Review: Le Cercle, Bourges

What is it with French fine dining and puddings? Sorry, desserts. Are there other food writers out there properly bemoaning the complete lack of decent pastry chefs in French provincial 1 Michelin star restaurants? Or am I just dismally unlucky to have had crap desserts in the last five French provincial 1 Michelin star restaurants I’ve dined in?

I’m not bloody kidding. Check the reviews. Here’s Septieme Peche in Bordeaux, Le Gabriel in Bordeaux, Le Gambette in Saumur, and I’ve just realised I never even blogged Les Berceaux in Epernay but take it from me: crap dessert.

And blimey if the dessert at Le Cercle in Bourges wasn’t crap too. Room temperature cheese curds, frozen balls of apple with thin strips of peel unappealingly still attached, a sesame snap, I have no idea what they were going for but it fell way short.

Which is a pity, because right up until then we’d been enjoying a very good meal indeed!

Some decent hors d’oeuvre to kick off, and then a jolly good starter of snails in a nettle and wild garlic butter with morels, scorched strips of scallion and other odds and ends. Pleasing combo, rich with flavour. Across the table, a classic block of foie gras mi-cuit with gingerbread crumb and sharp apple goo was declared good, if predictable.

Fish was perhaps the success of the evening, a glistening slab of monkfish with bright peas and a sour rhubarb gravy. Summery and delish. Oh, and at Le Cercle they have this cute schtick where they serve a separate little bowl with each dish, containing the same main ingredient done a

different way. So we also had a bit of monkfish tartare on a bed of minced mushroom with a fragrant oil. Yeah, kindof a gimmick. Okay, totally a gimmick. Some of these little asides worked, others didn’t.

The little aside for the veal main worked very well: a thin sliver of belly, cooked to crispy goodness. The roast lump of veal was also good, with a curry-perfumed gravy that complemented very nicely indeed, along with girolles and fresh cherries. Also some juicy pieces of turnip. The whole combo was a really engaging affair.

Then the complete poop of a dessert. Which is a shame. The four courses were about £60 before wine, and I’d have paid a bit less if I’m honest. It’s a handsome dining room in a big old town house, service was good, and of course there’s a great big wine list full of good Loire wines.