Possibly the best restaurant in the world
Everyone has a best restaurant in the world. It might be the corner cafe where they start preparing your drink as soon as you walk in the door, or it might be one of those multi-starred, once in a lifetime restaurants whose names appear on ‘Best of’ lists around the world.
My daughter, who has led a very privileged existence when it comes to fine-dining, swears blind that Tremolat’s Le Vieux Logis wipes the floor with Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and anything Gordon Ramsay has ever put his name to. But when you’ve been eating somewhere for over a decade and the staff have watched you grow up, you will have a better experience than you do on a one-off visit. Especially if your one-off visit has been booked using coupons and you don’t order any wine with your meal.
But because my daughter is always right, Le Vieux Logis is the best restaurant in the world. In her defence, the tasting menu at The Fat Duck was less imaginative than her previous adventures in molecular gastronomy, while she can’t remember a single mouthful of her nice-but-forgettable lunch at Claridge’s.
A meal at Le Vieux Logis, however, is always memorable. The Menu de Marche is a reasonably-priced five-course surprise menu that makes the most of local produce. Last night we were treated to a mini picnic (astroturf trays with mini gingham rugs for plates) of amuses-bouches; a brandade of cod; a trio of tomatoes; a trio of rabbit and cepes; hibiscus jelly with vanilla mousse; a walnut and chocolate millefeuille with milk chocolate sorbet; and a chocolate cappuccino served with an apricot milk crisp.
The quality of the food is matched by the setting, especially if the weather is on your side and you can sit out on the terrace under the trees. The video below shows clips of the hotel and dining rooms that Henry Miller made his home many moons ago.
Tags: claridge's, dordogne, gordon ramsay, henry miller, heston blumenthal, le vieux logis, perigord, restaurant, the fat duck, tremolat, video