2009 - The
The attempts were successful and nowadays you’ll find small colonies of beavers at the confluent of the Loire and the Vienne in Candes-Saint-Martin, near the village of Brehemont, west of Tours and near Beaugency in the Loiret department. I’ve always had a soft spot for beavers and over the years we have roamed the river banks hoping to catch a glimpse of one. Unfortunately, all our attempts have remained in vain.
All this to introduce a completely different subject, which nevertheless has a link with these furry creatures: a Canadian restaurant in La Chaussée Saint-Victor near the town of
Guided by our GPS we found the place quite easily. The location was not very attractive, as the route Nationale 52 in La Chaussée Saint-Victor is a very large and busy boulevard through a commercial, semi-industrial park with hypermarkets, car dealers, office buildings, etc.
The rustic wooden Cabane stuck out like a sore thumb. The two terraces with their multi-coloured wooden chairs looked very inviting, but the noise of the passing traffic was almost unbearable. So we decided to go inside. Be prepared for a complete chance of scenery! The vast dining room is decorated with an intriguing collection of objects and pictures all of Canadian origin. We were greeted by a smiling young man who immediately showed us to a table for two. On the wall next to it hung a large picture of … a beaver!
Don’t expect to find beaver, wapiti or bear on the menu, though. The restaurant’s specialties are salmon, spareribs, juicy steaks, etc. I had a generous salmon carpaccio, with a lemony dressing with chopped spring onion and capers, while my friend enjoyed a sizeable portion of caramelized spareribs with a maple syrup dip sauce. With it we drank a pleasant chilled Canadian beer:
I can definitely recommend this restaurant. It’s not gastronomic ‘cuisine’, but the food is great, the waiters are very smiling and efficient and the atmosphere is out of the ordinary. Don’t be put off by the busy and noisy boulevard as inside the place is very calm with very soothing background music. Oh, and make sure to visit the toilettes … You’re in for a surprise!
LA CABANE DU TRAPPEUR
Route Nationale 152, 46bis A
41260 LA CHAUSSEE SAINT-VICTOR
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5 comments:
Among other "exotic" things, I had beaver and bear. They're both delicious. Beaver doesn't taste fishy at all. I still have to put wapiti on the list.
chm: Did you have beaver leg or chops? Or was it more like a stew? I would never eat it myself, simply because I think they are too cute. I do like frogs' legs though ;). Martine
Beavers are more or less nocturnal, so you would be lucky to see them. I see the Beaver Project van quite a lot, but never the little critters themselves.
I'm surprised the restaurant wasn't offering pâté de ragondin - they are closely related so quite likely taste pretty similar. You can get jars of pâté de ragondin from the Maisons du pays in the Marais Poitevin and the Brenne.
The last time we stayed in one of our favourite gites, at Avoine just south of Bourgueil, we were taking an evening stroll, heard a splashing noise and saw a pair of beavers playing in the water. They were delightful to watch and I now realise we were very lucky.
Susan: I suppose the restaurant didn’t want to serve something that wasn’t the ‘real’ thing. I wouldn’t have eaten it anyway, as I couldn’t live with the idea that I had eaten one of my favourite creatures!
Jean: How I envy you!
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