On our first evening in Tours we went for dinner a restaurant called ‘Au Lapin qui fume’. I love that name. A bunny which smokes, it sounds so silly but also so creative. No wonder I was all hyped for what I would get to eat here. I mean the name kind of raises a certain kind of expectation.
dinner place @Au Lapin Qui Fume
As usual, after almost a week in France it was usual, we got the three-course dinner. It’s the best deal and almost always delicious. It started with an amuse gueule, which was not so usual. A thin slice baguette with some kind of Chorizo spread, which had a strong paprika flavor and small cut zucchini, fermented with curry, on the side. I liked that we got an amuse gueule, but it was not remarkable.
amuse gueule @Au Lapin Qui Fume
As a starter I ordered the rabbit terrine, which came with three crackers with rabbit rillette additional to the terrine. The rillette had some orange inside, which made the whole thing very tasty! There were also four slices of the terrine on my board. It was a bit on the hard side, so it was not possible to spread it on the bread. The side salad made a nice contrast to the terrine. Only the onion jam was very sweet, at least on its own. There were some cherries in it as well. With the terrine the onion jam worked well, but it was also so strong that one couldn’t taste the terrine anymore. Still, a very nice starter.
rabbit terrine @Au Lapin Qui Fume
My friend got the asparagus to start the meal. It came with a wild garlic pesto and minced hard boiled egg. She found it was tasty as well and finished it in no time at all. This was a really generous portion. In Vienna sometimes you get same amount of asparagus with potatoes and sauce Hollandaise and it’s sold as a main dish.
asparagus with wild garlic pesto @Au Lapin Qui Fume
For the main course we both ordered meat. My friend got rabbit and I the lamb. Both dishes came with a lot of spring vegetables: peas, broad beans, green beans, pois mange toute, and baby carrots. A nice green potpourri. Next to the vegetables was a polenta flan. It was nice to get some veggies for a change. Unfortunately my lamb was a bit on the tough side. Its color was exactly as I wanted it, pink inside and not red. But it should have rested a tad longer, the meat could have really used that time. Or maybe it was just really chewy and no resting would have changed anything. Really too bad since the taste of the lamb with the mint on top was great.
lamb with spring vegetables @Au Lapin Qui Fume
The rabbit came in a dark beer sauce, which was on the sweet side. It complemented the flan perfectly. The meat was tender and juicy and with three pieces quite a lot on the plate. At least to my friend.
rabbit with spring vegetables @Au Lapin Qui Fume
The desserts took for ages to arrive. My friend ordered a sablé (a buttery crumbly cookie) with mint pistachio cream and strawberries, while went for the chocolate trilogy: chocolate mud cake, ice cream, and mousse. Personally the sablé didn’t appeal to me, but I think it was okay. My cake was delicious, unfortunately not the mousse though. It couldn’t hold a candle to the one in Poitiers, while the ice cream was okay.
sablé with strawberries and mint cream @Au Lapin Qui Fume
chocolate trilogy @Au Lapin Qui Fume
Overall it was a nice enough experience and the kitchen certainly knows what it is doing. At least sometimes. What I loved the most was the variety of vegetables on my plate. There is much great produce out there which we saw at every market we passed, but never really in any restaurant. Au Lapin qui fume was the exception, finally the veggies made an appearance. The lasting impression from Au Lapin qui fume is one of a good meal. And isn’t that all it should be about? Yours, Pollybert
Au Lapin Qui Fume
37000 Tours, 90 rue Colbert
Tel: +33 2 47 66 95 49
Email: contact@aulapinquifume.fr
Tue-Sat: 12:00-14:00, 19:00-22:00
https://aulapinquifume.fr/
