Du Village - Manchester

Restaurant du Village has long been a CT favorite of mine. If your a fan of French food you must add this to your list. This small intimate, but not intimidating, bistro is located in Chester which is this great little village that is typical New England. Our latest visit was Monday July 14 Bastille Day. Their limited prix fixe menu had enough selections to keep us all happy. Although, there was only one fish dish (tuna steak with an olive tapenade) which kind of limited our friend Elizabeth to one selection. Bill and I both had the house made garlic sausage with frisee and mustard dressing as an app and we loved it. For entrees I had the lamb, which was cooked perfectly at medium rare. It was accompanied by a nice summer vegetable ratatouille. Bill had the duck with Port wine and quince sauce. His was also perfectly cooked and presented and he was very satisfied. In celebration of Bastille Day the only dessert available was a Marie Antoinette cake which is a traditional genoise with pastry cream, whip cream and fresh fruit (that I think was soaked in kirsch). It was a nice cake and all four of us enjoyed it and ate every bite. I was disappointed only because owner Chef Michel is such a fantastic pastry chef that I missed ordering one of his creations off the regular menu. This just forces me to go back soon I guess. Our server wasn't that good which is surprising because this place typically has stellar service. Her friends were at a table next to us and they seemed to get most of her attention so she was a little on the slow side. When asked about the wines she didn't really have a clue. During service, our entrees arrived well ahead of our wine. When she was asked about an item on the limited menu she didn't have an answer. C'mon, there were only 4 items! Despite the fluke with the server, I'll go back here over and over and over again. Hats off to Chef Cynthia and Chef Michel for delivering great french food to CT.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the entire United States. If you like French food, you should stop here. No, I'd say that if you appreciate good food in general, you should head to this restaurant. The wait staff is amazing as well as the food. I feel like I can't do this place justice in words. But if you are in the area (or just in Connecticut) I would suggest you go!

I've always been a fan of Du Village. It is one of the few classic French Restaurants around. We dined here recently for the hunt dinner and it was good but not the great that I've had here in the past.