Fantastic little restaurant along Quali Villebois in downtown Blois. Reservations recommended for sure as this is a relatively small place. Parking can be a bit of an issue since so much of it is permitted, but after some time during the day, it does not seem to matter. It's still not clear to me, but the restaurant staff said we were fine parking right out front. Staff was very pleasant and very welcoming.
They have a solid wine menu, in addition to their primary food menu. We ended up getting a bottle of champagne...well, it was sparkling wine from the Loire Valley, so not technically Champagne. In addition, we ordered a couple of appetizers, the Maquereau avec Lait de raifort, courgettes, et curry vert. Also the oeuf 64° with velouté de petit pois, tuile de pain, et lard grillé. Both were very, very good! The fish was expertly cooked, and the accompanying sauce was delicious! Naturally, they had an egg, which seems to be all the rage in France right now, and i'm here for it! They hold it at 64° for quite some time, though i forget for how long they said, but we're talking an hour at least i think? So certainly a sous vide situation. The accompanying sauce made of peas and cooked pork was absolutely fantastic! I honestly would've ordered another one of these if it wouldn't have been so ridiculous to do so. For dinner, we had the magret de canard and artichaut entier. The duck breast and accompanying sauce was absolutely fantastic! We had recently come off an absolutely terrible duck experience, so it was great to have a well cooked duck breast in a fantastic sauce coming off of that. It was so good, i forgot to get a picture before digging in (oops). The artichoke dish was very, very interesting. Basically, it was a red bean salad with fried onions served inside the shell of an artichoke, served with a delicious mustard sauce. It doesn't stop there though, because you are meant to pull the petals off the artichoke as there is a very small portion of the leaf that is edible. So the meal consists of the red bean salad with artichoke leaves with a mustard sauce. So, so creative! I've never seen anything like this anywhere in the world, so kudos to them for sure.
There are certainly a lot of places to get a good meal in Blois, including Michelin star restaurants. This place is not a Michelin star, yet, but they're on the watchlist, and rightfully so. With their creativity and flavor, i would not be shocked to see this place with a star someday. Definitely recommend if you're visiting the area. read more