Carcassonne Day One : Au Bureau

Our intention was to eat at My Beers, but they were rather busy, so we went to the more sedate surroundings next door of Au Bureau, part of a national chain.

A motorbike at the entrance. I’m sure it symbolised something, but I’m not sure what. We had turned up after 21:00 and so weren’t sure if they were still welcoming diners, but they did and fortunately they spoke English since the efforts Liam and I made at French were a little sub-optimal and didn’t obviously benefit any party.

The chicken burger, which met my expectations, and Liam has some sort of beef burger which is visible in the background. I liked the variety of sauces, the food was well presented, the chicken was tender and it all tasted of a good quality, so I couldn’t ask for much more. The drink is a Ruby Leffe, which is something that I haven’t had before and is a red fruit beer, aromatic and more interesting than I thought it perhaps might be. I’ve been looking out for this in UK bars, so I was pleased to see it.

It was busy in the large restaurant, the atmosphere was welcoming and the service was polite and efficient. The reviews of the venue are average, but there were no issues that we noted and everything came out promptly.

Liam made me have a dessert, a heap of ice cream with popcorn. I usually skip desserts, but it was an occasional trip away for me and so I felt that I deserved it. All told, we were pleased with where we ended up and it was useful to have something more substantial than the more snack based menu that we were expecting from the bar next door.

On the way back from the restaurant Liam decided to take a little short-cut and got us lost. I pretended that I wasn’t annoyed.