Club Arnage

after a few days of the golden arches food and bathroom facilaties last year, we feel a change in diet is needed. 1 barby is all we managed and a night in tbe steak house. can anyone recommend a few good places for food at all meal times? local cuisine or other wise? The local vans in the campsites dont look appealing. any cop?

Camp site kebabs are filth. That is unless you like eating dog hair.

I don't know of any good places to eat near the curcuit, you may need to go into town, but be prepared to queue. I reckon the best advice is to take a proper stove and get one of your birds to knock up a chilly, curry or spag bol, all sauces from a jar of course. You can chuck in a few veg, meat etc. Fit for a King!

Zarce - That sounds very complex , whats wrong with throwing raw meat on the Barbee, eat from paper plates and when you get home soak the grill for 358 days in Acid . No washing up easy .

Rich - I take it you are learning to drive into town next year , NO WAY MATE , youre cooking AGAIN .

We always buy a couple of cheap barbies in Carrefour, use and abuse them, and then leave them for the pikeys on Monday.
They cost about 30 euro and split between us all the cost is pretty minimal.
As well as barbequing meat and fish, we have a small gas burner for boiling kettles and cooking stuff like pasta and have plenty of salad and fruit.
The fact that you're camping in a manky field for a week doesn't mean you have to eat badly.

On the subject of restaurants, if you travel up to the Drivers Parade on Friday most of the cafes in the main square will be chock full.  Either eat mid afternoon there or wait until later in the evening.

If you walk a few blocks back from the square, however, you may get a better chance of a table (depending how many of you there are).

Other options for reasonable 'French' food are the cafes in Arnage village (always busy but the main street burnouts are 'interesting') or Mulsanne village (quieter).
Or you could head out into the hinterland to places like Ruaudin or Monce en Belin.

Only complex for the bird mate. I wasn't suggesting you get involved in the culinary dept. yourself. You can just sit back with a cold one and watch it get on with making you a handsome supper.

Also, see how delighted she is when you give her helpful cooking tips like "put in a bit more garlic, mind it doesnt burn, surely that pasta's cooked by now", etc as you lie in your paddling pool, beer in hand, listening to Radio LM.

Our cullinary 'discussions' always centre on whether the charcoal has burned enough for the barbie to be ready for cooking on.

go on...

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H, is that the before or after picture?  ;)

Those bits floating in the top are diced carrots right  :o

whislt camping it rough in oz our guide, a true crazy ex soilder local oz boy, cooked us up a meal looking just a good as the one above. the only difference was the amount of vitaman b he put in it.10 tinnies of victoria bitter. they really do live on the stuff. you can buy cool bags to take your beer into work chilled. classy :D

There's a lot of place to eat in Le Mans out of the golden arches...
... just depend on what you like to eat...
... if you wnat traditioanl english food, there's an indian restaurant in the city centre. OK it's not mentioned on the 2003 city map, but what would be the use of the 2004 guide if the 2003 map was exhaustive ?

Gilles, I like that remark, very good.  ;D

Me also.........c'est manifique ;D

How about something we have done a few times:  

Buy Salmon steaks, make a parcel out of foil (fold a sheet of foil in half and fold firmly along the side edges a few times - this makes an envelope), slide in the Salmon, add some crushed garlic, some white wine and lemon juice, season to taste, then seal the open end by folding firmly a few times.  Stcik it on the BBQ and it puffs up as the Salmon is poached in the wine and odds n sods.  After about 10 mins, carefully open one end, pour out some if the juices into a pan (reseal the package) and add cream to the pan, simmer it up and reduce to a nice sauce (maybe add some dill?).   Serve and watch the poor sods camped near by drool...

Is easier to do than to describe.

Trying to slice an onion one year with a knife on a bottle opener was a laugh.  Ended up with a good 'au poivre' sauce to go with the steaks that night tho'.   I had the 'Port and Roquefort' sauce instead  :D

Couldnt be arsed to cook properly this year tho  :(

OK Delia.....................this could become daft.  Or shall we start a thread featuring favourite campsite recipies fron Le mans ;D

Silly comment above........Sorry, forgot which thread I was on ::)

what about getting some decent beers in from germany. i'm sure some of the german contingent could be persuaded to bring in a few cases

Where's Gab? come on George, we are talking German beer here!

Czechoslovakian beer is even better than German stuff . Although ou need a spoon for the head .

Back to subject...

Cuisine at Le Mans (out of barbies) can be resume in 2 spots:

Hotel De France at La Chartre sur Le Loir during the week before the race or on Sunday evening.

Flambadou for the Friday night after the parade.

We can add all the intrack corners such as tartiflette, but this year's was not so good and generous than last years...

It also gave me chronic indigestion  :-X

Saveloy, there`s always room in the old VW bus for another 2 or 3 cases (or more if needed). Only problem is as you know Ian, is collecting the friggin empties!

That's akind offer Gab, we could ask uncle Albert to collect the empty's with Ian. That would keep him on his toes.

