Le Gambetta - Saumur

A good restaurant, rather well hidden in Saumur – however the food was worth the trip. Interesting canapes – 4 different ones – followed by an asparagus course with brilliant fresh bread. Then a foie gras and tofu dish – beautifully presented and tasty. Next langoustine with a yuzu broth and then fish with razor clams before an avocado mousse as a cleanser. Then smoked lamb and artichokes, appearing from under a cloche filled with more smoke. And we finished with an assiette of lemon – a glass with lemon jelly, lemon mousse and lemon foam, topped with a lemon pearl – a lemon sponge with lemon sorbet and a pipette of lemon liqueur – and finally a hot lemon soufflé light as air. Yumm!! All beautifully present and accompanied by specially chosen local wines carefully matched to the dishes and served by helpful and friendly staff. Definitely worth the visit.

The restaurant is discreetly situated on a quiet street and you could easily pass by. Don't! The excellent reviews and the Michelin star do not tell a lie. It is worth travelling to Saumur just to eat here. We ate there on a quiet midweek evening recently and enjoyed a very fine meal. After very careful consideration we opted for the menu 'Au Plaisir Des Sens' with accompanying wines. Naturally we started with a glass of champagne, which was accompanied by a quartet of aperitifs, one of which was an oyster. When I confess an allergy my tray was whipped away but quickly returned with a replacement for the offending mollusc. Then a beautiful little amuse bouche and the first course - gambas garnished with carbon accompanied by a tiny salad laid around the edge of the plate, with a ginger and saffron broth poured over it. The wine is a white from South West France and I regret that I cannot remember the name, but it was an excellent opening to the flight of wines. The we had Saint-Pierre cuit à 45°C / Couteaux à la Grenade / Quinoa d’Anjou au Citron Noir / Ecorce de Yuzu. This was accompanied by a Chablis Premier Cru, 'Monts de Tonerre'. To freshen our palettes before the main course a Rafraichissement Avocat / Sésame wasabi, Infusion pétillante agrumes – citronnelle - combavaThe main course was lamb. Agneau Fermier / Salsifis – Daïkon aigre doux – Ail Noir / Un lait de chèvre à ma façon, to be precise. All the food is very beautifully presented, but this course is arranged on the plate to look like a crescent moon with stars. The wine to accompany it is a Beujolais.The dessert is a variation autour du Citron: Jaune / Lime / Combava and accompanied by a Cremant de Loire. We decline coffee, but accept the tiny sweets that would have accompanied it. Throughout the meal we are offered fresh bread rolls of various flavours, I particularly liked the walnut bread. The service is very, very good and the whole ambience is of a restaurant that takes food seriously, but is not intimidating.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner. We had the 5 course tasting menu, scallops, John Dory, lamb and lemon dessert. The scallop dish was perfection on a plate, the John Dory was interesting but delightful, the lamb slightly disappointing, and the lemon soufflé yummy, i didn't find the mousse in the glass worked, perhaps it wasn't properly set? In retrospect I wish we had asked to substitute the duck for the lamb. The amuse bouche were amazing, particularly the avocado ice cream with lemon sauce, I could have eaten a whole bowl of that - WOW!! Also, the finale dessert of passion fruit curd with kiwi fruit was just magnificent. We had 4 glasses of wine too and the bill was 230 euro which was very reasonable. Service was very professional and the male waiter we had spoke very good English. Thank you for a lovely meal.

We must admit that it was a nice surprise. The service was good beside the fact that no stool for the handbag so had to leave on the floor. Regarding the dinner we enjoyed except my compagnon starter too much different spices too much so at the end you don't really appreciate. The main dishes were very good and the chocolate dessert was superbe. The staff was very good. Overall I do recommand this place.

My wife reserved this restaurant from the Trip Advisor reviews for our last night after our Discover France Bike Tour of the Loire Valley. The bike trip was great, but this place was definitely our worst dinner in France. Terrible service, mediocre food and way overpriced. They even gave my wife a menu without prices. Do not fall for the reviews that say otherwise. "Seaweed Butter", give me a break! A bad restaurant is now referred to as a "le Gambetta"