Eurotrip 2019: Exploring the French coastline

It took a while but here I am with another road trip recap. Heading into summer 2019 we knew we wanted to drive again a few thousand kilometers around Central Europe like we had done every summer since 2012 besides 2016. Previously we had always taken the long route by driving there all the way from Helsinki but now my girlfriend was quite determined to never do it again after seeing Sweden’s admittedly (mostly, the drive by the Vättern lake is rather nice) boring-as-hell highway E4 and Germany’s never-ending roadworks and resulting traffic jams one time too many.

Thus we would fly and rent a car which meant that I could not buy as much wine as I wanted but as I was given no options really I had to suck it up and try to make the best out of it. There was an advantage to this decision and it was time saved that would allow us to fit all or almost all of France’s coastline into three weeks, which is something we had been thinking about doing for a couple of years. We had never explored neither the north nor the west coasts so we felt like there was a lot for us to see and experience still in France.

In late-June we indeed flew to Düsseldorf Germany and hopped into a brand new Toyota C-HR hybrid: a car that looks excitingly (YMMV) futuristic and has some cool features but would not be anyone’s first choice for drag racing. Without any exaggeration it felt downright comical how slowly it got up to speed and the sad noise the engine made while trying its hardest. Alas, we were there for a marathon, not a sprint, so off we went and headed for Ghent, Belgium first for one night.

We had never stopped anywhere in Belgium before besides a gas station but as it was on our way and we had heard good things about Ghent we thought why not. It was Sunday so it was not terribly crowded - some tourists but mostly young (seemingly) local people.

The city center seemed like a nice combination of beautiful old architecture and a healthy amount of canals. It was quite lively at the restaurant terraces and due to the hot weather there certainly was a constant need for refreshments.

We started our vacation walking a solid of 25 000+ steps on the first day and Ghent certainly offered nice surroundings for this. We closed the day on a good note by having some very decent burgers and IPAs (I know, very Belgian) in a gastro pub type called Uncle Babe’s. Regardless - funny enough - even though we were relatively close to France and lots of people spoke French I felt a strong craving to get to France already. What can I say, I’m a francophile for life.

Next day our destination was the relatively famous town of Deauville but as we did not want to drive 4 hours straight we decided to choose some place on the coast where to stop for lunch. I had never heard of Le Tréport but it was rather strategically placed on the map so that is where we ended up. Three hours of driving does not feel like THAT much but the weather was something totally different than the day before in Belgium. Instead of heat and sunshine it was now around 20 degrees celsius and the kind of grey that strongly hints at coming rain. Sure enough, soon it came. That said we were happy to be in France and experience a different part of the country than what we were used to. Certainly it felt like we had arrived in France!

It was quiet, not a lot of people anywhere to be seen and a large part of the numerous seaside restaurants were closed. The town felt like a place that gets tourists but is by no means a massive destination.

Quite a dramatic looking cliff.

Me at my most artistic.

Despite having never been in this part of my spiritual homeland I had definitely acquired a taste for crêpes salées or galettes or whatever you wish to call them. I just love to have them for lunch together with cider or beer. The cider selection here did not make me feel very confident so a St. Feuillen ale was my choice - can’t go wrong with it. The galettes were made there at the covered terrace a couple of meters from us by a man while his wife was waiting the tables and overall we definitely enjoyed it all despite the rain. As a short first stop in France Le Tréport served us well.

Thank you for the great information and photographs. I could never walk 25,000 steps in a day but these beautiful places might give me the incentive to try. My wife and I especially like La Rochelle and Île de Ré. That is most likely because we have friends that live in La Rochelle and on Île de Ré. The city is large enough to have everything you need as well as some Michelin starred restaurants.

We actually spent one night on this trip in La Rochelle and liked it, although generally we prefer to stay outside cities on road trips. Would have liked to see Ile de Ré but unfortunately could not include it this time. Oh well, next time!

Outstanding! Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Nice photos and fun read.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip report.

Thanks for the comments! If you have been to any of the places we visited I would love to hear if there was something awesome that we missed.

We arrived to Deauville conveniently to check in to our modest but perfectly adequate hotel that was located several blocks inland from the beach. Very quickly we noticed the town’s fantastic architecture - there are tons of really cool looking half-timbered houses. For some reason unknown to me however I did not happen to take one single decent photo of them so this one taken from our hotel room has to do.

