This traditional French bar and cafe-restaurant has now moved from its original location, and into the old Marie’s (Mayor’s) building and offices.

Now even more central, and with newer, contemporary, larger interior, this popular local watering hole is an important part of the life-blood of this beautiful medieval hill village.

Great value for money, and with an easy atmosphere, Thierry’s Bar, run very efficiently by Thierry, himself, and his wife Silvie, is a great place to watch the village world go by on a typically sunny day whilst sipping your favourite cool drink on the terrace.

Worth a visit, before or after a walk through the ancient streets of Perreux !

The Marvellous Medieval Village of Perreux in the Roannais, Rhône-Alpes

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Recently revamped and redecorated, La Rocadine once again surpassed expectations.

Specialities : foie gras, viande charolaise, poissons, desserts maison. Closed Sundays, Saturday lunchtime, Wednesday evening, and Bank Holidays Open daytime 12.00 to 1.30pm, evening from 9.00pm (summer), and from 8.45pm (winter). Menu – 12€ (during the week) to 34€.Menu for children 10€ (up to 10 years) Groups 60 max. Handicap access. Terrace. Take-away Service: foie gras,terrine, poissons, viandes, dessert. Order 1 week in advance.

This is a sincere recommendation to an excellent restaurant run by Jérôme and Mélanie Sadot.In typical Jérôme fashion his menu and presentation is traditional French, but with contemporary and original styling. A winning combination along with the use of high quality, local produce.

It’s a good sign when you can see many local French people are eating and enjoying themselves there!

Visit: Purefrancenow Roannais Directory – La Rocadine

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Sunshine, travels and wonderful discoveries, good food and drink, and all part of an exceptional visit to England, accompanied by a very good French friend from the Roannais -  Jean-Marc Dublé.

Jean-Marc is a most congenial fellow – bon vivant, creative intellectual, and painter, and with an open-mindedness to all things international, including British!

This is primarily a pictorial log of our journey through some of the most beautiful and interesting parts of England. A special voyage of discovery for both Jean-Marc and ourselves through  parts of England which can certainly be regarded as being quintessentially English – a real treat!

We started our sojourn in London with a 2 night stay in the heart of the City.

After a long, warm, sunny walk through the iconic streets of the city, and catching numerous taxis to various points of interest.

From the historic Saint Catherine’s Dock over the famous Tower Bridge for some great views of the River Thames.

The marvellous Saint Paul’s Cathedral, designed by genius architect,  Christopher Wren, was still an amazng sight, and its interior always a stunning experience.

We then headed to the southside of the Thames via the famous Millenium Bridge and to the new Globe Theatre for a bit of Shakespearian history.

After an informative lecture tour by one of the Globes resident actors we needed some good London sustenance  – a superb traditional English lunch at the Swan Inn, part of the Globe theatre complex, and with beautiful views over the Thames – an excellent restaurant location, and particularly high quality cuisine.

We then visited the Tate Modern which is very conveniently placed next door. An ideal opportunity to satisfy our artistic taste buds, especially Jean-Marc’s.

Tate Modern is just a stunning edifice of a building, and an absolutely ideal, colossal space for showing off amazing, large-scale contemporary art with startling panache and impact.

A perfect use of an old power station!

Mesmerised by all the art we left Tate Modern and its thought-provoking images to more tranquil and less intellectual territory. and gradually meandered our way back to our city hotel ready for our special early Sunday morning excursion to the Royal Academy of Arts  where there was a special Van Gogh exhibition covering his art and letters.

Simply mind-blowing, and quite emotional. Definitely one of the best experiences of the week-end.

We spent almost 3 hours at the exhibition, and then went off to Covent Garden for a spot of lunch at ‘Tuttons’.

After the ‘buzz’ of Covent Garden another type of ‘buzz’ was experienced as we all had a flight on the huge London Eye with spectacular views of the city. Jean-Marc’s vertigo was under control, so he enjoyed the ride tremendously. Great Fun!!

Our magical London visit, however, did not end there, and like all good tourists we also ‘did’ Buckingham Palace and visited the Queen!! A sunny stroll through the Palace gardens past Horse Guards Parade to the symbolic Trafalgar Square, just to remind Jean-Marc of the battle won over the French by our great Admiral of the Seas – Lord Nelson!!

Back to our City-based hotel to rest our somewhat weary legs for a short relax and some cool refreshment. In the evening we jumped into a taxi to Jamie Oliver’s ‘Fifteen’ restaurant where we had an absolutely delightful evening of exceptional food, and very attentive and charming service.

Definitely to be recommended.

Take a look at their website: Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant, London

To be fair we had done so much in such a short 2-day period it felt like a week! Jean- Marc was very happy!

Tate Modern, London

The Royal Academy of Arts, London

Covent Garden, London

The London Eye

Part 2 of  “Our Man from the Roannais” series will follow shortly, amongst the famous towers and spires of Oxford, including a visit to the Wye Valley, and the Cotswolds.

