Charity and I ordered the same first course for the menu we got at this not-so-great Italian restaurant.  We were with a group of Cyrille’s friends, and they picked the Italian place situated right next to the amazing looking French restaurant, (the Italian place was much cheaper).  Sometimes it just doesn’t work out for everyone when you’re in a big group, oh well.  This salad was pretty bad.  Bad lettuce, bad tomatoes, very bad unidentifiable seafood, and a poorly flavored vinaigrette.

My second course.  Absolutely, positively, the worst duck confit I’ve ever had.  Why was this Italian restaurant even making duck confit in the first place?  I don’t know.  I’m sorry to say it because I want to hate everything about this place, but the frites were actually pretty decent, and the little cup of sauce was some kind of tasty garlic mayonnaise.  The duck was gross though.

This chocolate mousse tasted just like the picture: kind of blury, out of focus.  I think it was straight from a package.  I hope this place burns down.

This was Charity’s main course.  It was pretty bad.  The salmon was atop some iceberg lettuce that would’ve fit perfectly in any side salad at any American diner.  The sauce covering the salmon was equally bad and reminiscent of England’s salad cream.  Yuck.  But, those frites were pretty good.

This was Charity’s choice for dessert course.  Following suit with the rest of the food from here, it was pretty awful.  Sweet, but lacking any real caramel flavor.  The flavor tasted like the caramel-like sauce that comes with the apple dippers from McDonald’s.  You know, the “caramel” that doesn’t solidify even after hours of refrigeration.

This was a very tasty meal that Charity and Cyrille and I had at a little restaurant less than a block from Jessie’s apartment.  The steak and Roquefort sauce was the plat du jour, and Cyrille told me I just had to try aligot, (pronounced AL-e-go).  Aligot is a dish traditionally prepared in the region Rodez is in, thus Cyrille was excited for us to try it.  It’s basically mashed potatoes that are beaten to death while adding enormous amounts of cheese.  Aligot has a very smooth and cheesy texture, when a bit is lifted from the pile with a fork it takes on the appearance of taffy being stretched.  It tastes great, more cheese flavor than potato.  My salad was great with a tasty vingrette, always predressed, no choice of dressing here in France.

This was what Charity ordered.

This was the first course in my “menu”, (multiple course meal for one set price).  This was a great first course, as it was kind of light and cold.  The pate was excellent, very soft and flavorful.  The salad was crisp with a nice emulsified vinaigrette.  The tiny pickles were very sour, with a huge crunch, just the way I like them.

For my second course I chose this lovely baked fish and potato dish.  I really could have eaten this one all day.  Under the baked-brown herb crusted top there was a smoothly blended fish and potato creamy filling.  It was nothing but delicious.  The salad was the same as the first, still delicious though.

For the third and final course of my menu I chose the poached peaches with raspberry sauce.  A truly simple but delicious dish.  The peaches were tender and so soft and sweet.  The raspberry sauce was a bit tart so as to cut the sweetness of the peaches just perfectly.  A great ending to a great menu.

This was the first dish Charity chose for her menu.

This was what Charity chose as the second course of her menu.

This is what Charity chose for her dessert course.

Our first real meal in Bruuge!  We picked a cute little restaurant with outdoor seating near the river.  I ordered a delicious steak with Roquefort sauce.  The steak was perfectly cooked rare, as can be seen by the juice leaking into the Roquefort sauce.  The sauce was very smooth and the Roquefort flavor was not overly strong, nor was it too scarce, it was the perfect cheese sauce.  The salad was a great accompaniment to the steak, as it provided a fresh taste with each bite.  There were greens and tomato and cucumber and a bit of watercress.  The frites were well done, crispy and salty.  A great first meal in Bruuge.

Moules and frites were delicious.  The moules had been cooked in white wine and garlic.  They were tender and flavorful, and the liquor at the bottom of the pot was absolutely delicious, I enjoyed it just as much as the mussels themselves.  The frites were a bit undercooked for my taste, I prefer a crispier frite, however, they were liberally salted and still tasty.  The Bruuge Zot was cold, pleasantly savory, and satisfying.

I know it doesn’t look very tasty, but it actually wasn’t too bad.  Not a lot of veg on the plate, but hey, you can’t get veg with every meal in England, (because that would be healthy).  The beef was a little tough, but the flavour was there.  Not a bad meal.