The hotel’s location (one block from the Hippodrome Deauville-La Touque and Deauville International Polo Club) was convenient as very close to it was a bar/café where we would go for breakfast on both following mornings. This was the kind of place where the local older gentlemen gather daily to meet up and the place was just bustling. They also had good coffee and pain au chocolats which is pretty much all I need to get my day started. I don’t dislike hotel breakfast rooms but I really enjoy going to these place where the locals go. This one also seemed to have a nice selection of cigars but as my girlfriend does not enjoy this habit of mine I restrained.

Obviously I did some research before booking a hotel in Deauville but before that the only thing I knew about the place was the casino as I can remember during the huge poker boom the European Poker Tour hosting an event there. I never went as I did not play much tournaments myself but certainly this fact somehow added to the town’s attraction. The casino was a pretty one from the outside and located right next to the beach.

While the rain had stopped the sun was still hiding so unsurprisingly there was not a lot of action at the beach.

Apparently Deauville is pretty famous for their annual film festival devoted to American movies.

Everything in Deauville seemed to be in tiptop condition and almost overwhelmingly pleasant and easy on the eye. I have never been to Aspen but reflecting on my fond memories of the 1994 hit comedy Dumb and Dumber Deauville really felt to me like a seaside version of Aspen. This town clearly gets its share of wealthy tourists and I can understand why. I definitely would not mind spending more time there, especially if the sun was shining.

Having said that what the town did not seem to do quite that well is the variety of restaurants. I admit that I often do look for a certain type (read: wine-oriented) when looking to book a restaurant but it was really hard to find anything of the sort in Deauville. I did manage to find one wine shop/bar hybrid and booked one of their few tables for the second evening. I also found a deli that seemed highly promising but the opening hours were not kind to us. Generally Monday seemed to be a horrible day for a restaurant-goer no matter what part of France we were at.

We indeed had not booked anything for the first evening and while we were strolling around looking for different options it started raining quite violently, urging us to make some quick decisions. We ended up in a pizzeria called Il Parasole which turned out to be totally decent. Nothing mind-blowing, but the pizza together with a couple of bottles of Birra Moretti felt like medicine after barely surviving the horrible weather.

Only a small river separates Deauville from Trouville, another coastal town with quite a different vibe to it. We walked there first thing in the morning and already it was very lively, lots of families with young children and locals walking their dogs on the streets by the river. There were plenty of shops of different kinds and a lot of restaurants and cafés, many of them advertising a wide variety of crêpes and galettes.

There was also a rather attractive seafood market.

And naturally a casino, because of course both towns must have their own.

Trouville also has a great beach, although without anything movie-related or the fancy Baywatch structure of Deauville.

There were plenty of beautiful buildings by the sea and nearby inland but sadly lots of them had for sale signs on them.

While Deauville felt mostly like a town where people living elsewhere own a place Trouville felt more like one where people actually live around the year. There were also a few wine shops, although nothing was open as we were already into lunch hours. A recurring theme started there as we would see bottles of Rayas in a lot of places we went to. In a shop’s window in Trouville the price was 579 €, only about 300 € more than the cheapest price we would come across.

Yes.

Finally we were at a place that was a bit more serious about their ciders. Being the ballers that we are we chose the most expensive one on the list (13.50 €/75cl) and while I am no cider expert I liked it a lot. Very gourmand with a soft mousse, refreshing acidity and great balance. Quite clean and friendly overall.

Once we had seen enough of Trouville we drove to another fairly well known town nearby called Honfleur. This was clearly a destination for many tourists as people kept on coming from the parking areas and entering the town’s narrow streets.

Finally the sun was shining too so I didn’t mind the slightest my girlfriend going from shop to shop.

For dinner we returned to Deauville. I had managed to locate very near our hotel what must be the best wine shop slash bar in the area, Les Caves Morny. Thinking it is better to be safe than sorry I had booked a table for us but as it turned out on a Tuesday evening we were the only ones there. That said a lot of people stopped shortly to get their wine so I have a lot of fait that this place will still be there should we return one day.

As we had only entered France we were aching for cheese and charcuterie and this would be the right place for that. Everything was just top notch and tasty as hell.

The wine selection was not massive but there a few very decent options. As it was now quite warm outside my girlfriend would not get the bottle of Bandol Rouge she had spotted on the shelf. Instead we chose this bottling from Henri Germain I had not seen before, which is not that surprising given how new the appellation is. The “corkage” was 10 € so overall the bottle cost 44 € - no complaints from me! It turned out to be a superb bottle of Chardonnay. Extremely bright and expressive on the nose with notes of lemon, pineapple, smoke and appropriate oak. On the palate quite rich yet even more so very spry and fresh, full of awesome tangy fruit. Very energetic and drinkable.

