We chose this restaurant specifically for their last Monday of the month ‘Carte Blanche’ offer. Every time this month the restaurant puts on a surprise menu of three courses which only gets revealed to you once the plates start to hit your table. An absolute steal at only 26.50 euro per person – but you’ll need to book in advance, it gets very busy. Dinner is served most evenings but lunch is on request only for large groups.
A small side of snacks were brought to us while sipping a glass of champagne (which seems to be the done thing before every meal here). Some cumin spiced popcorn, cornichons, rustic French stick and a delicious garlic dip were served. We were getting very anxious at this point, debating over what we were going to be eating.
The starter arrived, and it was huge, i knew we were going to leave here doubled in weight, portions were going to be big. The plate was a medley of dishes. Grilled tuna in the top right, which could have been cooked a little less, egg, crispy onions and salad. Bottom right was a fragrant, very delicious steak tartar topped with oil and rocket. Bottom left was mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, pesto drenched peppers and a selection of fruits. A lot going here, but it all seemed to work well together and was nice to sample a few of their creations on one plate.
The star dish here was the main. It wasn’t executed flawlessly but it was rich, hearty and even after leaving the town were still reminiscing about it. Tender fillets of lamb on a bed of butter and green beans. Served alongside a gorgeous, thick mustard sauce, some very crisp roast potatoes and a sweet carrot puree to blend it all together. It was almost a French take on the British classic – a Sunday roast dinner. Very good, and much better than any English roast i’ve ever had.
Dessert, which you can’t really see due to low lighting was a sweet glazed waffle with fresh blueberries, blueberry sauce, vanilla custard and an ice cream whose flavour translated as ‘little white flower which grows in the spring’ i’ll leave that up to you to decide exactly what it was. A nice dessert to end with but not overly exciting. I think it was the waffle, i’ve never been a huge fan unless it’s laden with molten chocolate and cream. I’m surprised i remembered all of this meal considering the amount of Sangiovese i put away, do i remember getting back to my hotel, of course!
Le Virage was an impressive restaurant. The surprise menu at the end of the month is great fun, it really gets you talking about the food. Decor is lived in, cosy and very romantic – eating off the small wobbly tables trying not to burn your face on the candle is more romantic than it sounds. I’d love to come back to Le Virage but perhaps instead for the a la carte menu as i’m sure the food which is cooked regularly and uses more expensive ingredients, would be even better.
7/10
