L'atelier, Chambéry

One of the bonuses of our visitors the other week was that me and Stu were able to go out for an evening without kids.

After walking round Chambéry and checking all the menus we decided to go to L'Atelier where we were lucky to get the last unreserved table.

I have to say this was one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been to! The head chef Gilles had previously worked in Michelin starred restaurants but had given up his Michelin star dream to spend more time with his family.  Once we were seated he came and introduced himself, sat down and talked us through the menu options.

For each course you could choose from either two or three dishes. A lot of restaurants here work like this, which I like.  Fewer options means you're more likely to try something a little bit different and it also means you're sure that the ingredients user are likely to be the freshest possible (ie no lasagne that's been festering at the back of a freezer for months).

After ordering we were presented with a little amuse bouche and some strange parma violet flavoured drink while we waited for the food to arrive. For starters I had a fricasée of mushrooms with a poached egg, while Stu went for the lobster pasta option:

Main course I went for the duck and foie gras and Stu had some fish:

And for pud, I had a lime thing and Stu had a chocolate and pistachio fondant:

Including drinks it came to a very reasonable 76 Euros.

We'd intended on taking the opportunity of free babysitting to go and have a few drinks, but by 10pm we headed home as were were falling asleep in our pastis! Oh the joys of never getting more than three hours unbroken sleep.I'd definitely recommend this place (if you're not a fussy eater) and look forward to going again.