Any excuse for a good meal really. Perhaps for a half birthday, a monthiversary or maybe one week has passed since I bought a particular pair of shoes and yay, no blisters. Whatever reason to make it a special occasion works for me.
One week into our visit to France, and our last night in fabulous Tours (what, no new shoes to celebrate?) we decided to dine at Le Turon.
We'd already experienced La Souris Gourmand, the strongly recommended fondue place down the street with the mice & cheese theme running throughout, even in their toilets.
So we opted for another recommendation hoping it would be just as enjoyable.
Le Turon was listed in the top five restaurants in Tours by reviews on TripAdvisor and it definitely sounded like it would have a delicious selection of local dishes.
We were seated at one of four tables on the street and enjoyed our bubbly aperitif complete with tapenade snackage while we perused the impressive Menu Gourmand.
It is always amusing to order from a menu in a language other than your own.
Luckily we seemed to manage alright with the language barrier and we even successfully ordered scallops, one of my favorites. Someone seemed to know a lot more French than he originally let on to knowing.
These were the most amazingly delicious scallops with chorizo and lime. They just melted in your mouth.
Across the table, the local pate with a blop of fruit chutney and crostini was being enjoyed.
You may note that the number of wine glasses seems to be slowly multiplying.
My main dish was a winner as well. Giant prawns with coconut rice and creamy sauce complete with quenelles of green stuff. We had no clue what they were made from but I suspect it was of the vegetable family.
The beef with chunky chips and cream sauce, also accompanied by the green quenelles, was enjoyed as well.
I can happily report that there was not a speck of green mystery stuff left on our plates at the end of the meal.
Then it was time for dessert.
Ahh.....the desserts.
It was nearly too beautiful to eat (OK, nothing is that beautiful) but it was definitely crying out to be photographed.
Fruit coulis and custardy creme backdrop to a warm apple mixture tucked inside the crepe with caramel ice cream plopped on top.
It was the perfect dessert for my taste buds after such an amazing meal.
Had I not chosen the apple crepe I might have indulged in this chocolate option, but as I did not taste it myself I cannot comment on anything other than its glorious appearance.
I do have it on good authority that it was very much enjoyed and received a big thumbs up.
Food that is good enough to photograph always makes me smile and Le Turon sure provided its fair share of photogenic food.
It lived up to the positive reviews and even though I'm thinking that the variety of wine enjoyed throughout the meal helped make my opinions extra enthusiastic, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a special meal to be had in Tours.
