Today is the day of the French presidential election. The future of Europe depends much on this result. Apt that we blog about France here aujourd’hui.
We spent a week on the west coast of France over Easter. On our drive towards the Atlantic from the Alps, Clermont Ferrand is roughly the midpoint after Lyon. Our friends, Fa and An were heading in the same direction for their vacation. So we decided to drive together, two cars in tandem. Our first night was at Saint-Émilion.
Fa volunteered to find a good restaurant around Clermont Ferrand to make the boring drive more enjoyable (Google estimated that it would take about 7 hours). As he rightly said, it is not often that he or any one of us will likely pass through this part of France (Auvergne) in the near future.
He made a reservation at Le Pré in Durtol near Clermont Ferrand. The restaurant stops receiving diners for lunch at 1:15pm. To make it there on time, we had an excuse to drive rather fast (… I got a speeding ticket through the mail after returning to Switzerland).
The restaurant is in a modern building and the dining room and bar are located in the mid-section. We had a hard time finding the entrance in the beginning. As we arrived a little bit after our reservation time slot, the maître’d gave us the most frosty welcome. (This is not Switzerland, come on).
The main dining room was almost full so we had our private room. Hehe.
The chef of this Michelin 2-star restaurant is Xavier Beaudiment.
There are 86 two-star restaurants and 12 new ones in 2017.
He won his second star this year – that is probably why it was so full for lunch on a weekday.
There is a poached egg down there. Went very well with the white asparagus.
” … a unique menu elaborated according to the inspiration of the moment, with the complicity of a whole network of small producers and wild herbs in the region. A “kitchen of instinct”, allied to a true sense of flavors, …” – The Inspector’s words (translated, courtesy Google)
We did notice unique flavors – clearly distinguishable and not muddled – which were much appreciated.
A detour to this restaurant took us off the monotonous motorway and we drove through the Auvergne regional park built around a long-dead volcano range – Chaîne des Puys.
The source of the international brand of mineral water – Volvic – is not far from the restaurant. And we were drinking the local water with our meal.
One of the dessert is all about chocolate – five or six ways of preparing it – I (Chris) am not a die-hard chocolate fan but really enjoyed it.
The bar/lounge area is nicely decorated. While the nice large windows give the space lots of light but there is not much to see outside. Suburban homes and the parking lot.
Quite a collection of cognac and armagnac.
Recommended.