Thursday evening on our return from the Central Vineayards we ate at the Agnès Sorel in Genillé. This is certainly one of our favourite restaurants in the area as it offers very good food at great value.
The three of us took the entry menu@23 euros – entrée, main course, cheese or dessert with a mise en bouche, which was a delicious velouté de ceps. For first course I chose the seasonal interpretation of oeufs en meurette – poached eggs on a base of sliced ceps with a rich red wine and shallot sauce. Excellent! Main course of a fricassée of Géline de Touraine. The Géline is a type of chicken, which is traditional to this area but which ceased to be popular in the 1950s and was declared extinct in 1977. The Géline fell out of favour because it needs 120-130 days to reach maturity, whereas ordinary chickens only need 90, so it seemed no longer economic to rear the Géline. Fortunately in the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a gradual Géline renaissance and the race was reintroduced. It now features on the menus of top restaurants in this part of the Loire.
To finish I chose the raspberry clafoutis, made with raspberries from the restaurant's garden, accompanied by a raspberry sorbet. The raspberries were nicely sharp and refreshing.
Raspberry clafoutis (foto CRM)
To drink we had the 2009 Choisilles from François Chidaine. This is a blend of old vines from various parcels and Choisilles is the local name for black flint. Being 2009 had good weight and went well with the oeufs en meurette – better than our red – the 2010 Les Quartiers, Bourgueil from Yannick Amirault, which clashed a little with the sweetness of the shallots. However, Les Quartiers was fine with the Géline.
Estelle and Nicolas Petit's restaurant is highly recommended!
2 comments:
We have always enjoyed this place, especially since it was taken over by the current owners. Reminds me: we should go back soon!
Thanks Walt. Hoping to persuade people who haven't tried it for a while (not since it changed hands) to eat there.
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