Death of the Auvergne Tower

Much loved Tour d'Auvergne

Whenever we were in the Brionnais, we had lunch at La Tour d’Auvergne, a fantastic restaurant in St Christophe en Brionnais. This is serious cattle country, virtually all the customers are cattle farmers and the steak was sublime. About a year ago (or maybe a little longer I can’t remember) we had to weave our way through a camera crew videoing the restaurant as we were ushered to a table. The waitresses were dressed in smart new aprons especially for the event. We asked one of them to let us have a closer look at what was written on the apron, she seemed to think it was all a bit over the top but we noted that the name on the apron was Lys'Toire du Charolais - Frédéric Navez - obviously a new supplier or someone who had donated the aprons for the video shoot. When we were leaving we shook hands with the owner as usual and then we were invited to shake hands with a chap who was introduced as “the boss” - we left saying “see you soon”.

Our next visit and the owner was not there, but the aprons were and the man called “the boss” was there too. Sadly it dawned on us that the restaurant had changed hands and we hadn’t been on the ball enough to wish the now ex-owner a happy retirement! Never mind, the customers were there, the steak was there and that was why we went there anyway. The menu hadn’t changed, but for the first time ever, the steak was a bit tough. Well that can happen can’t it? The following visit, I had to send about a third of my steak back to the kitchen as it was too tough to get my fork into. This was too much of a coincidence, methinks he has changed suppliers and not for the right reasons…...

A lot more than just a change of name

As we left the restaurant we were surprised to see that the new owner had changed something else as well. The name of the restaurant had become Lys'Toire du Charolais with the name of the new owner Frédéric Navez very prominent as well. This was in our opinion not a very sensible move, the old name is so well known in these parts and the restaurant had an excellent reputation, on the other hand the ex-owner should be happy that the name of his restaurant has died with the departure, as he certainly wouldn’t be happy about the current culinary standards.

Resaurant du Midi - don't let the scaffolding put you off.

This last week, we went looking for another restaurant. We checked out Restaurant du Midi, just down the road, even though it looked like a building site with scaffolding covering the front. The ambiance was that of a school canteen, with lots of noisy farmers - just what we like about this town. The menu was similar to La Tour, but for just 50 cents extra, you apparently got an as-much-as-you-can-eat buffet of starters as well. We decided to give it a go. The starters were copious and delicious and the steak was perfectly cooked and as soft as butter, no fromage fort with the cheese, but the mousse au chocolat made up for that. We are sold, we will definitely be going back to Restaurant du Midi and we will be recommending it to everyone we know who visits the market.

So it is a very fond farewell to La Tour and here is a little hint to the owner of its replacement - you can’t serve such rubbish steak to the men who dedicate their lives to raising the best beef cattle in the world and hope to survive. I hope he realises in time, but no matter, for now we have found a new place to eat.


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