My first fondue experience!
How have I never tried it before? I’m not sure, but I am glad my first time was here in France.
On a search for a fondue restaurant in Orleans, we found one on… wait for it… Rue de Bourgogne, ONCE AGAIN! I wasn’t lying when I said this road was the place to go for great food in Orleans.
What first struck me about this place was how cute it was. I loved seeing the christmas lights hanging on the inside.
I always thought fondue was melted chocolate you use to dip strawberries, pretzels and other goodies in. Little did I know it actually gets better than that..CHEESE. Hot gooey melted CHEESE. Of course I wanted to try it.
As we sat down, I was beginning to get more and more excited seeing all the fondue pots around me. Looking around I noticed the decor, small hints of French bulldogs everywhere, the inside looked like a classic old french home. It was small, quaint and charming. With the other tables surrounding us so close, it almost felt like we were all eating together.. we even made a few new friends.
What did we have?
With regular plates available as well, that I’m sure are great… the fondue is what Le P’tit Gavroche is known for, so we stuck with that. The fondue menu is set up for sharing. You have a few options between a meat or cheese. We had BOTH. 😉
To start we shared the French onion soup (8 euros), packed with caramelized onions (my fav) and 4 large pieces of bread which were soaked in the broth of the onion soup and covered in CHEESE! This was actually my first French onion soup as well, after being told that the bread or toppings are usually better when crispy, I wouldn’t have had this any other way. With the bread submersed in the onion soup and cheese it gave it the most amazing taste. Give me this on a cold winter day at home in my PJs and I’ll be the happiest girl.
After the onion soup came the FONDUEEEEEE!
The Bourguignon (meat plate) came with a plate full of quality steak, and duck. Along with that came a hot-pot of oil for cooking. This was fun, it gave you the ability to cook the meats exactly how you want to.. rare, medium.. well done or even one of each! Of course I favored the soft.. delicate.. juicy… duck.
Price: 22 euros
Price: 20 euros
You could hear the cheese bubbling inside the pot throughout the entire meal. With each piece of bread I dipped into the cheese, I burnt my tongue because I was too anxious to eat it each time haha. We even dipped a few pieces of meat in there!
With your fondue plates you receive unlimited salad and fries. Although I had no space for the fries whats so ever, the salad was nice to have as a break in between dipping.
We finished the meal with a violet liquor infused creme brûlée, I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of a violet flavored dessert but it was surprisingly very good. The taste reminded me of these violet candies I used to eat when visiting my family in NYC.
This is perfect if you are looking for a new take on a classic creme brûlée. It might even give you a little buzz.. the violet liquor was pretty intense, in a good way.
Price: 8 euros
While finishing up our creme brûlée we got paid a visit by a little someone…
How cute is he?! I mean it was a little random that a dog just started walking around the restaurant saying hi to everyone but he was so sweet. His name is Guimauve which means marshmallow in english. Makes sense why there were small touches of French Bull dogs through out the restaurant.
Want to visit Le P’tit Gavroche?
Closed on Sundays
Thanks for reading!
Shalize
