A taste of Tours at Odéon

One of the pleasures of travel within France is the ease of it. A fairly short train or car ride and you find yourself in a part of the country offering another piece of the country's history. We finally went to the Loire Valley - yes unfortunately the ease of travel must also equate with the availability of time - or maybe that's my poor excuse for why it took us so long to make a trip there.

As always though, despite proper planning we only just made it there in the early afternoon, which on its own is not a problem, but for my family always is. Food is always the first point of call, and you'd think knowing this we'd plan accordingly.

We barely just got a table for lunch at Odéon. We arrived at that odd time when restaurants are closing down or closed for lunch which often leaves your options limited to either the local boulangerie or pre-packaged supermarket sandwiches.

The service was wonderful, despite the fact that we were the stragglers holding up the kitchen closure. The chef plied us with a delightful amuse bouche of shrimp and aubergine while we waited for our food. A tangy sole meunière and tender beef filet, dessert, complimentary petit fours, coffee and we were left with no other option than to walk our meal off exploring tours.