Moulin de L'Abbaye, Brantôme, France

We were largely focuses on restaurants with a Bib Gourmand designation from Michelin, which indicates a superior meal, perhaps but not always focusing on local specialties, and at a good value. It was a wildly successful strategy, but we veered off of it to have a meal at a One Star restaurant, because there are just oodles of them in this region, and why miss out on that completely? The setting is absolutely unparalleled. Our table looked out on a water wheel and the Dromme River, so beucolic and peaceful as a setting for a special meal.

We agreed that we would eat whatever the chef, Ramses Alan Navarro ( a Mexican native who moved to France after working in Mexico City), made for us. Each course is a complete surprise, and we were not disappointed, from the amuse bouche and the coofee and sweets that we ate outside along the edge of the river.

THe two courses pictured here are a duck confite ravioli and a roulade of sole filled with and surrounded by razor clams. These were two of my favorite courses that I ate the whole trip, and the meal was very slow in pace, so that you could really savor each bite, not just the individual courses. Warning, though--this took 3 plus hours from the time we were seated until we were back in our car, so it is almost a whole day thing to eat here and see the town, or at least it was for us.