The town is very small; not much is going on, so most of the action going on is from the wine bistro. There is a baker next to the wine bistro (where the bread is made for the bistro everyday), further down is a hair salon (I have never tried it), and down the street is post office and butcher (my favourite butcher is in another village). The population of the town of Montpeyrou is about 2,000 people.
The building that La Terrasse is in now used to be the oldest dinning establishment in the area and it was called 'Cafe du Progres' which was built around the early 1800s. La Terrasse has been open now for two years and it is doing very well. The photo below is the front of the wine bistro.
The fountain with the statue is the guardian of the town, every town will have one. When you sit on the terrace, time seems to pass by slower. It is a very nice and wonderful atmosphere.
When you enter the wine bistro, you see the long wine bar where people gather for an aperitif or coffee and chit-chat about the things that are happening in the area.
For lunch, the terrace is opened, but you can also choose to dine inside the wine bistro.
For dinner, the upstairs dinning room is opened. However, if it is still warm, then the terrace is used instead of the upstairs dinning room.
We had lunch at the wine bistro and the first starter was 'mousse de pelardon de chevre et brunoise de betterave' (goat cheese mousse with beetroot). When it arrived at the table it looked like dessert. This dish fooled the eye. However, the goat cheese mousse was outstanding and the mixture with the beetroot was sensational. A very refreshing starter to the lunch.
The second starter was 'veloute de potimarron, des de jambon cru' (pumpkin soup with ham). It is now the season for pumpkin. This soup was so tasty and the extra touch of the jambon cru was a great idea. It gave the savoury taste contrast that was needed from the sweet pumpkin.
The first main dish was 'filet de perche en poudre d'amande, jus d'aneth' (filet of perche covered with almond powder and dill sauce). Though the chef is very young, she is quite inventive and good with her dishes. The fish was cooked very nicely and the flavour of the dill and lemon was lovely. The extra texture of the almond powder on the fish was very nice as well.
The second starter was 'porc au curry' (pork in curry sauce). The pork was so tender and the amount of curry used was just right to give a light taste of curry but not to over whelm the pork.
The first dessert was 'crumble aux pommes et a la cannelle' (apple crumble with cinnamon). A lovely dessert, so light and refreshing. Using the seasonal apples and red berries just makes sense for a dessert.
The second dessert was 'gateaux au chocolat' (chocolate cake). WoW! The chocolate cake was amazing. So rich and flavourful. Cooked perfectly so that the cake was very moist to the point of liquid.
La Terrasse is also a wine bar. You can come in for a glass of wine/ or bottle. The concept of the wine bistro is that if you buy the wine at the shop price and if you decide to eat in the restaurant, then for an extra eight euros corkage, you can drink the wine with your food. This concept is loved by everyone who comes to the wine bistro and it makes the wines very affordable.
Some people stopping by for a coffee in the afternoon.
This is the wine shop in the wine bistro. The concept is that La Terrasse sells all the wines that are produced in the area so to support all the wine makers of the area. This concept is also loved by everyone. La Terrasse has now become THE place to eat or drink for all the wine producers, sellers and their guest. But in the end, La Terrasse has become the nice place for everyone in the area to just meet with a fantastic ambiance, good food & wine and friendly service.
No comments:
Post a Comment