After the wedding, the husband and I headed to Reims, the capital of the Champagne region for one night. We had planned to take it slow with a tour of the champagne caves at one of the houses (more on that later), and to walk around the town to see its Cathedral and the room where the Germans signed the surrender document with the Americans in 1945. Reims was a lovely town and we enjoyed ourselves there very much.
The highlight of our trip was going to Chateau Les Crayeres to have lunch at their Brasserie, Le Jardin. We had heard from our friend that Reims had a fairly famous (and very expensive!) Michelin-starred restaurant and were quite insistent on trying it. Unfortunately (or fortunately for our wallets) it was closed on Mondays, and we were only going to be in Reims that day, with a connection to Brussels on Monday night. So we did the next best thing, which was to have lunch at the Brasserie, which is housed in a separate building from the Chateau (front view pictured below).
Rear view of the Chateau facing the garden. The restaurant is housed in this building, and the rooms (it functions as a hotel) start at 350Euros per night for the cheapest room during high season.
The entrance to the Brasserie. It was a lovely setting, in the garden of the Chateau grounds.
The view from our table - these photos were taken at around 3pm after we had finished our meal. When we arrived around 1pm, the place was absolutely packed with not a single available table.
The waiter started us off on some cheese and wholegrain biscuits. These were great with our wines.
I had a 2003 Rose which cost E4.50.
The Brasserie has a set meal for 2 courses for 28 Euros. Not a bad deal at all, with most of the mains going for above 30 Euros. The husband had the smoked salmon with iceberg lettuce and avruga cream. Not too bad but not very spectacular either.
I had the tagliatelle with pesto. Decent, but nothing to shout about. The servings were very substantial though - I was quite surprised that they were so generous.
Both of us had the Duck Confit for our main course. This was absolutely outstanding.
First, the fries: They were golden brown and crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. They also came with generous shavings of fresh parmesan. These were the best fries ever.
The duck confit was excellent as well - the skin was crispy, and the meat soft and tender and wholesome and flavourful. It was also not too fatty nor oily.
Unfortunately we were too stuffed for dessert. But the meal was one of the most substantial ones we had in France. If you google CLC, most of the reviews of the restaurant are excellent. If you're strapped for cash, I suppose the Brasserie is a good Plan B. They allow reservations via their website, which they subsequently confirm over email. Check out their website to see when they're open, because the opening times for the restaurant and brasserie vary.
Chateau Les Crayeres
64 Boulevard Henry Vasnier, 51100 Reims, France
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