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Dining out in Talairan
Dec. 8th, 2007 03:47 pmIt's ten to four, and dusk is well advanced; outside it is either raining or snowing or sleeting, or a mixture of the three. Naturally, I want to write about our autumn holiday.
We found a bed and breakfast in Talairan, in the heart of Corbieres country. The other guests, two American wine enthusiasts, had been guided by the proprietor, and had booked into a very grand restaurant a half-hour's drive away. We had driven far enough for one day, and wanted to be able to relax with a bottle of the local wine, so we settled for dinner in the café.
It's a real village café; there's a group of men watching the sport on television (though the main event, the rugby, hadn't started yet), and a small child riding a bike with training wheels round and round the billiard table. Along one wall are strung the pages of an old calendar, on which vignerons pose naked with strategically placed bottles and barrels, WI style.
We chose a formica topped table as far from the television as we could, and the young proprietress came and told us what was on the menu; then sent a man to advise us about wine. With his help, we opted for a Domaine Serres-Mazard Cuvée Henri Mazard 2003 (which we later realised could not have been more local - the round wooden door of their chais was next door to our B & B.
More to the point, it was delicious, with all the up-front fruit of a New World cabernet, but rich and complex. It accompanied us happily through a salad, steak and chips for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler, rabbit and chips for me, and cheese. There was nothing grand about the meal, but everything was fresh and perfectly prepared. The rabbit was excellent, golden outside and taut, juicy white flesh within.
Next morning over breakfast, our fellow guests asked nervously about our dinner: "We saw there was rabbit on the menu... Was there anything else?"
We found a bed and breakfast in Talairan, in the heart of Corbieres country. The other guests, two American wine enthusiasts, had been guided by the proprietor, and had booked into a very grand restaurant a half-hour's drive away. We had driven far enough for one day, and wanted to be able to relax with a bottle of the local wine, so we settled for dinner in the café.
It's a real village café; there's a group of men watching the sport on television (though the main event, the rugby, hadn't started yet), and a small child riding a bike with training wheels round and round the billiard table. Along one wall are strung the pages of an old calendar, on which vignerons pose naked with strategically placed bottles and barrels, WI style.
We chose a formica topped table as far from the television as we could, and the young proprietress came and told us what was on the menu; then sent a man to advise us about wine. With his help, we opted for a Domaine Serres-Mazard Cuvée Henri Mazard 2003 (which we later realised could not have been more local - the round wooden door of their chais was next door to our B & B.
More to the point, it was delicious, with all the up-front fruit of a New World cabernet, but rich and complex. It accompanied us happily through a salad, steak and chips for
durham_rambler, rabbit and chips for me, and cheese. There was nothing grand about the meal, but everything was fresh and perfectly prepared. The rabbit was excellent, golden outside and taut, juicy white flesh within. Next morning over breakfast, our fellow guests asked nervously about our dinner: "We saw there was rabbit on the menu... Was there anything else?"
