Le Cafe - Tain-l’Hermitage

I went to this restaurant for lunch with my husband, baby, and 3 year old. He works in wine and we 've lived in France for a couple of years so we 've seen the standard cafe fare a BUNCH. This place was innovative and different. The proprietress was very welcoming and sweet, she brought some toy cars for our son when he got antsy. The food was spectacular and super simple. For 12 euros we had a beautiful salad with marinated cabbage, fresh radish, awesome dressing and a pea puree, followed by a slow cooked pork with fresh, lightly cooked vegetables from her garden (squash, favas, artichokes, carrots). Both the salad and the main plate were incredible. When my son got his main plate (he skipped the salad) he took one look at it and said, I 'm going to eat it ALL GONE and he did. We all did. Then came dessert. It was a simple fresh strawberry and rhubarb pastry, somewhere between a crumble and a cake. It was incredible and also super fresh and light. We had the wine by the glass and it was totally fine, but this place is not wine-focused (unlike most places here). We definitely recommend this funky little restaurant!

I had a holiday meal in this restaurant with my family, unfortunately the meal was a big disappointment. We ended up in this restaurant helped by the good Tripadvisor reviews, and also because most of the other restaurants in town were closed. The waitress nicely offered us just the daily menu. No other options, not even for the kids. The starter was a red cabbage, some slivers of low quality ham, champignon and Parmesan biscuits. The red cabbage was quite bitter, completely raw (it had not been marinated) and there was no dressing. It was a tough salad for the kids. Main course was magret de canard and boiled vegetables. The magret came cold, the vegetables were bland, just boiled vegetables, we did not get any sauce for the magret or the veggies, not even a drop of olive oil. Do I really have to go out to lunch for a cold magret and boiled potatoes and carrots? Where is the cook? The only option for dessert was chocolate mousse and a tasteless cookie which was like a piece of baked dough, not sugar and the base was burnt. As a summary, after a year and a half in France this is the worst meal so far. The quality price ratio was close to zero. At least the waitress was very accommodating and treated us nicely.

We weren't expecting much for such a small place in a quiet town. Apparently they have only just started doing an evening service, so it was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night. After that, it just got better and better. The lady on service (Nathalie) was friendly and very efficient, and the food was remarkable. All the ingredients were fresh and seasonal, but the chef (Boris) has some fascinating new ideas for cooking and presenting even simple vegetables, and the flavours were superb. I was amazed to find such excellent quality food at such a low price.

After Cite Du Chocolate, we needed to eat(hard to believe but we did). We do not eat meat or seafood and didn't want pizza. At Le Cafe, the waitress- possibly the proprietor, offered us cold vegetables, hot vegetables and fruit. We had a beautiful salad with striped beets, giant pink radishes, red endive and lettuce, followed by a mixture of cooked but crunchy vegetables and a finely made fruit salad. I loved the decor and brought home a small poster of Cannibal Mosquitos- a local band.

De passage hier à midi, nous sommes allés manger dans ce petit coin de paradis, tant par la gentillesse et la qualité de l'accueil que la fraîcheur et la créativité du Chef ! Un menu unique mais nous avons été bluffès et reviendrons avec plaisir lors d'un prochain passage sur Tain ! Bravo en tout cas pour l'authenticité et le cadre du café. Au plaisir de revenir !