La Rance - Pleurtuit

Visited with my wife for lunch. No starters. My magret looked as if it had been frozen as the flesh appeared grey in places, sauteed potatoes were burnt on one side and undercooked on the other. Good selection of vegetables but all had a weird...scent. My wife had fillet steak which was pre sliced which was pleasant enough but over garliced. No desserts. Patron was a bit weird over visited and obsessed by the provenance of his battle horse vegetables.

We came in late for a lunch with a family of 10, but Charlie and his lovely wife welcomed us, helped us quickly through orders and disappeared in the kitchen. All other guests had meanwhile left and lunch became a private party in their 'living...room '. Fresh melon for the children as appetisers and fresh apricots ahead of their dessert were examples of their eye for personal detail. We chatted away as they walked in and out, humming cheerfully while cooking the loveliest dishes, including cod, duck and tartiflette. Tartiflette in Bretagne? Mais oui! Charlie spent 30 years as chef in Genève. We also lived 8 years in Switzerland and so my wife got treated to a fine regional dish. His chocolate fondant dessert was a stunning recipe from his Swiss years a heavenly treat. No French fries, but butter soft potatoes; no kids burger, but a homemade ravioli. That 's La Ranche. In all, a fantastic afternoon in a private dining atmosphere. Worth the bike ride to Pleurtuit for!!

Easily walked to from our B B, which enabled us to enjoy a glass of wine with our meal. Food was unfussy

We were spending one night in the area, and being out of season it was difficult to find anywhere that would be open on a Monday night. La Rance was and when we 'phoned to confirm, just in case, we have been caught out by...French restaurants before! we ordered the Fruits de Mer, for which at least 48 hours notice is required. We turned up bang on time to be greeted by a very jovial 'Mine Host ' he might have been a little relieved to see us, as because we had 'phoned from abroad, he had no contact number for us! The food and wine were excellent, not cheap, but well worth the money, this was our treat for the trip. Well looked after, we enjoyed almost the whole experience. We weren 't too keen on the music from the radio, a little loud, but as there were only two other diners the place could have seemed a little too empty without some background noise, and the room itself is a little too well lit, not that we wanted to eat in the dark! I would suspect that a visit in the summer when the terrace is available would be a lovely experience. Fruits de Mer is of course one occasion where the chef puts the raw materials in front of his customers and lets them get on with it, so we have not tasted any cooked dishes here, but will on the next visit.

Façade et entrée "simples". Un patron breton, en Bretagne, qui a travaillé longtemps en Suisse, c'est peu courant. Nous y sommes arrivés par hasard, le 1er août (fête nationale Suisse, autre hasard). Manquait de St-Jacques pour la trilogie de poissons, remplacées par des crevettes roses magnifiques et en abondance ; explication du patron : je n'ai pas de congélateur ! Et c'est vrai, la cuisine, fraîche et naturelle est excellente, si un plat vient à manquer, un autre le remplacera sans problème. Toute la cuisine et les desserts sont effectivement "maison". Que du bonheur de passer un moment convivial au restaurant de la Rance, je vous le recommande vivement vous ne le regretterez certainement pas.