Tuesday 20 October 2015

Chez Madeleine, Cour-Cheverny

Chez Madeleine in Cour-Cheverny is a restaurant we have just started using. It is large and modern but serves stylishly presented food with a twist on traditional dishes. Their weekday set menu is €16.00 for three courses (starter, main and dessert). The other day it was turkey and goat cheese rillettes followed by beef cheek parmentier (with sweet potato rather than regular potatoes) and chocolate mousse on a hazelnut cake. Our bill for four people, including wine and coffee, came to €85. The restaurant has ample and easy off street parking right out the front, which is important for us Traction Avant travellers.

My dessert at Chez Madeleine recently.
On one level this restaurant is extraordinary, offering an inexpensive meal that is a real treat and a showcase for fresh local produce. On another level, it is unexceptional. Restaurants like this can be found all over the Touraine Loire Valley. They are usually run by youngish husband and wife teams (with 1-3 staff) who are living their dream to present their food to the public, but also pragmatic about the fact they are running a business. Their skills are high and their passions strong.

For a list of other similar restaurants that we like in the Touraine Loire Valley see our list of Useful Links for Visitors on the right side bar.

In other restaurant news, we had an email recently from Julien Pascal, letting us know that he and his wife took over the Clos aux Roses in Chédigny at the beginning of October. They plan to continue running the restaurant in the same style as the previous owner Stéphane Tortissier. Since Clos aux Roses is currently in our top three favourite restaurants we hope that the high standard and good value will continue under their ownership and wish them and Stéphane all the best in their respective new ventures.

6 comments:

chm said...

I wonder whatever happened to Restaurant Agnès Sorel in Génillé. Did it go completely out of business? Tripadvisor mentions Clos de Jeanne with good comments.

Susan said...

The Agnes Sorel has never re-opened and the Petits, who ran it, are no longer in this area as far as I know. The closure was due to a dispute with the landlord. The Clos de Jeanne is the creperie on the edge of town. We've never eaten there, but it looks attractive and does seem to get good reviews and has transformed into a 'proper restaurant' apparently.

Leon Sims said...

We need to try Chez Madeleine next year when we are back in the Loire

Carolyn said...

Darn about the Clos aux Roses! Like you, I hope the new owners keep up the current standard. We had lunch there in September and really enjoyed it. Satisfying food nicely presented, generous portions, reasonable prices. The owner and I talked some and he sounded very enthusiastic. He said it was a small team; his wife was in the kitchen with a few helpers, and we saw only him and one other guy out front. In that situation you've got to have a lot of energy.

Susan said...

Yes. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Susan said...

There was a chef, sous-chef and plongeur out the back and Stéphane and the gothic waitress out the front. The new owners have kept the same staffing levels, but it's all new people. I ate there the other day and it was good. The new owners are from Bourges.

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