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Restaurants in the Vendee
La
Marlow.
La Grand Plage,St Gilles Croix de Vie
This is simply my favourite resort on the Vendéen coast, the town
being an amalgam of two smaller towns on either side of the river Vie,
Saint-Giles-Sur-Vie and Croix-de-Vie. On arrival we had coffee in a café on the
South side of the Vie, it was very nice but as usual in places like this it
wasn’t cheap, costing over 5 euros for the pleasure. A tip for those who are
looking to economise is don’t drink coffee, beer or even soft drinks in bars and
cafés as they are all invariably expensive. It is worth taking a cold bag or a
flask, that way you save the cost and you can stop and have your beverage
wherever you want. You may not get the same ambience but you will save yourself
enough to put towards another day out.
Having finished coffee we embarked on the walk that Trevor had
wanted to make following the South side of the river then out to the river mouth
and along the breakwater to the lighthouse at the far end. The walk out to the
end of the breakwater was long but it did afford a spectacular view back to the
main beach which stretches South in front of the dunes and then on past the
promenade.
We
came back along the breakwater and over the dunes to the esplanade where we
planned to have lunch. This promenade has changing facilities, toilets
(including disabled toilets), cafés, crêperies, bars and restaurants. Behind all
of this are the hotels and apartments and behind them the town runs back to the
river. All along the promenade the restaurants had dining rooms on one side and
tables under sun shades on the other. We looked at all of the restaurants, most
offered a formula for lunch which is a limited choice menu at a reduced price.
We chose Le Marlow, which seemed to have a predominately local clientele and a
menu that suited our needs. My scooter wouldn’t fit in the small space under the
sun shades and I couldn’t get into the dining room. The waitress, who wouldn’t
win any beauty contests but was nonetheless delightful, moved a table from under
the sunshades to the dining room side of the promenade, even though she was
incredibly busy, so that I could sit at it on my scooter. We were just in the
shade when we started our lunch which was just as well as the sun was beating
down relentlessly. Trevor had his customary alcohol free beer and I had, don’t
laugh, a Coke. Trevor started with mussels, so I had a gizzard salad, in an
attempt to have something different to enable a broader review of the
restaurant. Trevor’s mussels were good, he had plenty and they were perfectly
cooked, the liquor was good he used his bread to mop it up with a smile on his
face.
My gizzard salad was very good, obviously one can’t expect to have
the same quantity in this type of restaurant that one might get inland, but
nonetheless it was perfectly satisfactory. We both followed with entrecote
steaks, I had mine with a pepper sauce and Trevor had the Roquefort sauce both
were served with frites and a little salad. The entrecotes were a decent size
and were both cooked perfectly Trevor said that his Roquefort sauce was good my
pepper sauce tasted good enough but it was a little bit glutinous and
understandably had probably been cooked quite a while before it reached my
plate. We both ended with Ile Flottante, which were served in small glass
ramekins and were totally unlike the Ile Flottante that your French grand-mère
would have served. Now perhaps my expectations are too high, but Ile Flottante
means floating island and for me it should be quenelles of egg white
meringues floating on a sea of Crème Anglais with a hint of caramel. It was
difficult to see how this could in any way be described as floating anything,
unless there was something suspended in the semi solid custard. Don’t get me
wrong, the taste itself was perfectly acceptable; I just couldn’t see how it
could be called Ile Flottante.
The overall cost was 29 euros and considering that we were eating
on the seafront, I guess it was reasonable value for money. The service was good
and the view overlooking the beach and the sea was glorious, but I just can’t
help remembering the meal we had just across the river at La Fauvette last year.
There’s no doubt that the view at Le Marlow is better, but I know which one I
would choose - Tate - June 2009
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