Food, glorious food

I did say a few days ago that one effect of the steroids I am currently taking is that I have developed an obsession with food and that as soon as one meal is finished I am thinking about the next.  Today that situation has worsened to the extent that I was thinking about tonight's dinner even before I got out of bed, let alone waiting till after lunch or even breakfast!  Of course, that could be partly because the Old Bat and I have decided to eat out tonight at our local Italian restaurant.

Even though we don't live "in town", we are very well served for both take-aways and restaurants within a mile or so.  There are three fish and chip shops, although two are just too far away and the food is cool by the time it reaches the table.  And the last time I bought at the other one I discovered it had changed hands.  I was ill during the night so have never been back.  We also have two Chinese take-aways and an Indian, a pizza take-away and a burger bar.  On top of that, there are two Indian restaurants, a carvery, three pubs serving food and the Italian we will be patronising.

So, what shall I eat tonight?  There is a splendid range of pizzas on offer, together with a wide selection of pasta and different sauces as well as meat and fish dishes.  (You might have noticed that I fail to mention any starters.  Our experience is that the main courses are so large that a starter is not needed, especially if one wants a dessert.)  We last ate here a couple of weeks ago when I ordered salmon and mushroom risotto and was slightly - only very slightly - disappointed.  There was nothing wrong with the food I was served; it just wasn't quite as good as the risotto cooked by the Old Bat.  Mention of the Dearly Beloved reminds me that she had lasagne and declared it excellent.  Not as good as the lasagne served in La Roma, a restaurant in Châteaubriant that we very much like.  Their lasagne contains some ingredients we have so far failed to identify and is cooked in the wood-burning pizza oven - which may also affect the flavour.

I think I will probably go for pasta this evening.  I'm not that much of a pizza eater and I rather like pasta.  But what pasta?  And what sauce?  For a long time my favourite was spaghetti or tagliatelle with a carbonara sauce but I have recently taken to amatriciana,  especially with rigatoni.  I wonder if they serve it with barolo sauce?  I haven't tried that and it looks interesting.

Desserts are equally difficult to choose.  They have banoffi pie - but I'm not over-keen on that so it's off as far as I am concerned.  There is also chocolate mousse, but the pick has to be either tiramisu or panna cotta, both of which are made in house and are world class.

Last time we ate there we tried their house red wine, a cabernet sauvignon from Chile's central valley, and found it first class - fruity and just right for dryness.  It comes in a screw-top bottle as well which makes it easier to take home what we don't drink at the table.  And the espresso coffee is just as it should be, in fact, almost as good as in France.

I'm feeling hungry just thinking about it!

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The front of the château at Vitré is also pretty impressive.