The shopkeeper Fabien was most friendly and talkative and a bit of a character. When discussing Meursault we mentioned that we would be going there later on our holiday to which he asked whether we knew where to dine there. As I replied “Yes, Le Soufflot” he nodded with a wide smile on his face.

Whenever I come across the juices from Alain Milliat I always buy some. Many quality wine retailers in France seem to stock them and this one was no exception. Divine stuff.

Ilkka thanks for taking the time to post. Entertaining and informative!

RT

Again, thanks for the post.

It’s a first for me learn about “corkage” in a wine bar/shop in France. A little surprising.

I’m happy to hear that!

Well I don’t know if corkage was the right word here but indeed these winebar/wineshop hybrids are very common in France and most often there is a fixed € cost to be added on top of the take away price to drink at the premises. As such if the quality of the food items is decent these places offer great value. Regarding BYO I have only come across this once in France (La Table Kobus in Epernay). They used to offer free BYO on a couple of nights a week, don’t know if they still do.

The various D-Day locations are obviously a very important destination for many visiting Normandy. My girlfriend was not sure she wanted to experience them beforehand but as we were about to leave Deauville for Bretagne we decided to head for Omaha Beach first.

Visiting the very windy, cold Omaha Beach was definitely a powerful experience. All one could do was be quiet and pay respects to those who lost their lives there. As a side note we could not help but feel slightly weird going there with our German rental car.

After Omaha Beach we drove a bit more to the west to see Pointe du Hoc, the highest point between the Utah and Omaha beaches and one that an American ranger attack group captured on the D-Day. The landscape continues to show signs of the battle that took place.

Going inside the bunkers was quite fascinating despite some rather loud and restless American school kids.

After seeing those D-Day locations it was time for more light-hearted fun. We had a booked a B&B located at a farm producing organic vegetables, herbs, flowers etc but before going there we headed to visit the seaside town of Cancale which is located by the Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel and is known mostly for its oysters. Once again the change in weather was significant - from cold, windy and grey we went to warm, sunny and bright in just a couple of hours.

Support the local.

Very close to Cancale was our B&B called called Le Petit Porcon. Unfortunately I do not have many pictures of this places but for anyone traveling with smaller kids I can imagine this being a great option. We enjoyed this family run place likewise - while not by the sea it was very close and a good base to explore the surroundings (Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo among the main sights) from. The owners did not speak much English but that did not stop the older lady from being very talkative and friendly. The breakfast was very good with the highlight being their homemade jams.

My girlfriend bonded right away with the family’s lovely mixed breed dog who very much reminded us of our own.

On the other side of the cape was the fairly well known walled town of Saint Malo. What a beautiful place to visit, especially on such a great weather.

Hôtels de Ville come in all shapes and sizes when one tours around France. This is definitely one of the most unique we have seen.

We wanted to have dinner in Saint Malo but it seemed like a lot of places were closed on this very day. We ended up in one called Café Simon which was quite decent but probably one could do better. That said one could also do a lot worse.

First thing next morning we headed to Mont Saint Michel, probably France’s second most well known sight after the Eiffel tower. We knew there would be masses of tourists so we wanted to be there before the worst rush hour. One comes across a lot of pictures of Mont Saint Michel and most of them do a great job not showing the crowds. Above is my try at it.

The shuttle buses operate non-stop between the island and the parking lots, bringing more people in. Make no mistake, you will not get to enjoy peace and quiet here.

We had been told that the west entrance is rather more unpopular than the main. This turned out to be true.

The views from the top are very nice.

It’s a magnificent building no doubt and we are happy to have experienced it. That said finding our way out was quite horrible, like swimming in a sea of people.

After spending the rest of the day driving around aimlessly we found ourselves at the most calm and pleasant spot by the sea in the village of Hirel. Istrenn (“Oyster”) is a rather new restaurant right in the middle of the oyster country. It is a compact place with a wonderful outdoor terrace and it is run by a young couple. While aiming to use the most fresh and high quality ingredients available they put quite a bit of effort in their cooking. Not everything hit the target 100% but we enjoyed it overall a lot and I think they have a bright future. Great service, good wine list, three courses 24 €, what’s not to like? The menu has largely changed and a large amount of the ingredients were not common in where we are from so the photos must do for the most part.

