The venue: "Les
Genêts d'Or",
Collorec. (The Golden Broom; broom as in gorse-like shrub).
The time: 12:10 (they only do this at lunchtimes).
The food: four courses and unlimited bread, served fresh every time you finish a basket full.
The wine: 1 litre of red, half a litre of rosé between four (Mrs The Millbrooker, being designated driver, restricted her intake to a sip or two).
The cost: 11 euros 50 centimes a head (drinks & coffee included).
The menu: you eat what you're
bloomin' well given; you expect
choice at this price?
Get in the car and go to Brittany, head to
Collorec (look it up on Google Earth - it's easy to find). Park up by the church in the centre of town,
pootle the fifty metres or so to Les
Genêts d'Or and enjoy a guzzle like no other...
Awaiting, already laid out on the table will be an
entrée; when Dong,
Shazzerooneypoos, Mrs The
Millbrooker and I were there it was shell-on
crevettes (prawns).
Once you've licked your plate clean, put your cutlery (if you've used it) to one side ready to use again for the next course. In short order, the table is cleared and second starters arrive. On this occasion, a dish of
moules.
Mrs The
Millbrooker can't eat
moules but the staff at Les
Genêts d'Or are obviously aware that some people can't do shellfish; upon Mrs The
Millbrooker's polite refusal an alternative was forthcoming, despite her protestations that she was quite happy to do without a second starter. A whacking great lump of quiche appeared as a substitute.
After doing due justice to second starters....
...and after a swift table clearance by the attentive and outrageously busy waitress, mains arrives. Mains in this case was a mysterious cut of beef (probably
bavette) served as steak (very tasty, too, and quite tender) in a creamy pepper sauce along with a very decent mountain of
frites.
I got so excited that I forgot to take photos until we'd got well into demolishing the course. This is my plate after I'd munched about half the
frites.
This is how mains is served - all on a big platter for however many are around the table.
It's not over yet, not by a long chalk.
As the mains platter is whisked away (not your own plate - you keep that throughout the meal, so make sure to wipe clean with the bread after every course), the cheese board is plonked in front of you. Big portion, little portion - the choice is yours. The bread's still on the table (or will be replenished if you're running short).
Finally - there's pudding. Come on, now - there's always room for pudding. In this instance you get a choice from a tray brought to the table - it's basic fare, straight from the supermarket cooler shelf and still in its commercial packaging, but who cares? You're already stuffed to stupidity and it's costing you mere pennies.
Coffee's included, too. Taken the traditional French way: small, black and moderately strong.
As I paid the bill at the bar, I suggested to Madame la Proprietaire that I should pay extra for the additional jug of wine that Dong and I had consumed. She was outraged and wouldn't hear of such nonsense. Wine is included in the price and that's that. So four people filled to the brim with yummy, hearty food; plentiful drinking and coffees - 46 euros total.
Yes, I will be going back (again - this was the second time around for Mrs The Millbrooker and me).
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