Le Lièvre Gourmand@Vailly-sur-Sauldre

Sauté du lièvre!

Message from William Page:

'Après presque vingt ans à Vailly le Lièvre va déménager !!!

Nous serons fin mars 2010 au 28 Quai du Chatelet à Orléans dans une belle maison donnant sur La Loire.

Entre temps nous allons fêter comme il se doit notre départ avec un menu "best of" regroupant vos / nos plats préférés pendant tout le mois de février.

Venez dire au revoir à notre maison avant que la nouvelle aventure ne commence.

Amicalement                             William Page

The smoked foie gras – the most spectacular dish I've had at Le Lièvre

After almost twenty years at Vailly le Lièvre is moving!!!

As from the end of March 2010 we'll be in a terrific new place overlooking the river at 28 Quai du Chatelet, Orléans.

Before we move and during all of February we're doing a best of menu regrouping some of yours and our favourite dishes from the last twenty years.

So come and say goodbye to us here at Vailly before the new adventure starts.

All my very best                            William Page'

See reports on meals @Le Lièvre here and here. I hope the move goes well and that the food remains as good if not better in the new premises in Orléans.

Decoration on central table

8 August 2009

I have already posted on the very good meal we had in late June at William Pages' Le Lièvre Gourmand in the small town of Vailly-sur-Sauldre. We went back on Saturday night and chose the 49€ menu – we had tried the one at 39€ in June. The 49 is certainly worth the additional 10€ – it was stunningly good. All the dishes were great, whereas in June we had been very impressed with everything except for the pork dish. Unfortunately the photos do not really do justice to the presentation!

Tourteau, citronnelle et gingembre

Cabillaud et truffles d'été

Foie gras fumée

Pigeonneau de Pierre Cassé en deux services

les desserts:

Poirée séchée à l'huile d'olive, chocolat blanc au combava

Fruits rouges, panna cotta à la rose

Orange et chocolat

To drink:
Thierry Hamelin 2004 Chablis 1er Cru Ligneau Blanc
The wine's minerality was perfect with the fish

Tim Adams 2003 Cabernet Clare Valley
Worked surprisingly well with the smoked foie gras and was excellent with the pigeon

8 August 2009: Epeigné-les-Bois to Aubigny-sur-Nère
with excellent dinner Le Lièvre Gourmand in Vailly-sur-Sauldre

We started off with a look at the vines at Monthou-sur-Cher, which were a sad sight as they have clearly suffered substantial damage from the hailstorms of mid-July. On a quick look some parcels had very few grapes left.

Monthou: hail damaged bunches

Monthou: hail damaged bunches

Monthou: canes damaged by the hail

Monthou: shredded vines

About five miles away in Oisly up on the plateau, the vines (again on a quick look) appeared not to have been affected by the hail as this sight of some generous bunched shows.

Oisly: plentiful bunches

Moving on from Oisly we drove through Contres (Loir-et-Cher) with its asparagus beds and extensive market gardening on the very sandy soil found here through Soings-en-Sologne, Mur-de-Sologne, Millançay and to Marcilly-en-Gault. Once you reach the Sologne (the big forested area with many lakes between Orléans and Vierzon and famous for its hunting) the buildings change. The tuffeau of Touraine and Saumur is left behind and instead the buildings are a mix of timber and brick.

Marcilly-en-Gault: typical lake just to the west of this small town

Marcilly-en-Gault: La Maison de Foussydoire and its remarkably wavy lower beam

Then we headed across to Aubigny-sur-Nère, where we had a booked chambres d'hôte for the night, going via the pretty village of Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre.

Church@Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre near Aubigny

Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre: statue of Joan of Arc



Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre: water feature by church

Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre: elegant house with dark blue shutters

Aubigny-sur-Nère: the remarkable roundabout complete with water wheel, frog and heron

Aubigny-sur-Nère is famous for its connections with Scotland in particular with the Stuarts and the Château des Stuarts - details here.

Our b&b was with Claude Courboin, Gorgeot, 18700 Aubigny-sur-Nère (tel: 02.48.58.03.16) – just to the west of Aubigny on the road to Lamotte-Beuvron. Claude will feature in the second day's report.