Confit de raie (skate) aux herbes (from our B&B), moutarde aux algues. Very tasty.

Unfortunately the specifics of this dish have escaped my memory and it is not on their list anymore but basically there were excellent local oysters in a very acidic (blood orange?) sauce. Highly surprising but enjoyable despite the bit high acidity.

Soufflé with l’Elixir d’Armorique digestif.

Very rarely have I seen bottles of Sébastien Brunet’s Vouvray but based on my experiences one cannot go wrong with them. This 2017 Arpent was quite rich and mouthfilling yet with markedly salty/savory character. Very much waxy and firm on the palate with high acidity and some nice bitterness. Great focus and drive even when it went up in temperature. Very food-friendly.

If one is looking for great value and modern, innovative cooking from high quality ingredients then Istrenn is surely the place. Sure enough we would happily return any time.

The hybrid wine bars/shops that I’ve been to, many in Paris, did not add any more to the prices of the bottles that I purchased and drank in the premises with the foods they served.

But I suppose that’s not always the norm.

I suppose. I believe pretty much all that I’ve visited have charged 5-10 € extra on top of the take away price.

After driving a bit less than three hours almost straight south we stopped to check out a town on the Atlantic coast with a rather unfortunate name: Pornic. La Canicule heatwave was barbecuing many parts of France but for some reason for a large part of our holiday the weather was cloudy and mild. Being quite pale-skinned I did not mind it that much - my girlfriend would have preferred sunshine but then not necessarily the 35-40 degrees Celsius that was the reality in other parts of France.

Pornic has a very pleasant port of good size to stroll around. There is a healthy amount of restaurants and cafés to choose from, although many of the kind that suggests that the town gets its share of tourists.

Very early on our holidays we reach a point when we look to have quite light lunches. The savory pie at this café would have been that but I also ordered this awesome pistachio cake.

From the port one can do the most pleasant walk right by the water towards the ocean and the beaches. Along the way there are small coves, most which were occupied by young local people taking it easy. Much to our surprise in one of them we found three girls (not pictured) training the most important skill nowadays: twerking.

As one follows the coast down south from Pornic one eventually (after one hour or so) crosses a bridge to a place that I had really been looking for: Noirmoutier-en-l’Île. Besides an episode of Chef’s Table France and the great salt I did not know much about the island. That said I had this feeling that I was going to like it anyhow. Once again on arrival the weather was more of the same old same old and there was nothing to charm us right away; it was all very flat and fairly quiet.

The name of our hotel was L’Île Ô Château and lo and behold there was a château indeed next to it. It’s right by the commercial center of the island so pretty decently located with quite many restaurants within a walking distance.

In our books resident animals in hotels are always a plus so we were delighted to see this very chill cat, living the good life.

Because our fairly lengthy walk in Pornic after lunch we arrived relatively late in the afternoon to Noirmoutier. We mostly spent the rest of the day walking around the city center and then shortly enjoying aperitifs before ending up in a decently rated nearby restaurant called Le P’tit Noirmoutier. It is a very casual place but apparently well-liked as it filled up in an instant once they had opened. There was nothing fancy about the food but this plate of sauteed calamari was just superb in the most honest possible way.

What to drink with a simple seafood dish in these parts of France? Well Muscadet, of course! Highly refreshing and drinkable, if not mind-blowingly complex.

Brioche vendéenne façon pain perdu, caramel beurre salé. Who could resist?

Next morning we headed to the nearest bike rental shop and got ourselves the most old school bikes available. From there we took the quickest route east to the coast with the idea of driving around the whole island or at least most of it. The coast was extremely lively with several idyllic villages and camping sites. Were I into the camping life style Noirmoutier would surely be an awesome destination. Alas, I am not and don’t see becoming one.

Once we reached the northwestern point of the island we found a rather industrial port with this colorful boat similar to Popeye’s. What’s funny about this rather rough-looking area is its crown jewel: the 2 Michelin star restaurant La Marine of the Chef’s Table France fame. Completely unsurprisingly this restaurant and its sister restaurant La Table d’Elise (where we had wanted to go) had their annual summer closure on this very week. Fortunately we have long time ago learned and accepted that roughly 30-40% of the restaurants in France that we are interested in are closed whenever we are in town.

The above images show what the inland between the towns and the residential areas mostly looks like. Fields, salt marshes, cows and birds. Apparently some of the world’s best and most expensive potatoes also come from Noirmoutier. Live and learn.

