2 /5
Note moyenne
★
★
In the Périgord, where one encounters canard, canard and more canard and all its by-products, it was unusual to see a signpost near the Musée National de Préhistoire in Les Eyzies directing visitors to a 'Restaurant Végétarien' a short distance away. This restaurant is self-service. Despite understanding French, the blackboard formule was not clear to us, nor was the explanation of it by the proprietress, who seemed to prefer to do as little as possible to welcome customers. The vegetarian food itself was the most dull stuff I have ever seen or tasted, and grossly overpriced for what it was. On the day we were there, the 'assiette chaud' was a choice of an uninspiring 'steak végétal', gloppy polenta that tasted of stock cube and dried herbs and flabby and watery oven-roasted légumes. The 'assiette froid' was a selection from an extremely limited salad bar. We thought it scandalous to have to pay 12€ each for this. Modern vegetarianism, when done well, is such a vibrant, colourful and exciting cuisine, taking its influence from world traditions and making use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients in season, which should be so easy to achieve in foodie France. The cooking here was more like a throwback to the 60s and 70s. Perhaps it was a retro restaurant and we didn't get the point! No wonder vegetarian cuisine is so slow to take root in rural France. If this is all that is on offer I would certainly be put off...yuck