I headed out on Wednesday morning taking the usual route i.e. Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, then the delightful RER (platform 44) to the Gare de Lyon, the TGV down to Dijon and then the local train to Beaune. All went according to plan, but I was supposed to meet ACC at Beaune station and found his train from Beaujolais was running late. There was a lot of tutting on the part of the Beaunois at the news of the delay, and I wondered what they would make of the London Midland service.
ACC eventually arrived just a few minutes late and we found Julien le taxi waiting outside who whisked us off to the gite in his lovely car. This was the gite that we stayed in two years ago (the famous socks-on-the-washing-line incident) and this time I didn't venture into the cellar at all, way too spooky especially at Halloween.
I sensed that ACC was feeling thirsty so without further ado we headed into the town centre to buy essential provisions (coffee and loo roll, which we carted about in a transparent plastic bag all evening) and for dinner. We had a quick look round Magnum, which is under new ownership and is no longer called Magnum but something else which appears to have been instantly forgettable. They had some items of interest but seemed to be about to close and we decided to return later in the week.
Then it was off to what I think of as the "locals' bar" for an aperitif. I'm sure this bar would welcome tourists but it's not touristy in the way that the bars on Place Carnot are. I had my first kir of the trip and ACC had a beer, and we got a little bowl of crisps to go with our drinks.
It was now time for dinner and we walked the short distance to Caveau des Arches where we had a table in the "prison" (am not sure if it actually used to be a prison or if that is ACC having a laugh) - it's a little room with just two tables.
We had the three course Menu Bourguignon at 25 euros. To start, we had some jambon persille with a mustard cream, and to drink we had a bottle of this Macon-Milly-Lamartine 2013 from Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon which was superb.
For our main course, we couldn't resist the chicken in an Epoisses sauce, which came with some pasta.
With our pudding/cheese, we had a cheeky half of 2013 Auxey-Duresses from Agnes Paquet which I enjoyed very much. It was delicious, fruity, approachable Auxey.
The assiette du fromages consisted of three cheeses: something fairly dull whose name I didn't catch, some Delice du Pommard and a very fine runny piece of Epoisses.
The couple at the other table in the little room had cheese from the trolley which looked very good. We got a shock when an enormous dog emerged from under their table at the end of the meal. It was like a golden labrador but about four times the size - how it had been under there all along without me noticing was something of a mystery. It regarded us suspiciously for a few minutes and then went and drank some water very noisily ("bonne degustation" quipped ACC).
We went on to have a digestif. Marc from Domaine de la Romanee Conti was available in a 2 cl measure for 25 euros but I didn't feel it was necessary to push the boat out to this extent, so settled for the Chateau de Meursault version instead, twice the amount for 7.50 euros. This suited me very well, while ACC was feeling adventurous and went for something called Manzana which a liqueur served on ice. It was actually surprisingly nice! We thought it was pear liqueur but when we saw similar stuff in the supermarket later, it was described as apple, so now I'm not completely sure, or it may have been something completely different altogether. Clearly another trip to Caveau des Arches is required to clear the matter up. The bill for both of us came to a whisker under a hundred quid, which I think was very reasonable considering what we ate and drank. It was a good start to the trip.
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