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An exceptional evening of fun, excellent food, good friends, and entertainment. All laid on free and gratis by the owners Francis Kuchenbuch and Jean-Louis Clot. Over 400 guests were invited for this great evening of celebration – it was a packed house! Champagne flowed and a local rock band played into the night. A great bash!

Many thanks, Francis and Jean-Louis, and all at Clemenceau!

Brasserie Clemenceau is brilliantly situated in the beautiful setting of Place de Clemenceau, near the original Roanne chateau (now partly occupied by the Roanne and Roannais Tourist offices). It is exceedingly welcoming, and suitable for either individuals wanting a quite coffeee or beer, business men having lunch, holidaymakers,or local French families.

It is contemporary and professionally presented with a great front-of-house terrace. Superb for relaxing in the warm Roannais sunshine.

Great, simple, good value-for-money, ‘plat du jour’ served efficiently and quickly. Also with a semi- sports bar ‘feel’ – TV, pool table, wi-fi connection.

A successful mixture to suit a wide audience, very well! Go there!

Purefrancenow Roannais Directory

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There were also plenty of ‘collector’ items from the past, including old copies of original and famous Michelin Guides- there was even a copy of the very first 1900 edition! WOW!

The famous, 3-Michelin starred, Maison Troisgros was also at the top of the celebratory list, with Michel Troisgros personally presenting a special demonstration of two of his latest Italian dishes from his recently published cookery book called “Michel Troisgros et l’Italie”

There were also several other reputable regional chefs demonstrating their cookery skills and ideas to a packed house of interested and thrilled visitors.

The show was well organised with a cookery school for children, and exhibitions and information on the origins of food throughout the world, and quality of diet. To be honest, a thoroughly superb and entertaining event with both an abundance of facts and fun.

Samples of fascinating past menus from the Troisgros restaurant were on display, showing, once again, the empathy of art and good food.

Maison Troisgros and BBC Masterchef

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Purefrancenow Roannais Directory

Gourmet Weekends in the Roannais

And through the active promotion and recommendation of Purefrancenow many British, Dutch, and other European holidaymakers have enjoyed Roannais hospitality, and the gastronomic pleasures of the many restaurants in the region.

In particular, the following Roannais restaurants have benefited from the constant marketing and promotion by Purefrancenow this year:

Over 150 holiday visitors during June, July and August have been directly and personally recommended by Purefrancenow to visit many of the Roannais Region’s many attractions, including shops, restaurants, bars, villages, local and regional entertainment and leisure opportunities.

This summer has not only been exceptionally sunny and hot, but it has been very successful for both Purefrancenow and the Roannais in general.

Purefrancenow is already actively working on promoting the Roannais for summer 2010!

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Purefrancenow Roannais Restaurant Recommendations

Brian Franklin, Director of Purefrancenow, had a personal tour of the new Hotel facilities during May 2009, and visited every room. A man with many air miles of international travel under his belt, along with extensive experience of some of the UK and Europe’s top quality hotels, Brian was extremely impressed with Château de Champlong’s quality of approach, architectural finish, and interior design style for their new hotel.

A picture is better than a thousand words, and tells the story with more impact. The reality of Château de Champlong’s hotel offerance is, of course, even more impressive!

Purfrancenow announced the opening of the Château de Champlong’s three-star hotel at the end of March, but, to be fair, this is the first time they have managed to visit for more accurate editorial purposes.

The theme for the 12 hotel bedrooms is based on the names of spices, which relates perfectly to Olivier Boizet’s gastronomique creations in the Château’s kitchen. The regional reputation for excellent cuisine is well known.

The spice French names used, which gives them an additional air of romantacism, are; SAFRAN, RÉGLISSE, CARDAMOME, CORIANDRE, PAVOT BLEU, POIVRE DE MALABAR, MUSCADE, BADIANE, PAPRIKA, CANNELLE, ANIS, MACIS.

All rooms are extremely well equipped, as you would expect. In fact the overall quality and presentation is o good that the standard of accommodation and hotel experience you receive is more like five-star!

No expense has been spared in ensuring absolute comfort, service, and ‘moody’ contemporary ambience for their guests.

The cost of staying at Château de Champlong for a night or week-end will not break the bank, either!

Rooms are very reasonably priced from 85€ per night.

For more information on Chateau de Champlong go to their website at www.chateau-de-champlong.com

Also, if you want an inspirational Gourmet Week-end, combining some of the best of the Roannais in the Rhône-Alpes, including Château de Champlong, then let Purefrancenow give you a very special, personal treat – visit Purefrancenow Gourmet Week-ends.

Purefrancenow also provide a personally tailored service for these, and other, week-end breaks, or stays during the week, so try us – you won’t regret it!

Costs, timescales, and type of break can be customised according to your individual requirements or special occasion, including golf, wine and cheese tasting, visits to medieval villages, or to cities like Lyon and Vichy.

