Loire Valley · Touraine
La FenaisonChinon
A winegrower’s farm of 1887, its table and its cellar, among the vines of Chinon
Loire pike-perch in beurre blanc, roast chicken for two, and Chinon by the glass.
A seasonal table in a Touraine house
What the garden gives, what the Loire gives
Girolles go into the pan with butter and sweet garlic. The ravioles hold mushrooms grown in the region’s limestone caves, and the pappardelle come with fried sage. Sainte-Maure goat’s cheese is served in slices, on raw pear.
On fine days we lunch with the doors open onto the garden. First time here? Have the velouté, then the roast chicken for two, carved at the table. If there are eight of you, we’ll push tables together.
In the oven each morning
The tarts come out at eleven
An apple tourte under its shortcrust, a thin tart of roasted apricots, blackberries and blueberries on vanilla cream. They cool on the kitchen rack through the lunch service.
In the evening there’s usually a slice left. Ask for it with a glass of Montlouis demi-sec.
To drink Loire wines
A glass of Chinon, a glass of chenin
The local cabernet franc with the chicken and the duck, Vouvray sec with the pike-perch, crémant to start. Everything is poured by the glass; ask us what we’ve opened that day.
Sundays with music
A trio in the garden, crémant in the shade
On the first Sunday of the month, May to September, a trio sets up under the trees. Guitar, saxophone, and the dining-room piano if it rains. Lunch is served in the garden; the music starts with dessert.
Dates go up on our Instagram, @lafenaison.chinon. Those Sundays fill up fast.
In the kitchen
The pots are on before service
Chicken stock, vegetables from the garden, the duck jus: it all starts in the morning on the big range. At noon every plate pauses at the pass before it crosses the room.
The chef
“A chicken from the valley, a beurre blanc whisked to order, a tart out of the oven that morning. I don’t look for anything more.”
Étienne MarchaisChef and co-founder
Étienne cooked in Tours for ten years before taking on the house with Camille in 2016. He writes the menu with the valley’s growers and the winemakers down the lane, and changes it when the garden does.
Follow the house
La Fenaison, season by season
Groups
A birthday, the whole family, wedding drinks in the garden? The long table seats fourteen, the barn eighty.
Coming as a groupBook
We look forward to welcoming you
A table, a long table, a roast chicken for two: it’s all arranged by phone during service, or by e-mail at any hour.
Book by phone02 61 91 24 07Lunch 12:00 – 13:30 Wednesday to Saturday · Lunch 12:00 – 14:00 Sunday · Dinner 19:30 – 21:00 Wednesday and Thursday · Dinner 19:30 – 21:30 Friday and Saturday
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