Logis Hôtel de la Tour — Hotel in Tulle

A friend invited a group of us along as they wanted to go here for their birthday lunch. The hotel has an A la Carte restaurant but a good reputation locally for a Steak based Menu du Jour which is a bit different. We drove into town and at the top of the hill parked opposite the main entrance in front of what looked like an errant giant rook from a stone age chess set, which in fact is a viewing tower which offers panoramic views over the valley below and the mountains to the North and East.||There were two entrances opposite us, the one on the left went to the reception area of the hotel, the one to the right entered the restaurant areas; straight on was the bar and A la Carte seating and off to the right the Menu du Jour was being served in what had the appearance of a conservatory. There was a long table in the middle which soon filled up with workman on their lunch break and above the door a TV was tuned into French News. On the day in question five courses were to follow, starting with an Onion Soup. I was quite excited as this would be my first such offering in France, but whereas French Onion Soup in the UK is to be savoured this one unfortunately was not. It was thin and oily looking, the oil probably being from the fat/grease on the lardons that it contained, it was too much to expect bread to be served with it as that might have least soaked some of it up. Instead most of our party left theirs. By and large it was pretty distasteful, a bit like the permanent look on the young waiters face as he seemed flustered that there were so many diners, he really needed to work on his customer service skills.||Next up was a standard Charcuterie course with numerous cornichons/gherkins on offer as well as the cold meat cuts. This course belatedly heralded the arrival of the bread and it is difficult to mess up a cold meat selection and it was well received all round.||The main event was to be Steak and Chips, perversely served with lettuce which had a balsamic type dressing. This course was very tasty and they accommodated a variety of English tastes, from À point through ‘Moyen’ to Bien Cuit and all plates were soon cleared.||For those of us who had room there was a cheese course next, offering a variety including Goats cheese, Brie and some local fare. Luckily this coincided with a change of server and the older serveuse who attended us was far more personable than her colleague.||Dessert was a disappointment. It was like a custard tart/flan. Very large individual portions had been sitting on plates in a refrigerator in corner of the room since we had arrived. I am not sure what temperature the fridge was set to but the plates were freezing cold which did nothing for their content. It was very wobbly, with a jelly like consistency but it was bland and pretty tasteless. Most people left theirs as we moved onto coffee.||Despite its reputation, for me it didn’t cut it – one course was really good, the two that you can’t really mess up they didn’t, and the other two fairly insipid. Our friend enjoyed his birthday but I suspect that was more to do with the company...

Can't comment on accomodation as having a house in the village we only use the restaurants or bar. However based upon the fact that this family run hotel was only fairly recently extended I expect that rooms are top notch - check other reviews out for info. as I'll be concentrating on the, for us at least, more important side of things.||First off the welcome from owners and staff is excellent and although English doesn't feature too highly you'll usually find somebody with the ability to speak it, even if only in the restaurant where there's one waitress with excellent English and ex cruise liner Head Chef Thierry Cherronnet is fluent.||Talking of the restaurant, the food is good, very good and the fixed price menus offer good value, especially now that there's a possibility to change starters and main courses for some of Thierry Cherronnet's specials - albeit for a variable supplement. In recent years the menu has moved away from local & sometimes rustic specialities, something that to be honest I miss a bit, to slightly more adventurous dishes - some of which feature subtle influences from the Far East as a result of Thierry's cruise liner past. And they're none the worse for that!||There's a reasonably extensive wine list, not overly expensive unless you bottomless pockets of course, but don't expect anything under 20€. For a good value bottle try the local Corrèze wines from the Pierro winery in Branceilles - the 20€ rosé is excellent and the Cabernet Franc led red is excellent value at a current 24€ - but beware as I seem to remember it being 15% alc!||Want a pre-dinner drink? There's a cosy bar that has the usual spirits and two draught beers. These vary from time to time but currently the "house" bière is Fischer (2€80/5€60) and there's a more expensive "special", currently Belgian brew Ciney.||Lunch? Well there is the main restaurant but why not try the workers lunch that takes place in the hotel's breakfast room? No choice, you get what's on the blackboard in the bar entrance but at 14€ for at least three courses and, at least when we went a while ago, seemingly unlimited wine what's...

This is our local hotel when at our second home in the village hence we have not tried out the accomodation, after all with Hotel de la Tour only 5mins walk from our house why would we... We have however enjoyed the restaurant several times, the last being in May shortly after arriving back in Masseret for a couple of months stay. For that visit it has to be said that the food was excellent in the extreme, it's always good but that night was amazing, but sadly we discovered that later in our stay Jean-Luc had closed the restaurant due to kitchen staffing issues and those staying at the hotel were directed to the family's MaryMax restaurant at the plan d'eau a mile and a half or so outside the village. Hardly convenient. By the time I write this I sincerely hope that Jean-Luc has re-opened the restaurant, not just for the sake of those staying there or living locally but for me & my wife when we return towards the end of the year. Failing that I'll just have to console myself with a "pint" of bière in the cosy little hotel bar when out to buy meat or bread from the village shops or pizzas from the van that visits Masseret on...