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'SECOND HELPING
La Promenade and Le Manoir d'Hastings
LI
EVEN WITH a wretched seven and a half francs to the pound, meals in French restaurants can still be remarkably good value. By this I do not mean that grand Parisian establishments are giving it away, though I know decent places in both the 6th and 8th arrondissements where a meal of sound bourgeois cooking, with wine, costs under 200 francs (£26.66). In the provinces it is quite another story — the price contrast between capital and country being far more marked than here. In the village in southern Touraine where I have a house, there are two pubs offering lunch at 50 francs, including wine and service, and their cooking is irreproachable. No, I am not going to name them — they do nicely as it is.
The two restaurants I deal with here are both elegant. The one in Touraine has a cooking star in Michelin, the other, in sup- posedly expensive Normandy, lost its star with a change of ownership and the new team are striving to regain it. In neither restaurant did a lavish meal with good wine exceed just over £40 per head. The 'franc fort' is clearly a nuisance, but we can still get great value for our pounds in France.
Le Petit-Pressigny is a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, some 40 km from Chatellerault and closer to the spa of La Roche-Posay. At the crossroads stands Restaurant La Promenade, belonging to Jacky Dallais, whose grandfather started it many years ago. Dallais grandpere and pare ran it as a simple village bistro with no culi- nary aspirations. But young Jacky went to catering college, trained with chefs in Paris and elsewhere, and, having inherited La Promenade, reopened it in 1984 as an alto- gether more ambitious establishment. His first entry in Michelin gained a star, and it has been there ever since. Jacky directs a substantial brigade in the kitchen; his chic and charming wife controls the two dining- rooms — the second is a conservatory-like extension — and the sommelier Xavier, who has commendable English if required, is a mine of information on the splendid wines of the region.
On weekdays chez Dallais, there is a three-course 120 franc menu (£16), but we went for the 'Menu Tradition' at 175 francs for four courses or 195 francs for five (£26), which we took. After an amuse-gueule of hazelnuts and pumpkin cream with toasted breadcrumbs — delicate and delicious came a choice between home-made foie gras of duck, served with endive in a chive- and-cream sauce on top of a slice of seared duck breast, the whole assembly a delight to the 'eye and taste-buds, or half a dozen fine, large oysters in their shells, with an exquisite dressing of many spices and herbs, served with rich duck rillettes on toast alongside, an unusual but totally enjoyable combination.
Next came local carp from La Brenne, splendidly fresh and caramelised in its gravy, with a wonderfully subtle, pale green watercress sauce. The meat was a choice between young goat, the fillet roasted, the leg marinated and then sautéed, with finely chopped cabbage studded with chant- erelles, or perfect fillet of beef, cooked in a red-wine sauce with bone marrow and herbs. After a laudably comprehensive cheese trolley, strong on goat, came a mouth-watering selection of desserts, to be ordered at the start of the meal. My bril- liantly intense chocolate sorbet came with a caramel sauce made with sweet Banyuls wine, and was covered in feather-light shards of chocolate choux pastry — unfor- gettable.
With half a bottle of white chenin from Azay le Rideau, and a bottle of magnificent 1988 single-vineyard Chinon, and coffee with delicious petits fours and chocolate truffles, the bill for two came to an amazing 627 francs, service compris. Just £83.60 for consummate cooking, excellent wine, impeccable service and elegant surround- ings. How do the French do it?
In Normandy, in the village of Benou- ville, a handy five minutes' drive from the ferry port of Caen-Ouistreham, stands the well-groomed Manoir d'Hastings restau- rant, in its own grounds beside the luxuri- ous Hotel La Pommeraie. Both belonged until 1991 to the Scaviner family, who then bowed out, passing on ownership to a young couple, Claude and Jose Aparicio, who had previously worked there as wait- ress and chef. They are trying hard to regain the stars bestowed on their prede- cessors, and are doing well. They are also offering excellent value. Their menu at 170 francs once again leaves one wondering how it can be done.
We kicked off with a whole grilled lan- goustine served in a gloriously intense saf- fron sauce containing wild mushrooms, and a splendid dish of veal sweetbreads, served with artichoke hearts and mushroom dux- elles in a sound fond de veau sauce. My companion then ate a beautifully plump pigeon, roasted a point, accompanied by girolle mushrooms, and I had an impecca- ble tournedos of prime beef, topped by a slice of fresh foie gras and served with girolles. A black mark was earned for the same selection of artfully cut petites legumes surrounding each dish: in my book dishes call for their own garniture, not a uniform one. But this was offset by the `trou normand' — apple sorbet doused in Calvados — that preceded the main course, and by the fine selection of Normandy cheeses that followed it. Dessert was the Manoir's legendary `tarte chaude Nor- mande': apple tart enveloped in a crêpe, flambe in Calvados, the flames doused in crème fraiche. With a bottle of Château Lanessan 1986, aperitifs and coffee, the bill came to 571 francs (£76), service compris. A perfect lunch en route for expensive Angleterre.
Restaurant La Promenade, 37350 Le Petit- Pressigny, France; tel: 00 33 47 94 93 52. Restaurant Le Manoir d'Hastings, 14970 Benouville, France; tel: 00 33 31 44 62 43.
David Fingleton
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