Le Pommier — Restaurant in Bayeux

While making Bayeux the center of our Normandy visit, we had decided we wanted one upscale restaurant. We selected Le Pommier and are very happy we did. This restaurant, which feels like it is in a home by the way the rooms are divided, despite the fact it is a storefront, was just charmingly wonderful. We had reservations and were seated right away. For drinks before and with dinner we decided on a bottle of wine which was quite reasonably priced and turned out to be a perfect decision. With wine in hand we began by sharing two starters: a very well presented and good-sized regional charcuterie board, and the small fondue with Normandy cheeses and salads, cold meats and soldiers. Both were excellent, but the fondue was extremely imaginative and different. We finished them both. For the main courses, my wife decided to have the salad with goat cheese and honey and roasted seeds. The honey was a great flavor addition to this traditional French salad and the toast points with goat cheese were generous. I had the 7-hour leg of lamb in garlic cream. I was expecting a leg of lamb itself and instead received sliced lamb from the leg in the cream sauce with a potato casserole and a side of carrots and green beans resting in a wonderful yellow sauce. I say yellow because I don’t know what it was made of, but it added to the overall flavor of everything. Though the “leg” was not as expected, I was not in any way disappointed because everything was so good. Pacing throughout the meal was perfect. Sound levels were excellent for conversation and the temperature comfortable. In other words, le Pommier was a hit...

We had a mixed but overall enjoyable experience at Le Pommier. We started with the fondue, escargot, and oysters, all absolutely incredible and definitely the highlight of the evening. The homemade apple pie and crème brûlée at the end were another standout. The apple pie had a unique twist on a classic we absolutely loved.

For mains, we tried the chicken fricassee, a dish I cannot remember now, and the filet. The chicken was a bit dry with a smaller portion than expected, and while the filet was good, it wasn’t particularly memorable. The appetizers and dessert, however, more than made up for it and are well worth coming for.

Service-wise, the restaurant was very busy the night we visited. Cocktails seemed a bit of a hassle for the staff, though they did bring them, and requests for additional drinks or service between courses were sometimes met with a touch of impatience. That said, the food, especially the starters and dessert, was strong enough to give me 4 stars for the overall...

The restaurant looked quite nice and proposed a "better" cuisine. We had to revise our opinion when it came to a first contact with the waitress. She wasn´t eager nor competent. Mistook the redcurrant with blueberry. Maybe she had a bad day. The meal was below mediocre. Filet mignon avec roquefort without roquefort in a "bucket" sauce. Tough, dry meat and hardly handwarm veg.Microwave with a too short setting? A real joke were the pommes frites (french fries). In belgium cooks will be dragged by their feet through the village, when daring to serve such wishy-washy unsalted "selfmade" fries. We found the particular form (u-shaped) all over normandy. We accept higher prices in france, because normally the "raw materials" are better then elsewhere. But here, even our tip with roughly 2% was too much. Every trucker-restaurant serves better meals! The 2 stars are for the fantastic site at the cathedral. A wonderful, authentic flair!!! We enjoyed our stay in...