Valentine’s weekend
2020.
Short escape to Savoy region.
This restaurant has
been on my eat-list since opening few years ago. A nostalgic satur-date,
reminiscing of first day in Mons where we had our lunch at Luc Broutard’s La
Table du Boucher. Years later, the chef opened this Savoyard restaurant (Gault & Millau
2020).
Had just visited the
region last summer and wanted to taste more, I thought to savour the cold
weather delicacies in winter of course would be perfect. So I made a reservation
for dinner on the web.
Located at a
building complex, on the back of Mons Memorial Museum, I imagined the winter-warmer menu would be so
comforting. Even though the weekend (and overall this season) was warm, 13-16
centigrade with Storm Dennis (around 100 km/h). It has been abnormally warm and
unusually mild, almost spring-like weather. No dramatic drop in temperature,
only few days below freezing.
Upon entering the restaurant, quickly felt like
transported to a winter holiday atmosphere. As the name suggests, this restaurant got that cozy ambience,
with the charm and warmth of a mountain cabin or
chalet. Wooden details and ski-themed decor. The elevator
painted as if it’s a ski/ gondola lift.. and when opened, the view of shimmering
mountainous view after dark got me ready for an après ski experience.
The serious efforts to bring images of a real
chalet to life really blew my mind! Amazed by all the details! A replicate of a
trendy and modern chalet with some rustic and classic touches.
All tables already had bread basket, butter,
pickle jar and saucisson when we got there. To me
personally it’s a bit off-putting. None of them had distinctive taste.
We had Menu Les Bronzés (35 EUR), including starter, main
course and dessert.
Didn’t have alcoholic drink as food pairing since we tried to do the
Tournée Minérale, an entire month of February without alcohol.
My noix de saint-jacques fraîches gratinées façon
savoyarde served on a white ceramic plate mimicking its shell. Scallop slices
in cream sauce, crusty on top and sprinkled with crispy bacon was delish! While
the monsieur had croque monsieur with Taleggio cheese and
tartufatta on the side of butternut squash
velouté with chesnut and cream from region of Gruyère. He said they were next
level.
When I dine or hang out, ambience is one of the main reasons I always
look for. It was kind of a let down when a place this nice chose their tunes
from a radio channel or Spotify (noticed some voice overs). Well, nobody cared
anyway because the dining room was quickly filled and busy.
I was also going to point out that lights were a bit too bright, but
maybe for safety reason. When the waiter brought and set up fondue and raclette
equipments on the table, yeah okay.. be careful! I could suddenly feel the heat
blew to my face.
It was so overwhelming
when the sides came to the table.. a plate of charcuterie for
each, a plate of raclette cheese for him, huge bowl of salad (with Grenoble nut
oil) and potatoes in a cute wooden bucket. The star of the show and specialty
of Le Chalet.. the traditional fondue! Oh that familiar smell of melted cheese!
It was mix of Beaufort - Comté – Abondance - Vacherin Fribourgeois
cheeses (aged 18-24 months). While the sliced
raw/ unpasteurised raclette cheese certified as AOP (appellation d'origine protégée/ protected designation of origin).
It’s a feast!
It’s a feast!
I even forgot to take photo of the whole thing and couldn’t figured out
how, because the table was so full.
Cheesy food galore!
So rich and hearthy.
It was so good and fun in the beginning.. until few bites later. I found
myself struggling. It was too much going on. Didn’t thought it
turned out to be such a hard work. Thankfully the salad and pickled gherkin got
me through this. I stopped at the moment couldn’t really enjoy it any longer.
Should have listened to Prince Charming, only to order the main course because
we had a
huge bowl of ramen continued with coffee and cake in Brussels earlier that day.
Service was a bit slow, but it’s not a complain. We
were given enough time to relax before the next course was served. So expect to wait for a
while to get every order. A guy sit next to our table yawned, others played
with their phones - the thing I rarely see when we eat out around here.
Desserts in my opinion were not beautifully presented. I
had Tarte Tatin, for him was pain perdu aux pralines roses. The cake hidden like it
smashed underneath a huge blob of ice cream. Both looked the same to me. As one
of the most popular pastries, I couldn’t ask the Tarte Tatin would be
similar to the original one I had in Hôtel Tatin, but the
pain perdu with pralines roses.. not rosy. Was expected it had pink pralines
like we had in Lyon. The ice cream/ glace
turbinée minute either vanilla (mine) or praline (his) tasted no different and too subtle. Maybe they
didn’t want any additions of flavoring overpowered the quality of the dairy products as main
ingredients of the whole menu. This one last part like a burden needed to be resolved.
A bit OOT a week ago in Brussels, I had a dessert à la minute made by Premier Cuisinier de Belgique 2014 for the same price but worth a lot more.
A bit OOT a week ago in Brussels, I had a dessert à la minute made by Premier Cuisinier de Belgique 2014 for the same price but worth a lot more.
We spent around four hours here and it’s was
one of the best dining
experience in Mons. I think this place
is really one of a kind. Forgot that I was actually still in Mons.
It’s really like a mountain escape in Mons (=mountain). One thing that
couldn’t be done was to hit the slopes the next day to burn all the calories.
Rue de l'Epargne 16
065 43 06 19
Tuesday – Sunday, 7
– 11 pm
Friday and Sunday
lunch, 12 - 3 pm