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Popular Restaurants | Other Restaurants Tips | All Tips (6) Antsirabe is a place for gourmets as it is provided with a wide range of fresh products. It counts good chefs as well. Arotel's chief was from a cooking school in Lyon region. He seems to be very passionate about his job. You'll notice that when he happens to talk with people who enjoy food and who are keen to drive along the island to find the best ingredients. It was during one of those chats that I learnt that the chef used to meet up with his suppliers to talk shop, to get involved in the feeding himself (what to give to the poultry and what not, at which price, when is the best season to stock up the corn...). I even understood he could buy himself the crops for the ducks & let the breeder do the work. Then, he would pick the poultry products up when they are ready. He is unstoppable. Interesting talk ! You'd learn a lot with him :-) Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name... I think about James or Jean-Claude.
Businessmen and families are amongst clientèle. The whole setting is rather functional. The main room is the restaurant and next to it, a snack where they serve breakfast, sandwich... I love the tapestry in the main room.
French cuisine in general. I appreciated there freshness as well as the array of more sophisticated products, mostly European: foie gras, duck fillets and confits de canard as well as trouts.
The inventive chef loves research. March 2005, I tasted the smoked duck fillet. Man, that was something ! He was proud of it because the smoking process was a in-house one, something he elaborated with his team. With his staff, they made their own way in it... The result ? I had it as a starter: magret de canard fumé au melon (served with papaya slices). Similar combination as our usual smoked ham- melon summer dish.
Guess what I had for main course: magret de canard au poivre vert. Yep! I had my all-duck diner... :-)
I would love to try his soupe de mûres one day. When I was there, he was researching on it as well.
Taste there crayfish. I'm allergic to crayfish but sometimes, I manage to avoid the crisis. When I was kid, I ate Malagasy-style crayfish. Try this!
Off course, grilled zébu meat is OK. Green pepper steak as well...
Total bill for 3 persons: 39 700 ariary, worth 16 euros.
**Christmas supper: for Dec. 24 2005, buffet-style with duck products (I loved their foie gras with apricot slices - perfect combination of the soft texture and the sweet taste), lamb (gigot d'agneau), foie gras stuffed pigeon, Saint-Jacques... there were a wide range of dishes one could choose from. Sidedishes included vegetable gratin.
Dessert: Christmas-cake (both bûche & bûche glaçée), Ice-cream, soupe de pêche. I loved bûche glaçée but the peach soup was too sweet. However, I was greatly satisfied.
The Christmas buffet was slightly more expensive: 30 000 ariary/menu/person. Wine was not included, if my memory serves me well.** Leave a Comment
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This is an old Maroccan palace. Now it is a hotel with a great restaurant, swimmingpool and several tennis courts.
The duck, marget de canard, was excellent, so was the zebu steak with sauce poivre vert. About 13 000 ariary per person. The meny is in French- and the staff speaks only a little English. Leave a Comment Theme: FrenchPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: more expensive than averageAddress: Antsirabe, southDirections: Near the post office, all the pousse-pousse know the hotel...
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Strolling in Ansirabe streets, I had a big surprise spotting this superb house. I loved its setting & well, the view from where I snapped it did, see for yourself, it justice.
Afterwards, I cold ask my aunt and my cousin who are Antsirabeans whom this house belonged to. How surprised I was hearing this was a restaurant. If my memory serves me well, it is Restaurant Havana.
This restaurant is said to serve Malagasy food. I've never tried it there, for I never neturing out for Malagasy food & I'm very happy with what I have home. Why don't you try it and tell us about your experience ?
**For more info, I will investigate about it & will revert to you**
[Update Apr. 28: found out that it is Ny Avo restaurant]
**I will investigate about it & will revert to you** Leave a Comment Theme: LocalAddress: Antsirabe
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Croc'Inn snack-bar is part of Arotel. In fact, it is where I used to have my breakfast every morning I woke up in that hotel. After my warm bath, I used to head leisurely to that snack-bar. Just next to the dining-room. The bar has a side that looks onto the street so you can devour your breakfast while watching passers-by.
I used to trip to Antsirabe & stay at Arotel either during Xmas or Easter holidays. And those mornings, I used to be pampered with a super buffet-style breakfast.
For Xmas, choose between ham, cheese, yoghourt, orange juice, baguette with jam (I love pok-pok jam best !), viennoiserie of all kind, cake. For Easter, the same but without ham & cheese.
Beverage: tea, coffee, milk or chocolate... As usual, I had my tea with clouds of milk. You may try TAF tea, it's locally produced as is TAF coffee.
The final touch & something I use to really expect days ahead: their fruit salad ! Not from a Del Monte nor a Dole tin can. No, my friends. Fresh fruit salad with fruits of the season ! In December (for Xmas), it was banana-pineapple-apple-passionfruit and strawberry. Easter, it was all green and yellow: they traded strawberry with avocado. Yummy!
Now, is this buffet-style breakfast served only around Xmas & Easter ? or rather all-year round, I have no clue about. But then, you wouldn't be surprised to see those who stayed at Arotel be joined in by locals or other folks who haven't stayed there.
All of that for 2-3 euros or about 3 USD (6500 Ariary).
Croc'Inn also serves snack and common light dishes, that I've never tried.
Fruit salad... fresh, abundant
Viennoiserie... served as tiny pieces, they have this crunchy wrap (check my picture) Leave a Comment Theme: BreakfastPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: about averageAddress: Croc'Inn is next to Arotel dining-roomDirections: Rue Ralaimongo - Antsirabe
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On our way to Antsirabe, we stopped over Ambatolampy (about halfway between Tana & Antsirabe). We decided to have our lunch at Le relais du pêcheur. For Le relais being nearly the only decent place to eat in Ambatolampy, one could think the food would just be so-so. In fact, it is not bad at all.
Ambience... it is a restoroute. What can I say about a restoroute ? Nothing except that that day (Sat. before Easter), it was quite crowded. If my memory serves me well, it may have counted 20 tables. Only some tables were left empty.
It is easy to spot: at you right on your way to Antsirabe. It is an institution for having catered for the travellers to & from the Southern regions for so many decades. The owner, a Frenchman, even speaks Malagasy now.
What makes it special is however its menu system. It's a menu of either 3 (starter, main course, dessert) either 4 (starter, maincourse, roast, dessert). Just warning you that the 4-entry formula is quite heavy. The 3-course menu as OK: carrot salad & cold cut as starter. For the main course, I had to choose among several dishes: my lapin chasseur (rabbit) was just average. However, I loved my dessert: cornet à la crème. I think the rhum in their crème anglaise has to do with that.
You could choose à-la-carte as well.
Oh! in fact, I wanted to have froglegs but the waitress told that being short of froglegs, they could only cater for two persons per table (as far as froglegs were conserned). So, I had to choose sthg else: here came the rabbit. Maybe a warning that on busy days like Easter or Xmas, they mabe short on froglegs. ;-)
As I could pick some pieces from my parents dishes, I highly recommend their cuisses de nymphe à la provençale (tempura-style frolegs with parsley & lime) as well as their butter-garlic-parsley snails. Heaven!
I think the cooked garlic rendered parsley-garlic-butter taste on snails even more scrumptious. Leave a Comment Theme: Autogrill/Rest StopPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: about averageAddress: Ambatolampy (about halfway between Tana & Bira)
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on April 22, 2006
on April 2, 2008
