Dinner in Domme

It was the afternoon of my third day in the French countryside and there were two things I had yet to do - have a nice meal in a restaurant and go to the supermarket.  For those who have traveled to house rentals in the European countryside, you will realize that #2 is critical!  However, Stephanie, the owner of La Maisonette, had kindly arranged to leave us with a small starter set of groceries when we arrived, including some half and half, strawberries, pasta/sauce, orange juice and cookies.  After multiple house rentals, this is the first time anyone has been this thoughtful - which meant that our supermarket trip could be delayed without too much consequence!

So in the afternoon, I set to remedying #1 - finding a place for a nice meal (all I'd eaten by 5 pm was a ham and cheese croissant and a massive ice-cream sundae!)  Alas, it was Monday.  I started out with an ambitious search of Michelin-starred places.  None of them were open on Monday night.  Then, I went down the list of restaurants in Stephanie's helpful house book.  I was 0/5 so I gave up and we decided to go over to Le Roque-Gageac to check out the pretty town (another of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France).

Nothing was open there on Monday at 7 pm.  Seriously, nothing.  I took a few pictures and we left.

We headed up the hill to Domme, yet another of Les Plus Beaux Villages (the Dordogne is swimming with them).  It's a old bastide town with high walls and teeny tiny winding streets.  The thought of driving through this town in the crush of summer was somewhat terrifying.  We parked and finally found an open restaurant, Le Bistrot.  I had a classic Perigord meal - the "formule" (set menu) with a foie gras starter, cassoulet for a main and the walnut cake for dessert.  It was nice, relatively fast (for dining in France) and a deal (€15 for all three courses).  Parfait!

Then we walked over the side of the town to look over the fabulous sunset views of the Dordogne river.

And yes!  The ice cream place by the view was open!  So I had two scoops of artisanal sorbet - apricot and peach.  Not as good as my pear the previous day (same local ice cream maker) but perfect for sitting on the terrace and happily watching the sunset in Perigord.