Six amuse bouches which arrived on a Plexiglas “cube” with holes & shelves to present the various items
California rolls with a “crisp”, held in place by a teeny wooden clothes pin
Fish mousse on a cracker
Parmesan pastry palmier
Pickled fish filling wrapped in a won ton wrapper on a skewer
Marble sized savory (no idea what it was)
Small piece of spiced pork on a bone
Second Amuse Bouche course
Glass of creamy smoked fish puree (to drink)
A herb-crusted langoustine
-Bread presentation – 3 different breads stacked on a skewer, with a wooden base into which a recess had been routed to hold a corked vial with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, which were to be shaken before pouring onto your bread plate as a dipping sauce
-Tuna ceveche served at the bottom of a glass with a smoked tomato cream, slivered green onions, and a dot of washabi cream
-Cabillaud a la vapeur with a vanilla/olive oil drizzle, layered with wild mushrooms, served with a pork bun with a crustacean filling, on a bed of cucumber-wrapped ratatouille. This was not your grandmother’s cabillaud recipe
-Strawberry/red berry gazpacho – heavenly creamy/frothy served in a slanted glass with a brochette of halved strawberries and strawberry marshmallow cubes

45E menu
Same Amuse Bouche courses
-California rolls with snails and langoustines speckled with black and white sesame seeds
-Lisettes (small mackerel) served atop a bone marrow tube filled with spinach & julienned carrots tossed in Asian spices
-Porc cotolet (cutlet/loin) served with artichoke mousse, drizzled with peanut butter with a cluster of small wild mushrooms in tempura
-Pyramid of chocolate with other sweets

Other restaurants – all were excellent
Le Jardin des Remparts in Beaune. We dined here several years ago, and it was one of our top 5 of all time then. It didn’t “wow” us as much this visit. Michelin 1 star.

La Rotisserie du Chambertin in Gevrey Chambertin. It has an upstairs Bistro, and a downstairs restaurant in a wine cave, with animated winemaking scenes as you descend into the cave. We dined downstairs.

Le Montrachet on Puilly Montrachet. It was “complet” the first few times we tried to reserve. Obviously very popular. My St Pierre was overcooked. Lovely setting.

Relais de la Diligence in Meursault. Excellent value. It was the “sleeper” of the group

Les Gourmets in Marsannay la Cote. Michelin 1 star. Very nice

One day we took an overnight trip to Troyes, and dined there. On another occasion, we met some friends at a Michelin 1 star restaurant in Macon – which is not in Burgundy. We also spent 2 weeks in Beaujolais

We “checked out’ about 10 other restaurants in Burgundy (including 1 stars) and the menus did not seem interesting enough to make us choose them over the ones we selected. There’s a lot of Charollais beef on menus in this region. I have not experienced any beef in France that’s as good as the beef we have in the US, or beef I’ve tasted in Italy (one exception may be Aubrec beef). Bresse chicken is also a very popular item on menus. I’ve tried this several times in other areas of France & thought it wasn’t really that much better than a good farm-raised chicken.

Stu Dudley

LeeRitchie

Iris1745,

Your recommendation also looks wonderful!! We are looking for a place to stay on the way to the CDG airport and this might be the one! Any idea how long it would take to drive to the airport from the Chateau? Which restaurant closeby are your referring to? Did you find this location a good base to explore Semur en-Auxios, Fontenay, Vezeley and Noyers?

Fodors posters: If you were short on time...what would you be sure not to miss in this part of Burgundy?

Thanks everyone!

LeeRitchie

StuDudley,

You are a wealth of information. Thank you for graciously sharing it with all of us

StuDudley

>>Did you find this location a good base to explore Semur en-Auxios, Fontenay, Vezeley and Noyers?<<

Seems like a good location to me. IMO, Semur en Auxois is better from the outside than on the inside.

My favorites in Burgundy:
Dijon
Beaune - but might be too far away from Iris's place.
Auxerre
Ch Tanlay

Others
Vezelay if you are big on religious pilgrimage places
Fontenay of you are big on Monistaries
Noyers
Ancey le Franc if you like chateaux (we do)
Bazoches if you are a Vauban fan & chateau fan (we are)

Stu Dudley

iris1745

Hi; It took a bit over two hours from CDG the get to the chateau. It wasn't central to all the places you mention. But very close to Auxerre [10 minutes]and Vezeley. [30 minutes] To prime places to visit. Name of the restaurant is LaChamaille. www.lachamaille.fr/

Eurocentric

We had the table d'hote (25 euros) and it was worth way more. There's also a restaurant at the Hotel Montrachet, but it's not any bargain. There's a small cafe directly across the square from Domaine des Anges. For a pre-dinner tipple, the Caveau has flights of local wines. Not inexpensive but memorable since winemakers and workers also stop in. Sort of a busman's holiday, I guess.

I'm sure if you ask John and Celine they will have other dining recommendations. The village of Meursault is just a few kilometers north and has options.

As far as I know they don't yet have a Web site, but we had good communications by e-mail. I can tell you our room and furnishings were absolutely top notch, as is breakfast and the hospitality. Ask John to walk you around the village (he'll probably offer) and point out local sights.

LeeRitchie

Eurocentric,

I have been in touch with John & Celine and thought you and other members of the forum would like to have a link to a french tv program that recently featured their B&B and the town:
http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-13h/puligny-...r-4827756.html

We're going to stay with them as our home base near Beaune before moving up to northern burgundy (last leg of our journey).

Thank you Eurocentric....without you and this forum I never would have found this delightful place.

iris1745

This might give you a bit of information. www.burgundyeye.com/ www.le-montrachet.com/ Great choice for a hotel.

Eurocentric

LeeRitchie,

You are more than welcome and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. BTW, there's a big market in Beaune on Saturdays.