Anniversary lunch in a château

Last week was our second wedding anniversary so we decided to go out for the day and have a nice celebratory lunch. After a bit of research, we decided on Le Château de Labourdonnais; a colonial house similar to Eureka, situated in the north of the island.

 

We had some things to do in the morning, so arrived just in time for lunch at the Table du Château. There were a few large tables of business men in blue shirts, who must have been there on some kind of office team building exercise. Lunchtime was clearly the first moment they'd had to check their phones, and the lawn area in front of the restaurant was full of people texting or chatting, fortunately not too close to our table! 

 

 

Taken after lunch when they'd all left.

I'd taken a sneak peek at the menu online when we booked, so I had a good idea what I was going to eat before I even sat down. The prices are mid-way between the cheap and cheerful local restaurants we usually eat at, and the fancy places you find in the posh hotels. There are a few restaurants like this around Mauritius where you can eat tasty and creative dishes at a fraction of what they'd cost in Europe. Here's one page from the menu:

 

Our starters - prawns for Merv and fish of the day tartare for me - were beautifully presented and absolutely delicious.

 

I'm not sure what was in the dish next to the butter, but I didn't get much chance to try it after Merv discovered how tasty it was! It was a little spicy for me anyway so I left him to it.

 

Often when we eat out, one of us at least is disappointed when we order and they don't have the thing we've chosen from the menu. I don't know why it happens so much; maybe because it's an island and everything is imported. I don't remember what Merv's first choice was, but they didn't have it and he ended up with this:

 

He didn't regret it though. I think this was braised beef cheeks with carrot and taro crisps. I went for some more fish. When it arrived, I realised I'd basically ordered the same thing as my starter, but presented in a different way and with a taro puree, which I wasn't that keen on as it was a bit too sweet and creamy for my taste. The rest was lovely though.

Merv maintains that, however much you eat, there's always space for pudding because it goes into a separate stomach. Normally I'd struggle to eat a three course meal at lunchtime, but when I saw the menu, I decided I'd try out his theory. Besides which, I knew he'd sacrifice himself if I needed help clearing my plate.

 

Chocolate and caramel tart with ice cream

Some kind of crumble; I can't remember exactly.

After all that food, which I managed to polish off without Merv's help, we decided a walk would do us good, so we set out to visit the house. To be honest, I didn't have very high expectations after my Eureka experience, but it couldn't have been more different.

 

Shame about the cloudy sky, but it is Winter after all...

 

Information boards are plentiful and bilingual, and I especially liked that it wasn't just lists of facts. There were stories and anecdotes about family life and happy times spent in the house. It was as if the owners were giving us a personal tour. 

Normally in museums, I wander around looking and skim reading the information boards before heading to the shop (does that make me a bad person??)  In this house, there was so much interesting stuff to read that I'd need to go a second time to take it all in. The only thing missing from the explanations was why this chair has such amazingly long armrests!

Le Domaine de Labourdonnais doesn't stop at the family home. The business employs 175 people and produces 3500 tons of sugar cane and 1000 tons of citrus and tropical fruits annually. These are used in the production of fruit juices and jellies, and rhum which is distilled on-site. Included in the entrance fee there was a chance to taste all of the above. In the summer months, they also do cycling tours around the 40 hectares of orchards. I'd love to do that one day, and there were definitely some options on the menu that would be worth going back for. We paid the "locals" price of 200 rupees for the museum visit and the tasting session, which I thought was pretty good value. The restaurant also has the advantage of being separate from the house, so you can just go there to eat, without paying the entrance fee each time.