Another lunch at the Mange-Grenouille

One of the prettiest restaurants in Saint-Aignan is called le Mange-Grenouille (The Frog Eater). It's been open for about five years and just recently changed hands. Our friend CHM took us to lunch there on Monday and the food was just as good as it ever was. It's standard French fare and for lunch on weekdays they serve a great menu for fourteen euros.

CHM and Ken in the courtyard dining area of the Mange-Grenouille. The tables filled up after we arrived.

The menu has a couple of options for appetizers, then three choices for the main course. There is usually one beef dish, one fish dish, and then something else. Cheese or dessert is included in the menu price, but wine and coffee are extra.

The appetizer.

Each of us had the same appetizer on Monday. It was a salad of smoked lieu (I think Americans would call that pollock) with lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced and marinated pears and cucumbers, a spear of white asparagus, and crispy fried shallots. Very tasty. The other choice, which we didn't taste, was rillettes de canard (potted duck).

My main course.

We each had something different for our main courses. Mine, pictured here, was a roti de porc (pork roast) in a balsamic sauce. It was served with a mix of fresh green and yellow beans, carrots, and eggplant, and half a roasted potato. Ken had a steak in pepper sauce and CHM had skate wing.

Dessert.

We also had a bottle of Pinot Noir from across the river in St.-Romain. Our dessert was a slice of French toast with an apricot compote and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then we each had a coffee.

The Tadpole's menu (for kids under eleven).

The restaurant's decor is very nice; it was done by a local woman from whom we bought some antiqued furniture when we arrived here seven years ago. She has a shop in St.-Aignan. The weather was very pleasant and we were able to snag a table in the courtyard and enjoy the greenery and the sunlight.