Le Rendez Vous De L'abbaye

Délices D'Alep

➤ 5 rue de la Republique, 71700, Tournus, France

Piatti • Cafés • Pizza • Mexicain • Libanais

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"I remember this little restaurant at the end of Tournus main street being for sale a while back, and the owners were looking to pass it on to a deserving couple. They had a number of applicants and eventually chose César and Rima Asfar, refugees who had fled Syria two years previously having lost their home and their jobs in the civil war.César was a sales manager, and Rima a teacher but they knew enough about cooking to grab the chance of a new start, with César as chef and Rima as serveuse.However, at the end of the day a diner is not particularly interested in the back story - he just wants a decent meal at a fair price. And this is what the couple are providing.The space is very limited and there is just seating for 26. The menu is fairly simple Syrian fare, but everything is very fresh and well done, and the service is very quick and friendly even when they are full. There were four of us and we decided to have four different cold starters to share amongst us. However Rima said that the mains would have several of these as accompaniments to the dish, so we changed to warm starters instead. We do have some knowledge of Syrian and Lebanese dishes, but helpfully they are explained on the menu anyway. Taboulé, falafel, bourak, yalangi, hommos, moutabal and rice are available as a mixed vegetarian main too.Desserts from the Levant tend to be quite sweet, and seeds and rose water feature large. We all opted for knafed au fromage - a warm sweet cheese dish with pistachios.Although there are 3 or 4 French wines available the wine list is predominantly Lebanese. We had a Chateau Kefraya Les Bretèches rosé with the entrées and then Bretèches rouge with the mains, and both were extremely good. They list also a fairly new grower IXSIR which won high praise at the 2009 Bordeaux wine fair, and MYST that I’ve never encountered before.As they grow in skill and confidence César and Rima might want to extend their menu to encourage people to return more frequently, but they’ve certainly made a good start."

Le Rendez-vous De L'abbaye

➤ 10, Rue Gabriel Jeanton, 71700, Tournus, France

Piatti • Kebab • Cafés • Sushis • Européen

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"We were greeted with a smile, not too much dialogue but no more silently, by a young man who did not seem to be a waiter for a very long time, but who was very pleasant! We were 7 and we ordered each one something to drink to sit quietly and discuss. So I can only put this on drinks, service and friendliness. The welcome of the young man was nice and the atmosphere was very good on the terrace. Then the drinks were good too, with a quick service. I enjoyed this glass on the terrace, I recommend testing once. On the other hand, don't go to the front bar, the reception is not suitable, I ran."

Le Relais de l'Abbaye

➤ 1 avenue Pasteur, 71700, Tournus, France

Piatti • Kebab • Cafés • Européen • Français

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"an unusual experience, second passage for us and always happy to choose this place for a meal off the marked trails. their speciality of hat looks like a raclette, but meats and cheeses are of very good quality, helpful and dauntable of efficiency. We were greeted with a smile, even with our two great dogs. we recommend this establishment with closed eyes"

La Flambee

➤ 19 rue des Lauriers, 71700, Tournus, France

Piatti • Cafés • Pizza • Européen • Fruit De Mer

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"we have this restaurant and the associated motel for many years as stop on the way to and from other france. Previously it was so good with high-quality food at a fair price in a pleasant environment. our recent visit was completely spoiled by the maitre d while he was brutal at a previous visit, this time he took rest to a new level. we arrived 5 minutes early for our 19:30 booking, presented us and held the conversation in French. the star turned around his best oliver payton thin vagrant saw his nasen impression and naked they follow me on us. we had hardly moved before he decided to run an animated discussion with the cook that we stand like lemons before he repeated his curt statement and led us to our table. the meal was well prepared and cooked, but where before there was a selection of sauces with our côte de boeuf, this time there was no, just chalked scab from a pot. we ate our meal and asked the waitress whether we should report to the recipe for the bill, this was confirmed and she advised that he would receive the table number preferentially. at the arrival at the reception we gave the gent our table number and he, wordless, typed in our details and the cost (from over €100 for two) came on the card screen. he didn't speak, but while I paid some people, went in and his face glowed up and he engaged them in welcome talk while he continued to ignore the customers he served. I can only assume that the newcomers were his best friends, influential restaurant critics, or he owed them money."