After returning our bikes we walked back to the hotel, enjoying the island center’s architecture. For some reason most of the buildings made me think more of the Greek islands than France.

That said there were also some very pretty, more quintessentially French-looking buildings.

Before dinner we headed for some aperitifs. Right by our hotel we found a shop called L’Epicerie du Château which had all kinds of local and non-local treats and some wine and beer. There was one lonely table outside so we asked the shopkeeper lady if we could enjoy some local craft beers there. Her response was curious and so very French: “Unfortunately I do not have the license to serve you drinks to enjoy here. However if you buy some charcuterie then I can also serve you the beers!” Not in Finland, not in Finland…

Craft beer is now being made everywhere and the quality is at times uneven. We thought that these beers were actually very tasty and fresh and competently made. American in style and nicely hoppy, not very bitter but balanced with very pleasant flavors. The selection of wines was quite interesting in the sense that they had some very cool artisanal ones and some very mass-produced ones. I bought a bottle each of Mugneret Gibourg Bourgogne Rouge 2014 and Domaine des Baumard Clos Saint Yves Savennières 2016 at prices that I found very fair. The saucisson we were forced to take to drink the beers was so damn delicious and addictive that while the lady had first cut perhaps a fourth of it to us in the end we finished the whole thing with ease.

The restaurant next door took care of the local cats.

Within a modest walk from the epicerie there is a restaurant and hotel called Fleur de Sel (yup, not the most original name in the world). They had particularly nice first courses, here salmon confit with fromage blanc, yuzu and ginger…

…and here some egg: L’œuf de poule parfait ‘Label Rouge’, emulsion de pommes de terre, champignons truffés, jus aux épinards. Whenever there is a menu item with a seemingly ordinary headliner like an egg or a tomato I always go for it and thus far I have never been disappointed. I wasn’t this time either, this was just fantastic.

The wine list here is not curated by a wine nerd, there are no geeky rarities to be found. I don’t drink Henri Bourgeois often but I do like the wine so was modestly interested to try a new appellation from their portfolio. I guess one always compares these lesser SB appellations of Loire to Sancerre - whether fairly or not - and this one actually fares really, really well in that comparison, definitely better than the few other Quincys I’ve tried to this day. It is very bright and articulate with an airy mouthfeel and great acidity. Quite minerally with a beautiful note of white flowers, practically weightless on the palate. Paired really well with the cuisine, too.

My girlfriend usually takes all our flower photos but this one looked just too funky. To this day I have no idea what it could be, though.

We just loved our two night visit to Noirmoutier. Once again this is a unique part of France, in many ways quite distant from everything else. For serious cyclists it is probably too small but for us it was just the perfect place to explore by bike. On our way out we visited the island’s Intermarché which had a surprisingly serious wine department. As tends to be the case the focus was on Bordeaux and they had pretty proper wines from some of the better back vintages available at quite smart prices in their temp controlled space. If staying in the area in a place with kitchen this would not be the worst place to shop for wine.

Great notes. The flower is a passion flower.

Thanks for the pics and writeup! I’ve been to France many times, but due to the distance from the rest of France, never made it to Brittany. I’ve always wanted to and the your pictures feed the desire!

Thanks! Mother nature is quite amazing.

For years we would go many times to the more obvious (for a wine lover, at least) places like Paris, Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Lyon, Provence and even Savoie and Jura. That’s all fine and well but the fact is that almost every region of France is worth visiting (well, not necessarily Lorraine [snort.gif] ) and each of them seems to have their own unique charm and flavor. Thus next summer we aim to go to the Auvergne region for the first time.

Fantastic write up!

Yes, enjoyed the read and photos.

Thanks Dan and Ramon!

To stick to our plan and theme there was only one way to go from Noirmoutier and that was south. We mostly look to avoid cities but La Rochelle seemed interesting enough so we decided to give it a go. Not that far from Bordeaux and Cognac, this coastal city used to be of great importance with the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast. Nearby are two fairly well known islands, Île d’Oléron and Île de Ré, latter which I know mostly for the Camus Cognac of the same name which the producer recommends to be paired with seafood. Yeah, sure…

Our hotel was spectacularly unremarkable but our room did have something of a view so there was that. It was indeed located right by the port and its lively boulevards. La Rochelle definitely seemed to have this energy and upbeat vibe about it.

