Meandering With Murphy

April 19 and we are visiting Brantome. Brantome is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Auros. (No, this time we did not get lost!) The area where Brantome is located is in the Perigord. The Drodogne is the major river in Perigord. In this region there are castles, cathedrals, caves and beautiful towns. We have been driving all around this area through Bergerac, Perigueux, Montignac and now we were going to visit Brantome. Brantome is surrounded by a loop in the river Dronne and it is referred to as the Venice of Perigord. The major attraction is the Benedictine abbey built by Charlemagne in 769. Next to the abbey is Saint-Pierre church which has a beautiful belfry built in the 11th century and is the oldest found in France. Behind the abbey are caves and one is the famous cave of the “Last Judgement”. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit the because it was under repair.

The main reason I wanted to visit Brantome was because of a beautiful restaurant on the Dronne river that I had seen in a picture. The other reason to visit on Friday was because they were having a market (surprise!).

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We put the address in the GPS and ended up at this restaurant. But it was not the correct restaurant but we decided to have a cafe anyway.

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Then we went looking for the address I had, and where the reservation was, but it still was not the restaurant in the picture. So, we went walking around and finally saw the right restaurant but it was not the one where I had made reservations.

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We went in and after I asked if they spoke English (fortunately they did and very well) I explained that I had made a mistake. I had wanted to make a reservation at this restaurant, Le Moulin de ‘L Abbaye, but had made it elsewhere. I showed them the address and they said it was across the river but that they would check to see if they had a table. She spoke to her colleague and yes, they did have a table and if noon was fine we could come back. Well of course it was fine!

We canceled the original reservation and walked around the market, visited the church and enjoyed the day. Then we walked over to the restaurant.

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The menu selection was Surprise One (three courses), Surprise Two (four courses) or ala carte. We selected Surprise One with fromage. What a treat! In actuality we both ordered the fish option but we somehow got the lamb as well. As you will see below, the courses just kept coming. However, we only did pay for the three course menu.

The amuse bouche was a small cup of Tourin blanchi (garlic soup), foie gras foam topped with a basil leaf in a cracker shell, cracker topped with creme fraiche and olive and parsley.

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