Le Cygne, St Omer

Ladies who Lunched!

St Omer in Nord Pas de Calais was a long way to go for lunch. A very long way, plus it involved a very early morning start and a very late arrival back home. But it was worth it.

The day before we were due to travel SeaFrance had sent an email warning of road works and long delays. Heeding the warning we allowed extra time for the drive to Dover Ferry Port. It was a good job we had. The email was right there were bad delays and our plan for breakfast in the dock café had to be abandoned. Luckily, however, within a few minutes of boarding we were ensconced in SeaFrance’s on-board café having coffee and munching those deliciously light, flaky croissants that the French do so well.

An hour and half later we were on the road to St Omer and our favourite restaurant, Le Cygne. We parked in a tiny square ringed by mellow old buildings and walked the short distance to rue Caventou.

Outside Le Cygne diners were sitting at tables making the most of the summer sun, but we headed indoors to a table clad with crisp white linen, polished glasses and cutlery. The dining room looked as traditionally elegant as that elegant bird, the swan, from which the restaurant takes its name.

Choosing which of the four set menus (prices ranging from €19 – €55) was difficult, but eventually we settled on the €28 menu along with a bottle of Muscadet at €22.

For a starter one of us chose the poached egg on a puff pastry shell in a light lemon hollandaise sauce with asparagus, whilst the other had the duck fois gras burger – a delicate slice of fois gras on a little bun surrounded by tiny pieces of smoked gizzard and duck breast. The latter was an unusual choice for somebody who doesn’t particularly like fois gras – but the plate went back to the kitchen scraped clean. And so it continued through the main and dessert courses.

We each chose a different dish and ruined the chef’s artistic presentation by carefully dividing and sharing. Just in case the other had chosen more wisely! It didn’t matter which had been our original choice, both were delicious.

The cheese chariot at Le Cygne is always worth sampling and we decided that as this was a special occasion we would pay the extra €9 each and enjoy the splendid array of cheeses on offer. Our selections came served on a slate along with homemade walnut and raisin bread.

It was a struggle, two hours later to manage coffee and petit fours, but we did!

We were the last to leave Le Cygne and we stopped for a while to chat to Stéphanie and Jean-François Wident the owners of the restaurant. They told us they had run the restaurant for 21 years –neither looked old enough! Madame looks after the front of house whilst Monsieur is in the kitchen – he likes cooking fish the most he said.

There was just enough time for a stroll through some of the streets in search of foody shops like the Epicierie Félix in rue Huitieme de Ligne before driving the 42 km back to Calais and our SeaFrance ferry.

It was really all too rushed, but it had been a memorable meal and day out, and in the back of the car thanks to Epicierie Félix something else delicious for the ladies who lunched to munch for supper back home in the UK.

Above: splendid array of cheese. Photo: Irene Campbell

Above: elegant interior. Photo: Irene Campbell