Cassis Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 On topic: latest daft request."We are thinking of having trip to Lower Normandy and we are interested to visit brocantes. Are you brocante as well as guest house?"Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 Thanks for that input Miki, Im going to check out the frozen/unbaked croissants/pain chocolat at the Metro for pretty much the same reasons. They come in large boxes. Our baker is a great guy, delivers to us whenever we need, but I ve noticed for a while now that his pastry is getting decidedly darker and drier. The Pain Chocolats are too big as well plus they are full of air and contain barely any chocolat. I thought I was the only one who found the bakery bread a bit hard on the gums, Ive a back tooth missing and chewing the crusty ficelles and compagnes is an eyewatering experience. Cerise, just for the laugh, stand on your head and sing the Marsellaise anyway, but have someone hold the hat out as well:)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Miki, I thoroughly agree with what you say. I expect though that if I am paying 120€ per night I would get a croissant (or something other than a bit of baguette plus yesterday's bread lightly toasted and/or left over apricot flan from the last table d'hote effort). It all comes down to value for money. I don't give a toss where the croissants come from - I had very good friends in England who ran a pub with a reputation for food and most of their stuff came from Brake Bros, so I know it's good. It wouldn't be worth our while as the baker 3km from us does what are reckoned by the French from miles way to be the best pastries in the region, so it suits us to offer those. Being used to them, most other croissants taste dry and boring to me. I'd say your prices are on the top side of average, but it sounds as if you offer good value, so I would happily pay what you charge. Much rather be comfortable with your type of establishment than pinching the pennies at some other places, and there are plenty of those around, French run as well as British, and not all of them charge much less than you either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 [quote user="Miki"]Yes Cassis, Brake France is a delivery system, take a look at their site at http://www.brake.co.uk/brake-france/introuk.htm[/quote]Thanks for the info Miki - from the website it looks like the nearest depot is probably too far from us for it to be worth their while delivering, but I'll give them a call and see what they say.Sounds like Wen's baker has the same formula for pains au chocolat as ours - weird, because the rest of their stuff is fine.I'm not a great fan of traditional French baguettes - tasteless and airy. And I've tried a lot of them in B&Bs, bakers, hotels. Can't see what people see in them. A nice light crust is well and good (if you're lucky enough to have a baker who doesn't make the crust hard enough to pull your teeth out) but it's still pap. Pain de campagne, toutes graines, champion etc. can be a bit better but not much. That's why I'm interested in trying Brake's frozen stuff to bake ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 [quote user="Will "]Miki, I thoroughly agree with what you say. I expect though that if I am paying 120€ per night I would get a croissant (or something other than a bit of baguette plus yesterday's bread lightly toasted and/or left over apricot flan from the last table d'hote effort). [/quote]Crikey, Will - where was that? That's chateau rates round our parts, never mind a guest house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Fair enough - Brake make a passable croissant. I've never knowinglyeaten one, though given the number I have got through in my life I amsure that I must have done so at some point.I've stayed in quite a few B&Bs / CdHs over the years, yet I canonly remember the breakfast at one as being exceptional. It was inNormandy and owned by a pair of gay Belgians. The smaller one was thespitting image of Tintin and the larger one, to my utter delight, borea more-than-passing resemblence to Captain Haddock.Their breakfasts were super. Cold collation, kedgeree (only time I'veever seen it in France) and mountains of croissant, pain au chocolat,etc, all baked in a bakers accross the road. I know that he made thembecause we could see him through the window in his broiling bakery,forming bread, croissants and so on, clattering the trays in and out ofthe ovens. Every now and again, one of the Belgians would nip over theway with a basket for fresh supplies. The quantity and quality of foodthey served for breakfast was staggering and people could bearly walkafterwards. This was a top end joint (300 FF in 1988) and as poorjust-graduates was our one and only splurg. Once they discovered ourpenury they pressed picnics upon us...mostly consisting of left oversfrom breakfast.I think that it might have been the experience of staying there thatplanted the idea in my mind that living in France would be a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 It was quite a grand house (near Beaune, in 71), not exactly a chateau, but listed as a chambres d'hote in Alastair Sawday, Fleurs de Soleil etc as well as Gites de France. Just to put it in perspective we did actually stay at a genuine chateau for the previous two nights, near Bourges, which was 45€ per night. Decor was a bit less grand, but breakfasts and general attention to detail was superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Cassis,They may appear far away, just as Rennes might appear to us but I betthey will have sub depots nearer but maybe not. A quick call to yournearest branch will let you know. We usually order 10 boxes in total everyso often, depending on the demand. Space in the freezers is our main concern. You have to remember to get whatever number you need for breakfast out,at least 8 hours before, so to let them rise overnight. We actually putsome French on to them and for 2 months they never got them out andcooked them from frozen in the oven !! They saw Tina and mentioned,that hers were bigger than theirs (ooh Matron) and Tina simply askedthem how long they had them out of the freezer before cooking.... thepenny dropped and now they are happy with their nice big croissants ! As far as passable I have bought them in many boulangeries and a Brakes croissant would put them to shame !And if that driver says to me once more time that Brake are French Iwill stick a baguette up his..........................nose !In the Doo Don we had a fabulous place for bread, hopeless with aythingelse, the next village had a great croissant chap but did gum rippingbaguettes, the best one 7 km away was superb with pain au raisin andnot bad with bread but hopeless at anythng else !! Plus they also allshut on a Monday !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Bill, We have a couple of friends who have a chain of 4 pub/restos in Middx& Surrey. They get much of their pub grub from Brake Bros. Also alltheir bread rolls come from them and umpteen other delights. As I havesaid in another post, too many boulangeries now are a total let down.There are some great ones of course but I am sad now that too many aresimply just run of the mill places, all front and no substance !We always try to offer value, it truly has to be that as theaim. There is a fine line between making a good living and scraping byand the worst is the thin line between ripping folks off and going broke. Itis hard work, we all know it can be great, it can be a case of let'ssell up and take it easy but I suppose, we all reckon most guests arereally wonderful, like at the moment, with 8 out of 14 return visitorsand nice peeps to boot !We are slightly above average price, sure but we are also table d'hôte,we offer a totally seperate residents lounge with TV in French & English,comfortable living area and I guess a laugh and a crack, not a lot but it kind of works................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hastobe Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Sounds like you have a nice place Miki - you're not anywhere on the route from Calais to Perigueux (via Rouen / Orleans etc) are you? Hospitality, sense of humour and friendly smile come out tops in my book any day - the rest is normally pretty much 'comme ci comme ça'Kathie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Hi Kathie,No not really, we are really more suitable for folks using Cherbourg,Caen and at a stretch Le Havre (where recently, due to the low ferrycosts offered by the new LD lines, some people are using them ratherthan Brittany Ferries) but mainly for any Brits we do get, we are justaround 20 minutes from Saint Malo. 'comme ci comme ça' yep, guess that's how we feel about staying in some places. We wantnice and clean, we want warm hosts, some breakfast and if we arestaying a few days or so, a nice region to mooch around. We areprobably a hosts dream, we get by as they say but we don't likehosts that cut corners at the expense of their guests, when for a fewcentimes more, we are easily pleased ! Hope that madesense...........[8-)]Perigueux hey, that's our old manor, we were back there in late March and had a drink in the Star Inn and spent a few days visiting a few old chums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now