A Star to Light Up the Night

The food highlight on a recent trip to France was, without a doubt, the meal Jill and I had at the Restaurant le Château d’Amondans. I had previously spent a week at the Château and I had to take Jill there, even if it meant going a day out of our way — which it did.

The restaurant has earned one star from Michelin, but the meal we had was better than a meal the previous night at a 3–star restaurant. Being friends with the staff maybe colored our impressions a bit, but we still attempted — in our best restaurant–reviewer style — to be critical.

Restaurant le Château d’Amondans offers only two menus to choose from: the “menu de la semaine” (menu of the week) for 196F ($30); and the “menu du Château d’Amondans” (which changes monthly) for 250F ($40). There are a handful of daily suggestions that can be substituted for individual courses, but we decided to stay with the set meals.

Apéritifs were accompanied by baked puff pastry wafers topped with melted comté cheese. Our wine selection was a 1990 Nuits-St.-George by Pierre Schwab.

The meal was accompanied by freshly-baked rolls. (How fresh? Baked that afternoon!) For the cheese course there was a larger selection of freshly-baked breads from which to choose.

As we headed to our room after dinner — we stayed in the château — we were lucky we didn’t have far to travel. Restaurant le Château d’Amondans may only have been a one–star restaurant, but it truly was a star to light up the night.