Le Chat Noir

Le Chat Noir is located in Terigal (near the Crowne Plaza hotel and a short walk to the beach). The restaurant serves classic French meals that you would typically find in a French bistro. When you walk into the restaurant, you see pictures of the different regions in France on the walls and can hear French music playing in the background. Le Chat Noir offers both an a la carte menu and a set menu. Hubby went for the set menu whilst I opted for a la carte.

For entrée I had snails! This dish had loads of garlic and butter. In fact, I had so much I could dip my bread into the sauce and make some instant garlic bread. Fortunately, I love garlic butter! Apart from one of my snails tasting a bit gritty all the others were absolutely delicious. Plus I had an extra one on my plate (got 13 snails instead of 12)!

Escargots a la Bourguignonne $21.00

For main course I had a duck confit served on a bed of pan-fried potatoes, with Forestiere mushrooms, garlic, parsley & duck jus. The duck meat was tender, juicy and cooked to perfection. The duck jus was very flavoursome. Side vegetables were nicely cooked and seasoned. My potatoes though were very overpoweringly garlicky that I couldn't eat all of it. The only disappointing element on my dish.

Confit de Canard $37.50

For dessert, I chose to have a warm raspberry & almond tart served with vanilla crème anglaise and crème chantilly. This tart was absolutely delicious and was a great way to finish off a lovely meal. Whilst the tart itself looked quite dense, it was actually very light and refreshing. I also liked that the base of the tart wasn't too thick.

Tarte aux Amandes et Framboises $13.50

Hubby decided to go for the set menu which was pretty good value for money- $55 for a 3 course meal. To start his meal off, hubby chose the seafood soup for entrée which was lovely and creamy but not tasting "heavy". There were lots of different kinds of seafood in his soup such as mussels, prawns, octopus and squid, all cooked to perfection and served with toasted sourdough bread.

Soupe de crustaces 

For his main meal, hubby chose the prime scotch fillet, served with demi-glace, green peppercorns, red wine, shallots, garlic and mushroom sauce, served with fresh vegetables. The steak was cooked to as hubby had requested which was medium rare. Mushrooms and sauce all had a nice balance of flavours and complemented the steak beautifully.

Entrecote paysanne

      

Finally for dessert, hubby had a very yummy chocolate brulee served with ice cream and a cat's tongue biscuit. The brulee was oozing decadence from that very lovely and rich chocolate custard. Thank goodness for the serving of ice cream that came with it. 

Brulee au Chocolat $13.50

All in all, Le Chat Noir has food that is well presented, tasty and generous. I didn't expect to leave the restaurant feeling so full! The service was attentive throughout the night, except at the end when we tried to ask for the bill and were kept waiting for quite some time. A la carte menu prices are reasonable but if you are budget conscious you can opt for the 3 course fixed price menu instead.