Good Restaurant Guide, by Gite Les Roches

Good Restaurant Guide, by Gite Les Roches Fonroque, Dordogne 5 minutes walk Croquant Snack Bar Serving lunch year round, the Croquant Snack Bar is a modern, very French snack bar that serves a standard lunch set menu that includes soup, a buffet starter, a main course and cheese / coffee for a very reasonable 11 euros. Popular with all the artisans in the area, it is worth a visit for the experience but go early to avoid the midday rush. Eymet, Dordogne 5 minutes by car Pizzeria 3 Rue de Loup, Eymet (although on the corner of the square, Place Gambetta Tel 05 53 23 90 05 Recommended Stunning building located on the square with high ceilings and plenty of exposed beams and stone. Good sized terrace under the arches of the arcade. Excellent food (pizza and pasta) and very reasonably priced. Lively atmosphere ideally suited to large parties. Popular with locals and visitors alike. Food can take a while to arrive. Can get very busy and they won t take bookings. Do have a high turnover of covers so the norm is to

of 6 turn up, put in a request for table size and then head over to the pub for a drink until a suitable table becomes available. La Cour D Eymet French Restaurant 42 Boulevard National, Eymet Tel 05 53 22 72 83 Recommended The chef is chasing Michelin Stars top-end restaurant serving excellent French food in minimalist and elegant surroundings. Hefty price tag but well worth it for that special occasion. Dress code smart. La Maison d Amour French style crêperie (pancakes for main course and pud). 37 Place de Gambetta, Eymet Tel 05 53 22 34 64 Lovely family-run restaurant on the square serving every variant of crepe imaginable. Good food, nice terrace under the arches. Middle of the road for dress code and price. Look out for the honey & duck - my favourite! Brasserie de la Bastide French style Restaurant 41 Place de Gambetta, Eymet Tel 05 53 23 71 37 Good but not exceptional food, pleasant but short of wow surroundings. Intimate dining room well-suited to couples and smaller parties. Outside terrace under the arches very nice and better for larger parties. Can be a little pricey for their fayre. Le Pub Bar with lunch time a la carte menu Place de Gambetta, Eymet Recommended Cosy bar on the square, run by Anglo-French couple. A good spot for a drink whether beer, wine or coffee. Great lunch time menu for lite bites & Ice creams etc. Fabulous terrace under the arches from where to watch

of 6 Eymet life. The chef does excellent Asian takeaways on a Friday night but you may need to pre-order to avoid disappointment. Le Tortoni Bar Place de Gambetta, Eymet Located just off the square, le Tortoni is a large bar, very French in style. Good spot for a cold beer particularly if Le Pub is too busy. Le Plein Sud Typical French Restaurant come Bar 14 Boulevard National, Eymet Tel 05 53 27 32 57 A family run restaurant, serving a great lunch-time set-price menu with plenty of options. Although the décor and ambiance could be improved, the food is good. Well worth a visit if just for the Frenchness of the experience. Aquitaine Bar, possible to order food. Boulevard, Eymet Sorry this gets an avoid rating in my book. C@fe Eymet Cyber café, coffee and paninis. Rue du Loup the road leading back to the Boulevard from the Pizzeria corner of the square. Brit run cyber café with very helpful and friendly staff. Great spot for a coffee or ice-cream throughout the day. Popular for paninis at lunch time. Kiddies playroom at the back for those in tow. Good provision of computer hardware offering high-speed internet access, printing and digital camera memory card to CD-Rom burning facilities. Excellent source of local information and advice. Pig roasts on Tuesday night markets in the summer. Bergerac, Dordogne 20~25 minutes by car

of 6 L Imparfait French Restaurant, specialising in fish 8 Rue des Fontaines, Bergerac Old Quarter Tel 05 53 57 47 92. Open daily except Dec Easter (not Sun or Mon). Possibly closed mid Nov for annual holiday. Highly recommended. Excellent restaurant specialising in (but by no means limited to) fish dishes. Menu changes daily. Stunning surroundings of character high ceilings, plenty of stone and exposed beams, tastefully decorated. Outside terrace taking up the best part of a quiet pedestrian side street. Smashing staff professional but relaxed. Pukka wine list. Ideally suited to medium-sized groups. Park on the old quay for a great 10 minutes of evening stroll there through the old quarter. L Enfance de Lard French Eclectic Place Pelissier, Bergerac Old Quarter Tel 05 53 57 52 88. Set in the intimate surroundings of a converted front room overlooking the fountain from the first floor, L Enfance de Lard is a great spot for a rather different lunch or dinner. Good food, reasonably priced. Well suited to couples and smaller parties. Reservations highly recommended. As with L Imparfait, best to park on the old quay and walk add ten minutes. La Tour des Vents French, top-end restaurant Cuisine Gourmande Monbazillac (take the right turn on the crest of the hill overlooking Bergerac, 200m from the junction on the left hand side). Tel 05 53 58 30 10. Stunning location overlooking the Dordogne valley - worth a visit for its location alone. Housed on the spot of an old windmill, the modern addition is somewhat disappointing but sit outside on their large stepped terrace and watch Bergerac change from day to night. Take a jumper just in case in can be a little exposed. Good French food, but with a hefty price tag. The staff try a little too hard for my liking. Goodsized car park.

of 6 La Grappe d Or French Restaurant On the D933 just below the crest of the hill descending into Bergerac, on the left hand side) Great food, good atmosphere and very reasonably priced. A very French restaurant that is justifiably popular with the locals. Good accessibility with its own decent-sized car park. Recommended. McDonalds American Rubbish Route de Bordeaux What can I say? It s just like any other McDonalds the world over, but where staff look and talk authentic French. One plus it does have a great climbing frame thingy at the back where little kids can entertain themselves. A last resort. Lauzun, Lot-et-Garonne 15 mins by car La Reine Rouge Indian Curry House Popular with English and French alike, good bar for pre-dinner drinks, great curries. Takeaways to collect and option. La Sauvetat du Dropt, Lot-et-Garonne 10 mins by car Ma Maison French Restaurant Highly Recommended Run by an Anglo-French couple, Ma Maison is a big favourite of ours. Stunning courtyard to the front, elegant décor inside. Fantastic food with a very reasonable price tag. Excellent service from professional but relaxed staff. Dress code smart. Well-suited to couples and groups. La Sauvetat is a lovely little town to drive through can be tricky finding a parking space in the immediate vicinity.

of 6 Issegeac, Dordogne 20 mins by car Chez Alain Restaurant Gastronomique et Formule Bistrot Tour de Ville, Issegeac Tel 05 53 58 77 88 Open every day for lunch and dinner (Please note we have not visited personally so this description is the distillation of the comments of others). Lovely terrace, good food. On the expensive side an air of resting on one s laurels. Hotel Restaurant Alleman sur Dropt, Lot-et-Garonne 20mins by car Good food, with a fantastic buffet, and very reasonably priced. But the whole place has the feel of a conference centre a delightful old façade gives way to a modern extension complete with naff tiled floor and false ceiling it all makes for below average surroundings staffed by school canteen wallahs. Les Ramparts Castillonnes, Lot-et-Garonne 15mins by car A nice restaurant serving good food, although nothing particularly exceptional here. Comments? Additions? Corrections? Do please contact me: Stewart Cook stewart@gite-les-roches.com 05 53 23 37 24 Gite Les Roches, 24500 Fonroque, Dordogne June 2005