Le Sénéchal, Sauveterre-de-Rouergue, Aveyron

[Stephen Jackson]

Review: Michel Truchon, Le Sénéchal, Sauveterre-de-Rouergue, Aveyron, France

This was one of those meals that are 'just wonderful'; where the atmosphere, company, food, wine and everything else seem to combine into a delightful ball of loveliness.

Sauveterre-de-Rouergue is a tiny bastide village (it takes about 5 minutes to walk completely around it) just south of Rodez, making it an excellent secondary stop on the way to, or back from, Michel Bras. It's about an hour from Golinhac, where our house is, making for an easy trundle through the countryside, but requiring an overnight stay (well, that's my excuse).

We arrived just before lunch, and parked opposite Le Sénéchal, which stands at the northern end of the village.

We considered it a little early to check in, so headed for the central square, which is beautiful.

http://www.aurelle-verlac.com/sauveterre/svtrplace.jpg

You see?

Pause at a bar for refreshments; my wife had a fantastic dark beer from Corsica called Pietra, which is flavoured with chestnuts. It was delicious, well worth looking for. I was accosted by a randy boxer dog, which we all had a good laugh about later.

The whole village then seemed to 'disappear' for lunch, and the only place open was a small restaurant called 'La Grappe D'Or', at the western side of the village. We had confit and frites, a decent rosé, and passed a pleasant hour before the shops reopened.

Like Laguiole, Sauveterre is famous for its clasp knives, and we popped into the Atelier Vialis to have a look. I decided to buy a knife, and plumped for a beautiful example, made from wood taken from the magnolia trees that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. Classy, huh?

http://www.vialis.fr/atelier_sauveterre.html

Then we checked in. Turns out they're closed for lunch on Thursdays, so we had to dial the Sénéchal and wait for Madame Truchon to come and open up for us.

Our rooms were, as most French hotels are, bizarrely decorated, a mixture of beautiful antiques and horrendous tubular steel. Still, the aircon worked superbly, the bathroom was clean and the beds comfortable. Time for dinner....

We were seated outside (always a rare treat for the English), but from what i could see the dining room looked spacious and beautifully arranged. There were large vases with goldfish in on each table. Still not sure how I feel about that.

The waiting staff appeared to (on that night at least) be composed of Madame Truchon and two sommeliers. Bizarre, but they were all excellent. They made is laugh, tried out their english, and never let our glasses become dry. Nice guys.

So, the meal:

Canapés:

Little polenta discs with herbs and parmesan

Malt loaf with Bleu des Causses

Stuffed cherry tomatoes

Shellfish tartlets

All good, especially the malt loaf; dark and fruity, it made a great counterpoint to the sweet salty cheese.

I asked for a fino sherry, and the sommelier said he didn't have that, but he did have something I might have never tried. I beat him to it by asking if it was Robert Plageoles' "Vin de Voile", a sherry-like wine from Gaillac. He burst out laughing and said "Yes!" I told him I have it on my wine list here in the UK, and he sounded pleasantly surprised.

The wines I ordered were:

White - "L'Argile" de la Rectorie (one of my favourite whites, from near Banyuls) and a Mas Jullien red. Both were, as expected, excellent.

Amusette 1: Carrot and cumin mousse with sesame tuile

Delicious light foamy mousse, perhaps not as carroty as it could have been, but the langue-du-chat tuile was lovely.

Amusette 2: a champagne flute of Cauliflower foam with argan oil

Straight out of the elBulli espuma gun, really tasty, and the oil lent a nice citric kick

1st course: A little bowl of mussel and saffron soup topped with a tuile made from Estaing cheese (very like Parmesan) with a small timbale of aubergine and roast tomato with a socca galette (chickpea flour from Nice)

The soup was excellent, with plenty of saffron and a rich mussel-y cream. The tuile was tasty enough, if a little chewy (as these things are when left for anything longer than a minute) and the timbale was intensely-flavoured. They didn't really compliment each other, but as separate items they were extremely good.

2nd course: Duck foie gras with roast black figs, duck jus and Banyuls

Massive slice of perfectly fried foie gras resting between two enormous plump figs, with a little pool of intense duck reduction and a splash of reduced Banyuls. Blissful. We enjoyed a glass of another Plageoles wine with this, his "Vin d'Autan", a super-intense quince-flavoured pudding wine made from the Ondenc grape, IIRC.

3rd course: sea bream with violet artichokes, vanilla oil and tempura of citronelle leaf

Oh man, this was superb. A beautiful piece of fish, seared crisp on the skin side, barely cooked flesh which just melted, set atop at least a dozen tiny artichoke hearts, and traced with a little sunflower oil with vanilla seeds. The tempura was a crispy citrus-flavoured leaf which added a delightful contrast. The artichokes were delicious, and the fish was really, really good; meaty and super-fresh.

4th course: lamb sweetbreads with parsnip puree, truffle and lovage cream

Disappointing, if only because the sweetbreads were overcooked. This said, the dish worked really well. The parnsip puree was intense and perfumes, which married well with the thick slices of black summer truffle, and the fluffy cream was only lightly flavoured with lovage, which can dominate. Here it just added its celery-like intensity to the perfume of the dish. Shame about those 'breads. Cooked quickly to a crunchy exterior/soft centre, they'd have really made a terrific dish.

