My wife and and I will be in France for 3 weeks starting 5/11/09. Our itinerary is Rouen, St. Malo, L'Orient, Saumur, Amboise, Sarlat, Vichy, Lyon, Nuit-St-Georges, Dijon and Reims. We would like to spend around 25-35 Euros ($32-$45) each on dinner. We are are looking for dining recommendations, including fermes auberges and table d'hotes. We will have a car, so driving is not a problem, We already have our reservations for accommodations, but comments on the itinerary would also be welcome

I have dozens of write-ups on restaurants in the Burgundy & Sarlat regions, but most of the are a little beyond your price target.

Here are a couple of exceptions in the Sarlat area:

Le Relais des Cinque Chateau, in Vezac 05 53 30 30 72
You really can see 5 castles from the restaurant. There was a wedding party in progress, but we sat in an enclosed garden area which, while simple, was quite lovely. Stu examined the “menu de degustation” & pronounced it even “too much” for him !!, so he settled on “Le menu Beynac” (198FF). I had “Le Menu Terroir” (155FF). Though I had a 3 course meal, my actual first course was a small cup of thick tomato puree cold “soup” which was served as an additional amuse bouche (we had already had one) to equalize the number of courses, since Stu had five. I started officially then with a slice of cold foie gras with toasts (the prescribed method) followed by magret de canard with a rich reduced sauce accompanied by cepes, thin green beans, roasted potatoes, and ratatouille !! The dessert was a walnut soufflé (we are in walnut country here) served cold almost like ice cream, with a sort of walnut liqueur drizzled over all. I almost forgot to mention that my foie gras course included a glass of sweet local wine called Monbazillac. Stu started with foie gras cooked in phyllo pastry with a reduced late harvest wine sauce. This was followed by sandre (white fish) rolled & stuffed & served with a chive cream sauce with mushroom duxelles. Then he had a veal loin with morel & chanterelle mushrooms in a reduced sauce with accompaniments like mine. He then had a cheese course (3 selections from a quite varied tray) and the duo of chocolate for dessert – white & dark chocolate layered mousse with a pistachio cream sauce. A very relaxing & excellent 3 hour French meal.

Sept ’03
Stu had wanted the “Grand Menu” at 49E, but it was required for the entire table & I simply couldn’t sign up for a 7 (!!) course meal. So Stu consoled himself with the menu a 35E. He started with grilled daurade served on a bed of salicorns. Following this was magret de canard with a red wine reduction, served with a wedge of potatoes dauphinois wrapped with a bacon slice, accompanied by sliced peaches and a green bean & julienned carrot melange topped with a herbed grilled tomato. The cheese chariot was his next course. All this was concluded with a “chocolate caramel temptation” layered chocolate & pastry, topped with a caramel layer. I choose the menu a 21.50E, starting with a crustacean terrine (mousse texture) which was wrapped in a rouget fillet (cold) accompanied by 3 dollops of flavored “mayonaise” sauces. Then I had the rascasse (fish) served with a lobster chive cream sauce. My cheese course was a small young cabecou (goat) cheese with a green salad. The cheese was very flavorful & the lemony dressing on the greens was a good accompaniment. My dessert was a walnut parfait (ice cream) drizzled with a walnut liqueur (a real winner).

Sept 05
It had been a beautiful & very warm day, do dinner was served outside (a very plesent ambience with the notable nearby chateaux providing the views).
The amuse bouche included olives, pickled vegetables, small pastry savories, & halved tomatoes with mozzarella cheese.
Stu had le menu a 36.50E Gourmande
-Assiette Perigordine with smoked magret, mach with walnut dressing topped with slices of summer truffles, foie gras 2 ways – mi-cuit with ground walnuts & sauteed with fleur du sel., accompanied by cherry compote, diced tomatoes, pink & white segments, a smoked maget & foie gras terrine, asparagus spear, & sprouts. Stu proclaimed this to be “the best yet”.
-Saint Jacques (scallops) & pineapple en brochette with a curry sauce served over salicorns, fava beans, root vegetables, & ratatouille.
-Surpreme de pintade with risotto & mushrooms with fried parsley/tomatoes.
-cheese course
-strawberries layered with croustillant and cream anglaise with strawberry coulis
I had the menu a 21.90E – it’s amazing that you can get an excellent dinner for this price.
-Gazpacho soup
-Rougets and leeks in a phyllo packet with a crustacean sauce served with salicorns, roasted tomatoes & rice
-to even things up with Stu’s additional course, I had another amuse bouche: a warm foie gras emulsion topped with a tomato puree, served in a tall glass.
-cheese course
-souflee glace with walnut dice & walnut liqueur – awesome!

