ChantillyExpat.com

On 13 March the Home & Away Dining Society was again “at home”, with 20 diners at “L’Avenue” in the centre of Chantilly. Fred had very kindly negotiated with the owner and come up with an appealing menu and, most importantly, “vin à volonté” – at an all-inclusive €40.

We kicked off with a coupe de champagne accompanied by some tasty hors d’oeuvres. The entrées were both excellent - Tartare de Tomates au Chèvre et Magret de Canard fumé and Brochette de Gambas. The wine started to flow – Bordeaux (Les Hauts de Cour Montessant), Muscadet (Henry de Velter blanc) and a Cotes de Provence rosé (Bio Croix de Basson) – and we were all off to a good start.

We had chosen our plats from a choice of three : rump steak, magret de canard, and salmon. All were good but could have been warmer (serving 20 at once cannot be easy, and slate “plates” did not help); and the steaks suffered somewhat from all being “medium”. Neither would have been an issue for smaller groups, so should not be held against the restaurant. (All of the recent ratings on linternaute.com are very positive, with all of the overall ratings being 4/5 stars – 5 being the maximum. Comments include “top”, “I go there every week”, and “a warm welcome, a good ambience, good food, especially the meat”. It is not the most atmospheric of restaurants. However, the reviewer who said “go there with your eyes closed” was not – we think – being rude about the décor, but was suggesting that you can have confidence in the food.)

The wine continued to flow and the service was excellent throughout. We moved on to the desserts – a dégustation of mini-desserts accompanied by tea or coffee – and finally, having eaten and drunk well, we wended our weary ways home after a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Ratings for the evening: Food – 8/10; Ambience – 7/10; Service: 9/10; Overall quality of evening 8/10. Well worth a further visit.

L’Avenue, 3, Avenue du Maréchal Joffre, 60500 Chantilly
Phone 03 44 57 02 55

Title: L'Avenue
Category: Local Restaurants
Sub-Category: French Restaurants
Author: webmaster
Added: Mar 22, 2010
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