5th course: Fillet of Aubrac beef with mustard greens, violet mustard sauce and Mostarda di Cremona

Bit on the mustard-y side.

Seriously, though, this could have been awful, but it wasn't. The Mostarda di Cremona was simply the fruit, removed from the mustard syrup and diced finely, and the violet mustard was merely a trace of jus across the plate. The greens were juicy and tasty, and the fillet was excellent. Aubrac beef is brilliant stuff, and this was cooked and rested perfectly.

Cometh The Cheese Trolley: Nice, small well-managed selection, from which we tried:

Marotte - Roquefort (Le Vieux Berger - the best I've ever had) - Estaing - Perail

http://www.le-vieux-berger.com/

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Tart with cardamom ice-cream and a cocoa-nib tuile

A nice enough tart, with plenty of warm custardy filling, and the cardamom just floated through the dish without squashing any of the flavours. the tuile was brilliant, a sticky cocoa and sugar biscuit dotted with chopped cocoa nibs - really dark flavours.

With this we drank a most astonishing wine. I'd said I fancied something Maury-esque, and off scuttled the sommelier with a glint in his eye. He brough back a dark bottle, which was stencilled in the style of a vintage port. The wine was 'Maydie', a dessert wine made by the Madiran producer Chateau d'Aydie. It is 100% Tannat, vinified like a ruby port. My God, it is superb. Huge, juicy, alcoholic. I have already begun to look for a source of this for my own restaurant. Really impressive stuff...

Coffee etc.

We were given a small coffee menu, and chose to drink Blue Mountain (well, why not?), and Armagnacs were chosen too. I also went for a cigar (Cohiba Siglo 1) because it's been a while since I had a nice smoke after such a good meal.

The petits-fours were:

A little glass of barbary fig (prickly pear) foam with a herb jelly beneath - lovely

a chocolate/coffee ganache pot

really tasty vanilla madeleines

nicely sour lemon tartlets

We had a good long chat with Madame Truchon about all manner of things, then went to bed very happy, but a little bit too full. Ah well, it's a rare treat to go out for dinner.

Overall, very impressed. I would certainly go back - there was much on the carte I'd have liked to try. The welcome and service was informal, friendly and helpful (Mme Truchon even gave us advice on where to go fishing the next day - with results; we caught three very nice fario trout) and I'd add this to my ever-growing list of great places to eat in the Aveyron (Bras, Gouts et Couleurs in Rodez, Le Vieux Pont in Belcastel, L'Auberge Saint Fleuret in Estaing).

There's a new place in Conques, very close by, which is also getting rave reviews. Gault Millau named the chef as one of the ones to watch. It's the Moulin de Cambelong.

http://www.moulindecambelong.com

I shall aim to try it next time I'm out there.

Meanwhile, do try the Sénéchal. It's smashing.

http://www.senechal.net

Apologies for the lengthy post, but hey, it's the way I do it.

Edited September 16, 2004 by Stephen Jackson (log)

[Gary Marshall]

no need to apologise, a good read, thanks!

are you back in sunny huddersfield yet?

i really must get myself over to your place soon.

cheers

gary

[Stephen Jackson]

no need to apologise, a good read, thanks!

are you back in sunny huddersfield yet?

i really must get myself over to your place soon.

cheers

gary

←

Yeah, been back almost a week now, hard at work. We lost our long-serving sous-chef last month (he's quitting the trade to teach catering - fed up of the hours) and have decided to share the workload instead of getting a new chef in. I'm actually having to get my hands dirty again, which is refreshing. We're also just about to do a complete re-fit of the dining room, after 10 years. Bit more contemporary decor, slightly smaller carte more reliant on our Kitchen Garden, Laguiole knives, few more 'treats' between courses. I need the challenge, frankly.

But yes, the holiday was, to paraphrase Depeche Mode, fun-packed. Lots to eat and drink (aligot frenzy occurred several times), and my brother-in-law and I chopped down a couple of trees, which made me feel all butch and powerful.

Edited September 16, 2004 by Stephen Jackson (log)

[Poppy Quince]

Yeah, been back almost a week now, hard at work. We lost our long-serving sous-chef last month (he's quitting the trade to teach catering - fed up of the hours) and have decided to share the workload instead of getting a new chef in. I'm actually having to get my hands dirty again, which is refreshing. We're also just about to do a complete re-fit of the dining room, after 10 years. Bit more contemporary decor, slightly smaller carte more reliant on our Kitchen Garden, Laguiole knives, few more 'treats' between courses. I need the challenge, frankly.

But yes, the holiday was, to paraphrase Depeche Mode, fun-packed. Lots to eat and drink (aligot frenzy occurred several times), and my brother-in-law and I chopped down a couple of trees, which made me feel all butch and powerful.

←

[Poppy Quince]

I came across Le Senechal when looking for a place to break the journey between Provence and the Dordogne some years ago. The decor in the hotel room was a bit strange, but the food was an unexpected pleasure. One of our party was under the weather and couldn't face a full meal; they very kindly supplied him with an omelette, but his face as he saw what he was missing was pitiful.

Good to know they're still producing notable food. And the perfect bastide town was lovely. I saw a for sale sign on a 16th century building off the main place and actually considered it for a few minutes, until I recalled my account balance.