Well, we got to Le Mans, in France, at the start of our family holiday a few days ago. It was our stop off on the way to the Charente in South West France. Wow, what a place, what history. The mecca of 24hr motor racing.
We got to our hotel for the night and unloaded our bags to our room. Nothing special about the room, but it was clean (ish) and had a nice hot shower. We're now hungry. As Anthony Bourdain says, "When you get to your hotel and you want dinner, get the hell away from the hotel buffet!". You tend to get over priced touristy food that you wouldn't feed to your dog. This place looked alright, but was over priced! I know the pound is week against the Euro but £9 for a starter, £18 for a main and then another £9 for dessert. We will have overspent on our budget by day 1 if this is the norm.
"Let's explore!" Yes, we have had a 10 hour journey setting off at 2am from Blighty, and, we are all frightfully
tired and on the edge of our first bust up of the holiday. "Let's explore anyway!"
We headed off in search of our first meal.
Our hotel was in the middle of a less than celubrious area and I didn't fancy a long trip out in the car after the journey we had had. We dutifuly set off though and no sooner had we passed the first bend than my daughter saw the dreaded Golden Arches. Aaagh, my worst nightmare. Personally I don't mind a Maccy D's once in a while but not for my 5 year old. I want her to eat healthily. I also don't like paying my hard earned ££ to a major conglomerate like MD's for a limp burger, especially when we are in a major foodie country like France. I hate to see parents on a Sunday having lunch at the local Burger joint. Whatever happened to the family sitting around the table eating a nice roast. I was brought up doing it and so was my wife. How hard is it to cook a roast? Easy.
Back to the story. I persuaded my daughter that we are not going to go to MD's. Tears. God, we are tired. After a trawl around we realised that it was early and none of the local restaurants had opened. My wife saw a place called "Quick". The lights were on and people were home! As we approached we noticed a familiar picture on the window of the restaurant, a burger!! Sod it. We are tired, but at least it's not MD's!!
"Table for three please!" Just joking. We walked up to the counter, me dragging my feet. We all had the "Giant" burger with fries and a coke. Milk for the little lady.
MMMmmmmmm! I'm in France!! What a taste sensation!
The burger had mayonnaise on it. Jules from Pulp Fiction would have been proud. This was "One tasty burger." It had fresh, crunchy lettuce and a thick slice of juicy tomato. The bun was fluffy and light and the burger looked like it was made from meat of all things. The fries had skin on so must have come from a potato!! The best of all was the little sachet of mayo. It had flavours of dijon mustard and an astringency of what must have been real vinegar. My wife frowned when I sucked at the sachet to get the last remnants of mayo out of it.
The foie gras and truffles can wait (for now), we are having BURGER for tea!!
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