Tails From Provence

In the village near Granny’s house, there is a butcher shop which was run by the same man for more than forty years.  Much of his meat came from cattle and sheep raised on his own farm and the quality was always excellent while the price was always good, too.  For a special family treat, we would sometimes splash out on his fillet steak – an expensive prospect in most butchers, but surprisingly affordable from this man.

Imagine Granny’s surprise when she came back from California after Christmas to find that her old friend had retired and the shop had been sold as a going concern.  She has only shopped there once since the business changed hands, but with the Big Sis and the Bro-in-Law arriving the day before I left, she decided to try the new man’s fillet steak.

The sun beamed down all day from a clear blue sky and the lake was looking as beautiful as ever so we decided to dine Al Fresco.  The table and chairs were retrieved from the garage, where they have been hibernating for the last two years, scrubbed down and laid out in front of the house.

For starters, we had baked brie coated in breadcrumbs – ALDI’s best.

Crunchy and melty at the same time, we all had some mango chutney on the side and a Californina Rosè to wash it down.

Then it was time to check out the steaks.

Bro-in-Law and I like ours bloody, so I threatened them with the frying pan for a moment or two.  That only works if the steak is top quality, and boy were these ones excellent.  A lot of the time, I find that fillet steak is tender but flavourless, but these were superb – tender, melt-in-the-mouth and tasty.

We served them with boiled new potatoes and a green salad.

We sat there, enjoying the stillness and the birdsong, the wine and the food, the banter and the company.  Nobody had room for dessert, which was just as well, seeing as we didn’t have any.

Star Rating (out of 5) : 

Service : ✮✮✮✮✮ Between the four of us, service was excellent
Food : ✮✮✮✮✮
Value : ✮✮✮✮✮ At €18 for four big fillet steaks, we can’t complain
Ambiance : ✮✮✮✮✮

I’ve just realised that the last three Thank Friday it’s Lunchtime posts have been picnics.  This may, or may not, have something to do with the LSH losing his job.  We’ll eat in a restaurant again some day soon, I swear!