This was truly an exceptional meal. The presentations were marvelous and the choices of menus and courses were fantastic. In fact, I made a last-minute change in menus – it was difficult to pick! Amazing value too: we both had kirs, 2 half-bottles of wine, Badoit, - 99E total.

We dined here a second time with friends who were visiting.

Belle Etoile, in Roque Gageac 05 53 29 51 44

We ate in their upstairs dining room looking out over the Dordogne. We had an amuse bouche of melon sorbet with Monbazillac (sweet) wine. Daddy & I each had the menu a 150FF. I had (my favorite) Rougets followed by a salad with goat cheese (cabecou) and, for dessert, a pastry “packet” with apples & walnuts with caramel sauce. Daddy had a fillet of beef, also with salad/chevre and a “chaud/froid” strawberry dessert with vanilla ice cream and Monbazillac sabayone. Stu had the menu a 195FF. He started with scallops sautéed on a bed of celery root puree with a “band” of carrots surrounding the scallops. He then had riz de veau (sweetbreads) & chevre salad.

Sept ’05
We dined in a different dining room on this visit. This one was east of the entrance, and a little more elegant than the other room.
Toasts with spiced avacado puree were on the table, and our Amuse Bouche was a pumpkin/chestnut veloute with whipped cream froth served in a tiny white soup tureen.
Stu had the menu a 37E:
-Fillet de Rouget in a bread crumb crust with a shellfish vinaigrette and tiny shellfish.
-Fillet of Boeuf with a Pecharmant (local red wine) sauce, a tart de pommes de terre and onion confit
-Warm cabecous salad
-Tart Tatin (like a miniature pie with a crinkled crust) with grand Marnier/Vanilla ice cream with a pool of crème anglaise on the side, drizzled with chocolate.
I had the menu a 23E
-Saumon marine – interesting presentation with the stripes of salmon wrapped around a bread stick (looking line a wand) accompanied by a herbed fromage blanc.
-Surpreme de Cannette with a green cabbage compote and potato gallette
Glazed strawberries with rosemary ice cream

Stu’s note – I almost never order beef in Europe because when I have, I’ve always been disappointed. The beef I ordered here was cooked perfectly, but the taste was not there. Prime beef in the US is much tastier. I have a very old video about “Dining in France” at the 3 star restaurants. On one of the tapes, Paul Bocuse said the same thing – the beef in the US is better than the beef in France.


La Metarie east of les Eyzies de Tayac, just below Beyssac Chateau on the D47 05 53 29 65 32
Sept ’05
It had an attractive, very welcoming, very French décor (stone walls, pastel tablecloths, wood rush-seat chairs, several large wooden antique-style cupboards & buffets).
We both had the 24.50E menu (Choices of 1 entrée/appetizer, 1 plat/main course, & 1 dessert from among many appealing choices)
We started with a little plate of savory pastries and then an Amuse Bouche of the traditional garlic soup (appeared to be streaked with egg white);
Stu’s Menu:
-Riz d’Agneau, braised, with a reduction-type creamy sauce, accompanied by a mounded green salad and asparagus tips, served on a rectangular plate.
-Quail breast in a pastry crust, with mushrooms, vegetables inside. The quail legs were sauteed & served outside the pastry. This was accompanied by a long, crisp, dressed lettuce leaves and a tall glass of light vegetable emulsion
-Delice aus Chocolate (excellent, Stu says)
My Menu
-Salmon marine with 7-grain toast. Here, I must elaborate! I really like salmon marine, so I order it frequently, so I can claim to be a bit of a “subject matter expert”. This presentation (in spite of its modest description on the menu) was amazing. The salmon marine was thinly layered on a fairly thin bread, with a thin layer of “something herbed” between them. Interestingly, a circle had been cut from the middle of the bread/salmon square and, in that opening was a tall cylindrical (small) glass with a green/vegetable froth – almost like a vegetable or herbed whipped cream. Coarsely ground walnuts & snipped chives were sprinkled around the plate along with a dollop of caviar on the side. A bread stick was in the cylindrical glass.
-Fillet du Cabillaud on a bed of cepes & pastry with cepe cream sauce, served with a fricassee of girroles, asparagus tips, and a “cylinder” or ratatouille.
-A “verre au chocolate” dessert. A glass tumbler, layered with coffee mousse, chocolate, topped with coffee whipped cream.

We were both dazzled by this restaurant, not only for the wonderful food, and value (2 menus, 2 kirs, 2 half-bottles of wine, ½ badoit, for 82E), but also by the presentations and the ambience.

Stu Dudley

We'll I'm hungry now.

