Le Vieux Logis in Tremolat

After a satisfying session of retail therapy in Périgueux, we headed to the small town of Tremolat to have dinner at Le Vieux Logis, a Michelin 2-star restaurant and Relais et Chateaux property, located kind of in the middle of nowhere, accessed by really small windy roads.

Their dining room was just beautiful, decorated in pale blues and reds.  And I have to say that the service and pacing of the meal was just impeccable.  We started with some little treats placed on the table just after we ordered - small potatoes with aioli and some kind of mini brochette.  It was followed by the official amuse, a vegetable vichyssoise soup that was poured carefully into a bowl with a small pile of chopped veggies at the bottom.  I have to say that I'm not a fan of cold soups, nor of vichyssoise, but I may just have been converted today!  This soup was just wonderful - light yet creamy, salty but not too salty.  And the small bits of mystery veggies were a nice textural contrast.

Our official first course arrived next, with the most impressive presentation.  It was a small circle of foie gras, with a tower of spun caramel sugar standing on top of it.  I was told to break the tower into pieces and to eat the shattered pieces of sugar with the foie gras - served with small pieces of toast.  I'm not sure this photo does it justice:

The between-course treat came next - a foie gras creme brulee.  It was just like a creme brulee with a foie gras flavor.  Very salty and oddly satisfying.  At this point, I'm starting to think I may just be reaching my foie gras saturation point. 

The next course was nice and petite - a small order of sauteed scallops with a sweet pea puree and lots of pretty green foam. A nice and light counterpoint after all that foie gras.

Now at this point, I think we're past the halfway mark and am wondering how much more food I can possible consume.  So we get to the main course, which is lamb loin, served with one very nice asparagus spear and a red and yellow pepper bruschetta.  I think this was good.  I can't quite remember - my taste buds were becoming a little dulled at this point.

Finally, we hit the cheese course.  Now, I always love the cheese course in Europe.  You get such a wide variety and some really stinky, unpasteurized options that would never make it through U.S. Customs.  The chevre here has been really good and was excellent tonight as well.  I lost track of the other cheeses I picked.

We next had a small palate cleanser of a light mint granita served under a creamy chocolate mousse (also very light and refreshing).

Although the pacing throughout the meal had been perfect, I was starting to get a little tired (staying out all day from the morning will do that to a girl).  Finally, dessert!  A fresh fruit Vacherin, served with pina colada sorbet with various tropical fruit (including dragonfruit - they can get this in the heart of the Dordogne?!  Very impressive!)  It was a great end to the meal.

We had a little coffee and tea, and were brought some little tuille cookies and madeleines.

Sated to the point of no return, we rolled out of the restaurant a few hours later and made the long, dark and windy 50 minute drive back to Beynac.