My bills were as different as the restaurants. The first was for €99 for two including a couple of glasses of white wine at lunch. The second was for €650 for two at dinner the same evening. Our party of four split the evening’s bill, which included a bottle of La Forest 2014 Chablis from Dauvissat and one of 2014 Domaine La Marèle 2014 Terrasses du Larzac from Frédéric Porro. The restaurants are, however, closely related.
Lunch was at Le Central in the centre of Roanne while dinner was at Troisgros, the Troisgros’ family’s simply named three-star Michelin restaurant with rooms in the quiet village of Ouches, 10 km outside Roanne. Both were excellent. Dinner in fact was better than excellent as there was a magical element to it.
Both are in locations that were forced on the Troisgros family. After the success of the original bistro, opened in 1930 by Jean-Baptiste and Marie Troisgros, the bistro was gradually transformed into a three-star Michelin restaurant with comfortable rooms above, a move which forced out many of the local customers who had come to use it as their bar. Le Central was the new place for them and so confident were its owners of its success that there is still no sign of the words ‘bar’ or ‘restaurant’ outside.
We arrived shortly after the witching hour of 1.30 pm when the kitchen closes. This was our fault on this occasion, not SNCF’s, and the restaurant does not answer the phone while service is taking place so we couldn’t warn them we’d made the mistake of taking the slow train instead of the fast one. Nevertheless, we were made welcome, relieved of our suitcases, and shown to our table directly opposite the kitchen.
Little has changed. The front part of the restaurant has shelves full of colourful items from the épicerie that doubles in this space. The staff are dressed in a smart, relaxed colour combination. And a bunch of laurel leaves hangs by the kitchen pass. As we made ourselves comfortable, the maître d’ broke the spell and advised us to choose the menu du jour as our friend had rung to say he would collect us at 2.30.
Damn, I thought, there goes my opportunity of ordering the frogs’ legs, a dish I believe they cook better here than anywhere else. They offer 250 gm (the amount is specified on the menu) of sticky, garlicky bones with ginger overtones and succulent flesh. I will have to return, next time with time on my side, perhaps even for a dish described as a sandre soufflé.
Our meal began with the customary bowl of subtle chef’s broth redolent of mushrooms and spice, before proceeding to a dish of diced raw bonito and fresh peas that could have been improved with a little more seasoning – a really good soy sauce perhaps? Then in homage to escalope de saumon à l’oseille, the dish that made Troisgros famous 60 years ago, a period that has seen the virtual disappearance of wild salmon, we chose a fillet of salmon enlivened by thinly sliced, cured beetroot, French beans and carrots. Best of all however was the dessert. Described as burnt meringue with red fruits, it was a clever way of using up egg whites that would have delighted the Troisgros grandparents.
The sign on the table announcing that Le Central is now offering breakfasts for businesspeople in its private room is a sign that it is trying to reach out to new customers as the number of restaurants and bars in central Roanne increases. I would visit Le Central at least once a week if I could: it’s a bistro that makes me long to return even when I have just left it.
That evening, as I got in our friend’s car to drive to Troisgros at a still-hot 7 pm, I commented that I was not sure which I enjoyed more: the drive to the restaurant or the arrival. I am still not sure.
On this occasion, our arrival was even more spectacular. The walk through the arbour heady with the aroma of roses and honeysuckle. The cool tunnel flanked by the wine cellar than leads into the reception area and then on into the restaurant proper where most of the team were gathered for the pre-service briefing. There was chef César Troisgros and behind him his father Michel and, smiling as always, Patrice Laurent who began as a barman, became the face of Le Central and is now director of human resources. We were introduced to the team and then led through the bar to a table in the spacious grounds outside (see main image above and what was served with the bottle of Leflaive Mâcon we shared with Pierre T below).
This location has been home to the Troisgros since 2017 when, having failed to agree a new rent with their landlords in Roanne, they decided to upsticks and move to the country. The intervening years have seen the building become far more friendly, more lived in, a move matched by the confidence of the kitchen.
By way of an aside, anyone planning a career in restaurants or restaurant design should eat here first. There is the accumulation of so many years of experience behind every detail that deserves acute observation. Of course the space and the setting are great advantages, too. But so is the absence of any background music which makes the acoustics a pleasant surprise. The chairs which turn a complete 360 degrees. The polished wooden table topped with nothing more complicated than a black mat as adornment. And the subtle lighting which allows the waiting staff to seem to appear out of nowhere to deliver the food.
The menu is delivered in its now-traditional form: a loose eight pages with the first names of all 60 or so members of the team on the final page. Its contents are brief, and that is almost an overstatement. Two of the desserts are one word, the rest a maximum of five or six. The biggest change since my last visit is the increasing presence of the waiting staff in describing the precise makeup of the dishes when they are served, a move I do not appreciate. My memory may not be what it once was but I can still recall what I ordered less than an hour previously.
Our amuse-bouche was genius. A crisp, ultra-thin biscuit made of buckwheat on top of whipped yogurt topped with caviar (an excellent demonstration of the powerful combination of expensive and affordable ingredients) with tiny pieces of lemon adding the essential acidity that is a hallmark of the cooking here. (Michel assured us that all flowers came from their own garden.)
Then to two courses from the main-course section: langoustines with caviar, a dish that was as rich as it sounds, and then, for once ignoring the offal (the sesame-glazed veal kidneys with rhubarb chosen by JR and shown below), I continued with fish – grilled turbot with mint. This was two large fillets of the fish accompanied by a side plate of French beans. It could only have been bettered had the bones appeared on a side dish to be sucked over.
There was only one dessert to be ordered. At the beginning César had explained the ball-kicking abilities of his one-year-old son, Armand, and so we both ordered the cerises d’Armand, a dish of eight cherries, stones removed, topped with a sabayon and crisp pastry. A stunning combination that may augur well for Amand’s future cooking abilities.
On one day I spent more than €700 on lunch and dinner. It was a lot of money but was well spent in my opinion. But how much more, I wondered, would I have spent in these restaurants over the years had I been born a Roannais rather than a Mancunian?
Le Central 58 cours de la République, 42300 Roanne, France; tel: +33 (0)4 7767 7272
Troisgros 728 route de Villerest, 42155 Ouches, France; tel: +33 (0)4 7771 6697
Every Sunday, Nick writes about restaurants. To stay abreast of his reviews, sign up for our weekly newsletter.
