5 /5
Rating
★
★
★
★
★
L 'Auberge de Port Vallieres offers elegant yet casual fine dining and validated my guess that Fondettes was an affluent commuter suburb of Tours. (Rather than the historic Loire villages further down river. We ate here on both Saturday evenings of our holiday, and both times every table was filled with prosperous locals looking like they were relaxing after busy weeks in big offices. The building may once have been a farm house or barn; these days it 's two large, unpretentious rooms decorated with a pleasing array of modern art and sculpture. Between the atmosphere and the welcoming staff, it feels more like a dining club in someone 's house than a restaurant. It also holds an Assiette Michelin, a new rating the guide introduced last year to denote good food served simply . This description would seem to put that a level below the Bib Gourmand, which has been the certification just below star level ... but L 'Auberge 's flavours and presentation were far beyond simple. The food is resolutely classic: foie gras, delicate fish courses, rich meats, sauces as deep as a black hole, extensive cheese cart, artful pastries. We tried the chef 's menu on the first visit and were shocked to be served full-sized portions rather than the usual small plates of many-course meals. At the end of five, plus amuse bouche and typically moreish French breads, we were uncomfortably full. On the next visit we dropped to three courses with complete satisfaction. The Auberge also, happily, disproved an impression we 'd developed on past trips that the French didn 't really do matching wine flights, defaulting to house standards rather than thinking carefully about matches. The flight here carefully selected glasses to complement each course. No of the quirky, delightful surprises English sommeliers often slip in ... all French though many from beyond the Loire ... but each beautifully matched with the dish. The main course on our first visit proved the point of matching: the veal and its sauce was so excessively rich, with a slight mineral undertone, that is absolutely needed the sharp bite of the pinot noir to complete it. It was only after we got home, and back to WiFi, that I could look up the translation of ris de veau and realised I 'd just eaten sweetbreads. That 's the beauty of a tasting menu in a foreign language. Would never have ordered it on my own. Probably wouldn 't order it again. But on that night, with that wine, it was delicious.