Purefrancenow our now offering ‘Amazing Autumn Sensation’ 3-day breaks at ‘Le Cuvage’ (a beautifully converted wine-making barn), combined with a ‘gourmet dinner’ at Château de Champlong, and other ‘tailored’ activities in the Roannais, Rhône-Alpes.

This Autumn opportunity at ‘Le Cuvage’ is available for reservation now, September to November 2009 for couples or 4 to 6 persons. A 10% discount and champagne welcome is offered for early bookings!

Contact Brian Franklin, personally, at Purefrancenow for more information and a friendly, informal explanation on how it all works, on these and other opportunities in the Roannais: info@purefracenow.com

This high quality, beautifully produced magazine, extolls the virtue of good product, good cuisine, and good cooking. It is a specialist publication directed at UK chefs and trade buyers who are looking for the best produce, and good ideas. As well as interesting perspectives on the restaurant trade and food industry in  general.

This month’s issue has the famous Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons on the front cover, and a double-page spread on how he and his wonderful restaurant is successfully coping with the current economic climate.

There are superb articles featuring different products and restaurants around the world.

One such editorial piece by Nicholas Landers covers his ‘five favourite restaurants’, from London, Venice and San Francisco, to Spain and France, which, coincidentally, included ‘Le Central’ one of several high quality restaurant establishments in the Roannais.

Purefrancenow was asked to provide exterior and interior photographs for the feature, so Brian Franklin, ever keen to promote the Roannais, promptly searched his image archives, and sent them.

Nicholas Landers in his article goes on to say about the restaurant ‘Le Central’, Roanne: ” This extraordinary bistro belongs to Michel Troisgros and is located next to his far better know three-star restaurant with rooms, called La Maison Troisgros.”

“But this is where his grandfather, father, and uncle began the transformation of French provincial cooking into something more appealing. Yet Le Central somehow still retains the charm of that bygone era.

It is small and intimate. The walls are covered in photos of all the food and wine suppliers who have contributed to the restaurants’ longevity. The menu is full not just of traditional French classics but also Michel’s modern take on them. And the prices are extremely reasonable. A slice of French history on a plate.”

For more information on ‘Le Central’ visit The Purefrancenow Roannais Restaurant Directory

Purefrancenow ‘Le Central’ Review’

For more on the Roannais, Rhône-Alpes visit www.purefrancenow.com and Inspirational Gourmet Weekends

Full of useful information about the Roannais in the Rhône-Alpes the Purefrancenow Newsletter also provides up-to-date details of the growing coverage and success of www.purefrancenow.com throughout the UK and Europe, as well as the USA and rest of the world.

There are links to the Purefrancenow Blogs, News, and Reviews as well as to regional Roannais businesses and restaurants. This includes opportunities for UK businesses and leisure-travellers alike.

Local news about places of interest are also regularly highlighted.

Just another useful and helpful service by Purefrancenow for their current clients, and prospective ones visiting their website for the first time. Well done!

Also take a look at the Purefrancenow Roannais Directory.

The Purefrancenow Monthly Newsletter Archive – at your service!

This successful and remarkable place has now moved up to new heights of service and pleasure!

Renowned for the wonderful gastronomique cuisine of owner and chef, Olivier Boizet, this high quality establishment now offers a very wide range of facilities to both local and international clientele.

Whether for business, vacation, or just pure pleasure Château de Champlong is certainly one of those places that must be seriously considered.

Oliver Boizet and his wife, Véronique have a unique approach to their business and service, whether for their excellent restaurant or their business and wedding events at the ‘Le Cuvage’. Chateau de Champlong has developed over time. And now has come of age in a big way!

Le Château de Champlong’s new hotel opened in the main Château building on 12th March, 2009 with 12 top quality rooms now available for their guest’s comfort. And reflecting the cookery talents of Olivier Boizet, and the quality of Chateau de Champlong’s cuisine, these 12 rooms have been imaginatively baed on the theme of ‘épices’ (spices).

All rooms have been given the name of an individual spice.

These are: Safran, Badiane, Muscade, Poivre de Malabar, Coriandre, Cardamome, Pavot Bleu, Réglisse, Macis, Anis, Cannelle, Paprika.

All rooms are beautifully furnished, and equipped with shower and bath, wifi, mini bar, safe, dressing gown and duvet, flat screen T.V.

Breakfast is available from 7.30am to 10.00am in the Château salon ‘Table d’hôtes’.

Full details are available on the new, updated Chateau de Champlong website: le Chateau de Champlong Hôtel

Purefrancenow will also arrange special business, private, and celebration events at Chateau de Champlong, including week-end holiday breaks with a selection of local activities, including golf and gourmet week-ends. Purefrancenow Gourmet Week-ends. More on this superb, successful establshment with a great reputation will be written and presented by Purefrancenow soon!

Château de Champlong

Purefrancenow Restaurant Directory

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