La Rochelle also goes by the name “The White City”. Apparently it is also the old Rochelle that some people once left to migrate to the new version in the New York State.

Many parts of the city are rather handsome.

There are both private and commercial boats of all sizes and while we were enjoying some Leffe at one of the many terraces my girlfriend noticed that some of the boats offer cruise trips to see the nearby sights. As one of the sights was none other than the Fort Boyard there really was no argument to be had: it was time to go into all in tourist mode. I was not all that excited about it to be honest as it would take 2 hours altogether without a visit to the fortress - meaning that we would not have much time left for anything else - and it actually for the first time was getting painfully hot outside for a Finn, even if my pictures somehow do not seem to give that impression. Still, I was not about to be a buzzkill so off we went.

Someone was impressed [snort.gif]

I had no problem spending a little time out on the ocean and obviously when the missus is happy I am happy. That said it was great to see the port again. The little we got to experience of La Rochelle we most definitely liked, but like I said mostly we prefer to stay outside of cities on these trip so a quick stop was just fine.

After La Rochelle we headed a bit toward the unknown: the fringes of the Armagnac country. There was no particular reason for this choice besides a countryside B&B called Le Gavachon that I had come across that had simply raving reviews. It is run by a Frenchman and a British lady and it is worth all the praise. It is a bit sad I don’t have any pictures of this place but it is indeed an old winery building that they have refurbished with good results. They are simply lovely people and I have no problem recommending this place to anyone looking to travel to this part of France. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the Gers department; looking at Google Maps there really was astoundingly little of anything of note nearby which I found intriguing.

When I was a kid I had relatively traumatic experience with a labrador. That’s all in the past and I have since become a 100% dog person but anyone still suffering from something like that should come and meet Edgar, Le Gavachon’s most human-loving charmer of a lab. Once we parked he was the one that came to greet us right away and made us realize that we had arrived to a very good place.

The town closest to Le Gavachon is called Auch. Not a big place but pleasant to stroll around, especially in the evening when it was already very quiet. They have a very pretty cathedral and despite not being religious we are somewhat of cathedral enthusiasts when in France.

Sad for the former proprietor but I just find sights like this immensely attractive.

There are some neat narrow streets inside the compact town center.

This is a region with a rich culinary heritage and we wanted to get right to the thick of it. La Table d’Oste came highly recommended and we can join that choir.

We are known to not follow seasons in our restaurant orders which in the past on several occasions has meant fondue during the heat of the summer. Staying committed to our ways we of course ordered the local staple cassoulet. Knowing how hearty a dish it is we initially were about to not order any first courses. However when the waitress said that it would take roughly 30 minutes for the cassoulets to cook we decided in the most unholy manner to start with some cheeses. By now I have completely forgotten what there was, but I do remember that the one in liquid form was some very funky kind of blue cheese and an acquired taste to the extent that my gf simply could not stomach it. No worries, I was up for the task.

And there it was, one of the finest wintertime warmers out there. There are no two ways about it, I love cassoulet and this was the real deal. Steaming hot and full of tasty awesomeness. And there was a lot of it. Big respect to the better half who finished almost all of hers.

Not that I have anything against Alain Brumont - just the opposite - but being somewhat familiar with his production (translation: I know no other producers of Madiran) I tried to order something else. That said I think in the end the whole list probably was his wines - it’s just that I did not recognize the ones not named Bouscassé or Montus. This 2015 Madiran ‘Torus’ was of the modern side of the spectrum with some disturbing vanilla on the nose at first. That said once it got to open up a little bit that part toned down and what was left was a robust, heady, structured and comforting wine perfectly suited to pair with the cassoulet. It is quite different from what we usually drink but surprisingly we enjoyed it quite a lot for what it was and would have easily emptied the bottle were I not worried about my driving condition suffering too much. Funny enough when asked for it we were told that there is not one decanter in the whole restaurant. I guess it is not that surprising, that is just rural France for you.

Despite being quite full from the cheeses and the cassoulet we could not resist the temptation of a local classic dessert: Glace aux pruneaux à l’Armagnac. I don’t think I need to say anything more. From start to finish La Table d’Oste was simply a great, authentic local place. Ideally everywhere I go in France I would like to find either a restaurant like this or a great wine bar but unfortunately neither is something that can be always expected, which just makes an experience like this all the more valuable.

Talk about hitting the spot smack in the middle of the wheelhouse!

Authentic regional South-west French cassoulet and an almost-local Madiran.