<a target="_blank" href="http://www.lembellie-restaurant.fr/">L’Embellie</a>37 Rue de la MonnaieTours,&nbsp;France











Tel. +33 9 54 61 64

BY NEAL MARTIN&nbsp;| SEPTEMBER 27, 2019The Food:

Cucumber
and Granny Smith mousse with Chantilly cream infused with ginger

King
black tiger prawns with seaweed biscuits and satay emulsion

Smoked
salmon and gravadlax&nbsp; 

Fillet
of tuna, root vegetables with rocket coulis
and citrus wasabi dressing

Perch
gratiné from Sainte-Maure in
Tourraine, beurre blanc and mashed
potato

Shortbread
cake with pistachio cream with honeyed roasted apricot and rosemary

The Wine:

2017
Domaine des Deux Vallées Savennières&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;88

What
do Napa, Alsace, Piedmont and the Loire have in common? The answer is that I have
never stepped foot into those wine regions. I guess that’s because from the
early days of my career, long before attaching words to wine, I was being corralled
into Bordeaux and Burgundy and, in retrospect, rendered less peripatetic than I
would have liked. On the other hand, there are plenty of wine regions that have suffered my presence, from Mendoza
to Hemel-en-Aarde, Irouléguy to Irancy and Central Otago to the Surrey Hills.
When I recently booked a much-needed holiday down to the Pays Basques for a bit of R&amp;R, I decided to drive rather than
fly – not to decrease my carbon footprint, but see a bit of rural France and enjoy
the empty motorways. It was too many miles to tackle in a single stretch, so I
stopped over in the city of Tours and ticked off a wine region that I had flown
over countless times but never visited: the Loire.

The
455-mile schlep to Tours deserved a decent restaurant at the end of it. On
friends’ recommendations, I reserved a table at L’Embellie. Located in the
picturesque pedestrianized old quarter of the city, the restaurant is ensconced
in a centuries-old building made of ancient oak and history, its backbone warped
so that the upper floors seem to be on the verge of toppling over. The streets are
thronged with locals and tourists, fostering a lively atmosphere that seeps
into the restaurant’s two floors. The interior is dimly lit, with a single
candle feebly illuminating the table, making it difficult to really examine the
food but lending a cozy ambiance.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1569618771764-embellie+tiger+prawns.jpg"> 

I’m not sure why the tiger
prawns were kept hidden underneath the seaweed biscuits

The
menu is limited to around half a dozen choices per course and consists of classic
French cuisine with few unexpected twists and turns. First an amuse-bouche arrived: a zinging cucumber
and Granny Smith mousse topped with ginger-laced Chantilly cream. Light and
revivifying, it set up the tastebuds for starters. We shared plates of black
tiger prawns with seaweed biscuits and a satay emulsion. The prawns were fresh
and delicious, though the seaweed was a tad too salty. Fortunately, the other
plate of smoked salmon and gravadlax was spot on, the latter perfectly
seasoned. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1569618808260-embellie+perch_copy.jpg"> 

The highlight at L’Embellie,
this baked perch was absolutely delicious, even if it did not express the
greatest culinary expertise

For
mains, I plumped for the baked perch (zander), sourced from the Tourraine and topped
with cheese gratin, and accompanied by mashed potato and a sea of beurre blanc. Bingo! I have a passion
for this poisson. We don’t eat enough perch. This one was moist, flaky
and flavorsome. It married perfectly with the gratin, the subtle vinegary bite
of the beurre blanc and the fluff-tastic
mashed potato. Simple yet superbly executed, this dish left me mopping my
plate. It worked better than the fillet of tuna, served with seasonal vegetables
and a citrus wasabi dressing. Tuna is a tricky fish to cook precisely and I
might quibble that it was overdone by a minute. Perch 1, Tuna 0. &nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1569618820546-embellie+tuna.jpg"> 

This tuna dish had good intentions
but failed to really make the grade

To
finish, I opted for something different: a shortbread cake topped with twirls
of pistachio cream and honeyed roasted apricot with rosemary. The combination
worked well, although the sweetness would have benefited from a citrus element.
Still, the honeycomb ice cream in the middle of the plate was an absolute
knockout.

The
wine list is not enormous, and I would have preferred a choice of more regional
wines. This deficiency was compensated by some choice reds from Domaine Marc
Colin, though in the end I was compelled to go local(ish). The 2017
Savennières from Domaine des Deux Vallées was delicious. The nose is
ripe and generous for a Savennières, offering scents of apricot, dandelion and
nectarine and slightly heady in style. The palate is well balanced – a little
rich, perhaps, but counterbalanced by acidity – and reveals fleeting tropical
notes toward the clean finish. It lost some definition as it warmed in the
glass, though slightly chilled I found it worked a treat.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1569618840002-embellie+savennieres.jpg"> 

L’Embellie
was thoroughly enjoyable. There are plenty of tourist restaurants in the center
of Tours offering mediocre fare, but L’Embellie is a step above others in the
vicinity. Still, my wife made a good point when she remarked that we ate nothing
that she could not rustle up in our kitchen. Not every dish worked, though frankly
the perch was so good that I did not regret my choice. If you are in Tours
visiting wineries or the picture-postcard Château de Villandry and its famous
geometric gardens, then L’Embellie comes recommended, provided you enter with
modest expectations. From Tours I headed south toward the Basque coastal towns
of Ciboure and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where I enjoyed some dinners on a much higher
level. Expect these to be served up on Vinous Table soon.

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