Sancerre Travel Planning with NileGuide

Central Vineyards of the Loire

The wines of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and their neighbours
By Jim Budd

This Guide was last updated on 01 April 2009
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Places to eat

Le Lièvre Gourmand

Address: 14 Grande Rue, 18260 Vailly-sur-Sauldre
Tel: 02 48 73 80 23 
Email: le.lievre.gourmand@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.lelievregourmand.com
Geo-coordinates:  Latitude: 47:27:30N (47.45821)    Longitude: 2:39:0E (2.64999) 

It would have taken a lot of courage for a French chef to open a high-class restaurant in deepest Berry over 15 years ago – even more if you were an Australian! Long before the A77 motorway from Paris was built, Australian chef William Page bought the premises in the early 1990s, won a Michelin star in 2004 and, perhaps more significantly, 16/20 in the Gault Millau guide. Le Lièvre Gourmand is a delight. You walk straight into a salon with comfortable armchairs and sofas where you enjoy your aperitif with wonderfully tasty mise-en-bouches while studying the menu (I’d recommend the €49 menu) and the short well-chosen wine list that, of course, includes a few Australian bottles. It is soon clear that the service is impeccable. This is very refined cooking without being showy - apparently some locals complain that there isn’t enough on their plate, which is to miss the point - this is not about a blow-out French feast, but something different.

Useful information: Menus: €39-€59. Wines by the glass available for each menu. Closed Sunday evening and all day Monday and Tuesday. Limited covers so booking essential. UPDATE JAN 2010: The restaurant is moving to Orléans at the end of March, so catch it here quickly!