While our village, Mont St. Jean, doesn’t have much in the way of services, it does have a good restaurant, Le Medieval, in the town center just across the street from where we are staying. How convenient! If only we had a boulangerie so close (sadly the bread truck just doesn’t cut it). But this is about the restaurant, upscale and simply decorated with white walls and tablecloths and a splash of red in the drapery and chairs.
Dining on a Wednesday evening in late June the dining room was very quiet, just us and one other couple from Paris in the region for a long weekend. The limited menu offers a choice of traditional Bourgogne or other more Mediterranean style dishes. Everything was well prepared with quality ingredients and tasty.
I took the plunge and ordered from the Terroir menu, a prix fix selection of Bourgogne specialties. With rich wine and cheese sauces this is not the menu for a delicate constitution. The œufs en meurette, for example is two perfectly poached eggs on crouton rounds in a red wine reduction with bacon and mushrooms. What a way to start!
To top that, for the second plate, I ordered the beef steak with époisse ( a local cheese) sauce. Accompanied by four little roasted potatoes -heaven with the peppery cheese sauce – and a tiny pot of ratatouille. The steak was thicker than most French steaks, tasty, tender and cooked as ordered.
It is, however, possible to order a reasonably healthy meal off the menu. Don started with the Salade du Marché, a mélange of lobster and smoked salmon – with a hint of clove – quail eggs and seasonal vegetables. His main was a lovely whole dorado, oven roasted and accompanied by outstanding roasted vegetables – eggplant, onion, tomato, and potato – crispy skin with sweet soft centers.
The desserts, if not the most inventive, were intensely flavorful. Cassis sorbet with cassis sauce served with crunchy meringue and a ribbon of whipped cream and a caramel ice cream, with a deep burnt-sugar flavor, served with caramel cream sandwiched in a flaky wafer garnished with more caramel sauce.
Le Medieval may not be a destination restaurant but it is certainly worth trying if you are in the area, pleasing both those looking to try regional favorites as well as those wanting something a little lighter.
For links to all the posts in this series see the Burgundy page.