After a heavy afternoon’s tasting we fancied going for a nice meal. Our choice of the one-star le Jardin des Remparts in Beaune was inspired. Not only did it have a very good, and reasonably priced, wine list but also the food was very high quality.
I was highly amused by the first course, melon with pepper. The melon had been made into a little egg yolk and was liquid in the centre; quite delicious and a lovely texture. I was blown away by the next course, which is one of their signature dishes: tartare of Charolais beef with oysters. I suppose some people might be nervous about eating oysters in the summer so far from the sea, but this was really terribly good. There was a pile of beef tartare surrounded by a carefully dissected oyster. Brilliant.
We then had poached langoustine with langoustine sorbet and cubes of coconut milk. I didn’t really go for the coconut milk, but the langoustine and sorbet were a treat. Snails with morels followed, they were tender and full of flavour.
The piece of line-caught sea bass that followed was perfectly cooked, no hint of over-cookedness about it. This was served with sardine butter and seaweed puree which was a really good match. Foie gras is something I love and the escallop of foie was fried to perfection; a lovely crust and meltingly soft in the middle. Apple and goat’s cheese came with this and the balance of flavours was superb.
The final course before cheese was a croustillant of ris de veau with shrimps. I am a big fan of ris de veau, but have never had them cooked in this way. They were quite well cooked so they developed a firm crust on the outside. It was delicious.
The service was excellent and they had a very pleasing terrace to dine on which made a hot evening’s meal a lot easier to bear. The food was damned good. This is another place I’d like to revisit.
Contact: Le Jardin des Remparts, 10 rue Hotel Dieu, 21220 Beaune. Tel +33 3 80 24 79 41 Fax +33 3 80 24 92 79