Now then.....for the seriously intentioned camper ::)

A)  Keep it simple a la Zarse "Beer is an acceptable breakfast"

B)  Find the nearest piece of wildlife and............... :-X :-X

C)Chicken breasts lightly fried in a large suacepan with a little oil.  Add sauce of choice (eg Homepride cook in sauce or similar) and simmer for 20 mins.  Jolly good with some veg of choice.

D) If you can't keep anything fresh, just take lots of tins: Minced beef, Beans, Mushrooms, Hot dogs, Potatoes, peas, carrots etc.  Mix and match.  You can sometimes get away with up to 4 items in the same pot.  Dead easy (1 gas ring) and quick (you are only re-heating things).

Our favourite at work is to:-
Serves 2
Fry off a chopped onion until soft.
Add 3 tablespoons of your favourite Pataks curry paste
Add tin of chopped tomatoes.
Simmer 15 mins
Add 1/3 block of compressed coconut (30p at local indian suppliers)
and some cooked chicken.

Stir until coconut dissolves and chicken is hot.

Serve with boil in the bag rice.

Impresses any curry lover and a few chicks.

I don't want to talk to barbarians anymore !!!!  >:(

Reading your posts make my stomach ill...
... you complain not having enough room in your car for your moped, your barbie, your sattellite dish, your wife,...
... but you better abandoned all your mixtures in your country adn replace the empty room by all the stuffs above !!!  :P

Entering in the zone Euro at Calais/Le Havre/Portsmouth, you must not forget you enter also in the Pays du Bon Gout where no one of your sauces are accepted by the customs regulations.

Not wanting to get into a cusine war, but these are just campside classics Gilles. Quick, easy, tasty. I agree that, they are not french cusine, but if it was between the salmon, the curry, one of Gibberish's tinned creations, BigH's remarkable looking chilli or Flunch / Casino, I know which one's I be risking. Also Chicken Tikka Massala is now Britains national dish (See here). (http://www.enroutemag.com/e/archives/november02/archives02.html)
I'm sure that next year you could get invited out every night to sample some British gastronomic camping delights. Your welcome to try my curry, its never failed yet. Oh and its even better washed down with a few cold beers.

Stu

Gilles

I do understand your horror at these campsite creations, but as Stu says, they are merely convenient for camping, and a lot less expensive than eating out all the time.

Stu

I'd rather trust anything that I had cooked rahter than some of the stuff I've seen on the various food stalls.

The french haute cuisine in all honor but the preparation of the hot dogs at one stall near the Dunlop bridge puts a smile on my face every time I come across. They put a hole in it on each side with their fingers and stuff a sausage through the hole. ;D The Tertre Rouge sausage stand serves top class food, though. That's why I enjoy being able to flee to France once or twice a year for some decent food and campsite kitchen.  ;)

In our little group, we've always used Thursday nite to exhibit our culinary flair, ... This year... A French extravaganza…

Snails in Garlic Butter
Langoustines
Horse Steak
A selection of fine cheeses
Normandy Cider
Vin Rouge
Vin Blanc

All from Carrefour... All necessary cooking done on the BBQ...

Then for the rest of the trip…
Friday… Drivers parade… eatin’s cheatin’…!!
Saturday & Sunday… then we’re into a chilli as well as sausages and burgers and any manner of  crisps and snacks…
Monday... always very windy I find...

Le Mans catering… don't you love it..!!

I hope no one of you is chocked by my reaction.

It wasn't serious, just too ironic !

I never had the opportunity to taste all these specialties...
... and I also able to give you the adress of a local grocery where you can find, out of curry sauces, some african hot sauces, better with crocodile meat but maybe also eatable with chicken !

Crocodiles :o :o :o  I have eaten snake, and aligator, but where do I find a crocodile in France?  I don't even have a large enough pot to cook one in  ;) ::)

Gilles , they are in my Office , we live off curry .

Anyway , why cook , when french bread and their lovely butter and Bon Mamon Raspberry jam is that lush  :P :P :P

Try and get to one of the bread shops in the morning, the smell of all that bread :) :) :)
Made it into one on the sunday last year at 5.30am ordered bread, crossants and the chocolate crossants, delicious with beer in the morning, although they looked a little bemused at my appearence!

I wouldn't advise anyone to buy bread or rolls from the vans and cars that patrol the campsites.
The stuff is usually the previous nights stale supermarket cast offs bought by budding enprepenuers to skank us naive Brits.  ;)

Couldn't have bought anything of the one that went through our campsite this year. Heard the horn and turned round to see the rust coloured van going along the track in a fashion that would have gained him entry to the RAC Rally.

If anyone's interested, we have a trained chef on call in our team! Sponsored by a well known brewery, he enjoys whipping up pretty amazing food in the evening - I think he likes showing off...especially curry or thai food..

You can have a look at his own page on the Beermountain - pop by our camp if you are passing!

http://www.beermountain.com/chefs%20page.htm

Regards

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