Since I posted the blog about dining out in Teilhet at what is a very traditional restaurant that serves local people in a small village, we have now eaten there four times. Today was our last time.

Certainly, there isn’t anything too flashy about it, but the menu indicating lunch for €12 attracted our attention.

So, every Friday, for the last four Fridays, we have had a regular booking at 12.30pm. It was even open on Good Friday and the cook had prepared a fish stew for her customers. We were well conversed in the lunch rituals after our first visit.

Entree is brought out, along with some bread, followed by the main course and sometimes something to go with it, then comes the (shared) cheese plate and finally the bowl of fruit. Coffee is extra – €1! At some point a salad (homegrown lettuce leaves and a French dijon mustard dressing) is served. It sometimes accompanied the cheese and sometimes the entree.

On our first visit, Mick insisted on leaving a very generous tip, which he assured me would pay off. And it did.

One our second last visit, as soon as we arrived, we were treated like important guests. The cook insisted on taking us into the front bar area and offered us an apéritif of our choice. Even though there were other people waiting for lunch, she sat down with us and chatted to us about our holiday and their upcoming holiday – which meant that her and her husband would be closing their restaurant for two weeks. She then told us to take our time and to come through to the dining room when we were ready – she had saved our usual table for us. Also, every other person there seemed to know all about us and kindly greeted us as we walked in.

Our last meal today was slightly different. The place was packed and both the bar and the dining room were set for lunch. We were taken into the dining room to our usual table next to a large table of 8 people, mostly from Brazil. But they could all speak some French. The meal was the best so far, starting with a terrine of fish followed by pork parcels with loads of vegetables. Then came the cheese and dressed lettuce leaves, but instead of the basket of fruit, we were given a generous serve of home-made cherry pie.

The highlight of our visits to this restaurant occurred at the end of the second visit, when one of the workers we had seen the previous week – a big man with huge hands and huge head – was there with his son (who was a dead ringer for his father – at least from the back on, which was the view we had from our table), his son’s wife and their two-year-old daughter, who entertained us throughly the whole meal. We could easily understand what she was saying. She loved cheese and was being bribed by both parents to eat her lunch or there would be no cheese.

She didn’t let that happen.

As we were about to leave – she said to me “un bisou s’il vous plait?”

Mick did not know what she was saying, but I did. She wanted to give me a kiss (on both cheeks) – which was very cute. Mick felt a little left out, so she obliged him also.

A partly redacted page from our joint dairy showing Mick’s interpretation. He got the men’s head shapes and hair perfectly.

Where to have lunch next Friday??  Let’s see!!