La Paix - Restaurant - Hotel - Tournus

➤ 9 rue Jean Jaures, 71700, Tournus, France

Piatti • Pizza • Sushis • Mexicain • Européen

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"We’ve eaten here 2 or 3 time before and had a perfectly OK meal, so perhaps it is a bit unfair to write up our latest visit. However I’m just writing as we found it.It was a very warm evening and we’d booked for the terrace at the back of the hôtel on the edge of a small square. I ate from the 25€ menu and my wife from one at 33€. We ordered a bottle of red wine - a relatively local Mercury 1er cru Les Croichots. Unfortunately the glasses used here are fairly clumsy things with a rolled rim which don’t really allow you to fully appreciate the contents, but it was a good enough bottle.My wife’s starter was 6 snails in garlic, served in individual little “egg cups”. She found them rather lacking in garlic and a bit oily. Mine was chaource in filo pastry with a green salad. The salad dressing was rather sharp. It was a fairly normal vinaigrette (vin aigre does mean sour wine, after all) but could have done with the addition of a little honey to cut the harshness slightly; it would have gone far better with the cheese parcel then.We then had quite a wait, watching the town youth at play in the square and listening to some bad music. The waiter was working at a furious pace, but every now and again he just disappeared into the kitchen for some time, presumably waiting for the next dishes to appear at the pass. The terrace has seating for 24, but there were only about 17 people eating so it was not exactly full.Our mains eventually appeared. My wife had ordered Truite de la Petite Montagne with butter noisette sauce and almonds, and my main was Charolaise steak in a wine and shallot sauce. The trout are bred in the cold waters of the river Valouson in the Jura, and my wife said hers was cooked absolutely perfectly. However she did think the buerre noisette had a slightly greasy taste for some reason, and it didn't have the brown colour one would expect.My steak turned out to be very chewy, and although I’d been given a steak knife it was extremely difficult to cut. I’d had to put the first bit back on the plate as I just couldn’t bite through it, and although I did manage to cut a few bits and eat them it got progressively more difficult. I might have returned it, but it coincided with one of the waiter’s periods in the kitchen and when he did eventually reappear I’d gone off the idea of steak. I ate the little accompaniment of vegetables and mopped up the sauce with some bread. It’s possible that had I eaten à la carte the cut of meat might have been better, but I’m not sure I want to find out now. A three course 25€ menu is not exactly cheap anyway.My wife’s menu included cheese, but mine didn’t. When the waiter cleared the plates I said I’d wait for dessert until my wife was ready for hers. What we did not expect was to have to wait another 20 minutes or more for a small platter of three cheeses and lettuce leaf. When it did eventually arrive we’d been at the table for 3 hours. We told him we’d give desserts a miss and to bring us the addition. It had not arrived when we’d eaten the cheeses between us, so my wife went to pay inside. Another (Dutch) diner had just beaten her to it, with the same complaint about the speed of service. There was no-one there other than the waiter, who was extremely apologetic and only charged for two 25€ menus - not exactly any large reduction in truth given an inedible steak and no desserts.Our evening was not helped by it being mid-summer's eve, the evening when free music is heard on the streets throughout France. What we had not far from us were two guys - a saxophonist and a drummer. We have very wide tastes in music and certainly enjoy jazz, but two hours of someone playing with no recognisable tune accompanied by heavy-handed drumming just did not lift our spirits. People clapped every now and again, but whether it was in appreciation or because they were glad he had finished for a moment I don’t know. OK, nothing to do with La Paix, and I’m not blaming them for it. It would have been nice to have had some decent music to listen to in the long gaps between each course though.We’ve had serviceable meals here before, and my wife who loves fish would return for the fresh water trout alone. Not if the kitchen can’t get its act together though, and I’ll be interested to see other feedback."