<B>netstar</B> - I recommend you do what the French do - purchase a copy of the Michelin Red Guide. It's available a good book stores everywhere, on the internet, or in France.

This guide has excellent recommendations for restaurants and hotels all throughout France and at all price levels.

It is my bible when I travel by car.

I agree with Sarastro. I always keep my trusty Michelin Red Guide with me whenever we travel by car. And regardless of where you stop, you can almost always find a recommendation in your price range. It's definitely worth the 25 dollars or so that it costs.

Yup, Michelin Red Guide rarely fails.

In the meantime, you might want to try L'Epicerie in Amboise and Chez Les Gaulois in Sarlat.

How many days in the Sarlat area? Do you want lunch places also?

The reason I asked is that I did my best to reach this place for lunch a year or so ago. But we arrived too late for service and having made the mistake of not reserving in advance. So although I did not eat here, I have heard excellent reports which are echoed by the two reviews here. It looked like a place for people who love food and care little for decor and I have it on my list for the day I return to the area:

http://www.linternaute.com/restauran...le-bareil.html


I had a good lunch at le Table du Terroir nearby on the day I was turned away at Le Bareil; that was a tip from St. Cirq.

I also loved my lunches at a ferme auberge in the Martel area; if you will be in that area I will post the details. I have another ferme auberge that I can mention, near Sarlat. I have to look up the details in a trip report, so let me know if you are interested. Or you can look them up yourself!

..not used to the lack of edit!! Here is the site of a restaurant I mentioned in the above post:


http://www.tableduterroir.com/restaurant.htm

I do not know if the prices and menu are the same for dinner, but the Auberge de Mirandol in Sarlat offers a non fancy 5 course menu of regional for 18€. We ate there last summer, and their cassoulet was excellent. Over the years their portion of fresh duck liver has been shrinking. But the women in the group felt that the 13€ was more than enough food.

We will be in Sarlat for 3 days. Also, lunch recommendations would be quite welcome. Thank you all for posts.

An easy 30 min. drive from Amboise is Chenoneaux with its glorious castle and small town restaurant/hotel La Roseraie. I have recommended it often because it is so good. In your price range for lunch; not sure about dinner. You will love it. Rich sauces, delightful starters, great potatoes,veg. and bread, and lovely dessert, plus a grand finale surprise. Very cozy and very French.

Hi ekscrunchy, I would really like info you have on the ferme auberges...we went to the Ferme de Faget that you recommended and really enjoyed it. How did you find the fermes?

ekkscrunchy: Yes we would be interested in your fermes auberges recommendations. We have a car and are used to traveling the countryside.

MAP; thanks for your tip. We plan on visiting Chenonceaux. And on prior trips we have gone to lunch at the better restaurants because there is an attractive price differential. Also nothing is better on vacation than a relaxing lunch when your not looking at your watch to get back to the office.

Hi netstar; You can get a Michelin Red Guide on www.Amazon.com for $16.30 plus $3.99 shipping. If you buy another item, you would get free shipping. Iris1745/dick

The Ferme Faget was the other one I was thinking about near Sarlat. I like to ask local people with a food connection. I learned about Faget when I asked the the proprietor of the bakery in Domme where she would take her family for a good Sunday lunch. There is (or was, when I was last in the area two years ago) a print booklet available at local tourist offices that contains a listing of all of the ferme auberges in the area. Unfortunately, I neglected to take home my copy.

Outside Martel, I had two excellent and moderately priced set lunches at a walnut farm; you can read the details about one of the lunches here; scroll down to my post of November 20:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...paris-1006.cfm


I think that the ferme auberges are the way to go in that area..

Also, netstar,La Roseraie has a website. We sat in the more casual of the two rooms and liked it. Might consider a reservation just to be sure.

Stu---you're making me hungry! Guess I'll go eat my granola bar lunch and dream of France.

Thank you all for posts. Very helpful.

I can still use help now in Lyon, Dijon and Reims

We spent 2 weeks in the Burgundy region of France in September '06. Here are some restaurant comments

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 poissons” 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

Stu Dudley

Hi Net,

I second Stu on Le Relais des Cinque Chateau, Belle Etoile and La Metarie (the latter 2 might be above your budget)

We very much liked “Le Verger” in Beaune - menus at about 35E.
http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamich...d=41102&id=896

La Concorde (in Beaune) This is a Belle Epoque restaurant, LW had the escargot, Sandre in lobster sauce, tarte aux Pommes. I had the roast chicken in tarragon. Half-pichet of rouge and 1/2 pichet of rosé, 2 large café crème. Reasonably good food, not unreasonable price – 50E.

Enjoy your visit.