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Amboise: Le Choiseul

36 quai Charles Guinot , Phone: 02.47.30.45.45
www.le-choiseul.com

Reviewed by: Mary L. from Czech Republic, review #2673

When: 2007

Gourmet restaurant in Amboise. Beautiful building in nice location with fantastic service. The restaurant is expensive but it is worth it.

We tried to go to restaurants that had been recommended by other SlowTravelers but we just didn't have any luck ... they were full, they were closed, etc.

We did some more searching and came up with Le Choiseul. The restaurant is in Amboise and was easily walked to from our rental. It is on the main road that runs along the Loire River. In the dark I could only see the occasional reflection off the river but it was just nice to know it was there. I'm sure in the summer the view is great.

We made our reservation for 8:30pm and when we arrived there was only one other couple in the restaurant. This made us laugh and we hoped that others would arrive since with only the other couple the restaurant was painfully quiet. By 9pm the restaurant was full and the noise volume was perfect ... not too loud but loud enough that you didn't feel like everyone could hear everything you said.

We had never been to a gourmet restaurant before since it is just generally not our style and they are also expensive but we figured while in France we would live it up and celebrate my birthday. (It also helped that it was the only night we went out to dinner so I could justify the expense.) The food was excellent and I loved the wine that was suggested. It was excellent wine and went perfectly with our meals.

The service was excellent, although we did wonder at times if the staff found our lack of gourmet knowledge humorous. It didn't bother us though since we found our lack of gourmet knowledge funny. We figure that you never will learn if you don't try and you have to start somewhere!

Now, our meals...

I had:

"Fresh chanterelle" - sponge biscuit with "Vin Jaune", fresh chanterelle and artichoke, fine slice of smoked duck, nicely decorated with Comté cheese tiles

Pike-perch- roasted, béarnaise of crab, raviolis of baby leeks and shavings of Parmesan cheese, shellfishes sauce

Fig dessert - I did not like the dessert but I would say it was more of my own taste preference and not the dessert itself.

My husband had:

Duck foie gras - terrine of "Granny Smith" apple and smoked Eel from "Loire river"

Brook Trout - This isn't on the online menu and I don't remember everything that was on it.

Rasberry dessert - This is not on the online menu but it was a chocolate cake on the bottom with a layer of fresh raspberries and topped with a layer of chocolate.

Between each course they brought little mini courses. (That probably isn't what they are called but that is what I am calling them.) It was nice to try them since there were things that I had never had.

We had an excellent wine which I am now on the hunt for. We went direct to the winery but unfortunately they had no more left to sell. Oh well, if you go to the restaurant you can probably get it ... it was Vouvray, Clos de Bretonniere, 2005.

The total bill was about $350USD.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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Amboise: Le Choiseul

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