My trip to Europe: Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

image of Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

If you live in the New York and go to France, you might notice or I should say realize how spoiled we are there, places being opened daily and late at night if not 24/7. In France, it is not the case: supermarkets close at night; pharmacies are closed on the week end, except one per neighborhood for emergencies, and restaurants or boulangeries (bakeries) are closed once a week. If you are in Paris for instance, you will always find something opened, but in smaller cities, it might be a challenge. That is what we experienced when going to Tain L'Hermitage, a 6,000 souls city in the Drôme department, known for its wine and because Valrhona chocolatier has its Cité du Chocolat, a place where you can learn about chocolate and taste as many Valrhona chocolates as you want!

image of Le Chaudron in Tournon, France
So, after walking around to try to find a place opened there for lunch, we went back to our car and drove to Tournon, the city close by. There, after desperately trying to find a place, we saw Le Chaudron, a French restaurant located located at the end of a cul-de-sac. 
image of terrace at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Nice place, with a beautiful terrace that would have been perfect if we did not expect rain...that never came. 
image of table at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The food there is elevated French or shall I say New French? Yes, they take classic ingredients such as foie gras or fish and create some interesting and mouth watering dishes. 

At the start of our meal, their brought us some caillette, a specialty from the area that is made with different parts of the porc. 
image of caillette at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Then, I decided to go with the filets de rouget, a fish close to red snapper, but smaller and with a more pronounced taste. 
image of filets de rougets at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

It was served with two tapenades, one made with black olives, the other with green, for some added saltiness.
image of tapenade at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France image of tapenade at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France
The fish was perfectly cut and cooked.
image of filets de rougets at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Nice presentation and a great way to start a meal.

Then, I got the millefeuille of salmon with a curry sauce, served with ravioles (sort of small ravioli, a traditional dish there). 
image of salmon millefeuille at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

image of ravioles from the salmon millefeuille at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The salmon was perfectly cooked, moist and deliciously flakey, with tuiles made with sesame seeds that gave a nice nuttiness to the dish.
image of salmon millefeuille at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The sauce was sublime, the curry being there for the color rather than the taste. 

Jodi ordered a cheese plate:
image of cheese plate at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

It had:

Fourme d'Ambert:
image of Fourme d'Ambert at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Picodon:
image of picodon cheese at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Coulomier:
image of coulomier cheese at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

Saint Felicien:
image of Saint Felicien cheese at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

With it, she ordered a small salad that was a bit pricey (10 Euros). 
image of small salad at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

For dessert, we tried:

The pomme au four (oven baked apple) with salted caramel:
image of pomme au four at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The crème brûlée:
image of creme brûlée at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The mi-cuit au chocolat:
image of mi-cuit au chocolat at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

The dessert were very disappointing: the crème brûlée had a weird taste and the mi-cuit cake was overcooked. Only the oven baked apple was good. 
image of chocolate cakes at Le Chaudron in Tournon, France

With our coffee, they also gave us some small pieces of chocolate cake, a nice touch to finish a meal that would have been memorable if the dessert would have been at the same level as the rest of the food. Despite this, I really liked our meal at Le Chaudron: creative and delicious. 

Le Chaudron
7 Rue Saint-Antoine
07300 Tournon-sur-Rhône, France

Enjoy (I did)!

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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!