Riom_info

Riom was once the capital of the entire Auvergne, it is situated 15km north of Clermont-Ferrand. The Renaissance architecture using the local black volcanic stone secures the towns status as a highlight of the northern Massif. We stayed overnight in Riom, can't remember the name of the hotel, it was on the main road right next door to a bar/restaurant. Our hotel room was very small but it was clean and only for the night so it didn't matter. There were lots of other guests at the hotel and we were lucky to be able to park right outside the front door. Once we had checked into the hotel we went for a walk around town which has an old world feel to it. Riom is still Auvergne's judicial capital and has a nineteenth century Palais de Justice which stands on the site of a grand palace which was built when the dukes of Berry controlled the region in the fourteenth century. It was almost dark when we arrived and it began to rain so after a little walk around taking a few photographs we stopped off at a very busy cafe for a drink. The architecture was very interesting and quite unlike anything we were used to seeing due to the volcanic stone. Later we headed back towards our hotel, we hadn't seen anywhere we fancied to eat dinner so we ended up eating in the restaurant next to our hotel.We sat at the bar for a drink before we ate and it was very busy, a good sign. We both ordered our food from a good selection of set three course choices, but we were too full to eat any desert. Our first courses were really good, but the main course was a bit of a let down. Richard enjoyed his meat but the rest of the meal, the vegetables, fried potatoes were very poor. I had ordered tripe for my main course ... seemed like a good idea at the time! But I didn't eat any of it, much to the amusement of the owner. He was a very large man with a shaved head and he had been chatting to most of the people asking everyone if their food was okay. When he came to our table I knew I was in trouble! He told me to talk less and eat more! Oh no! Help, it was so obvious that I hadn't eaten any of my meal, I didn't like any of it, and by this time I was considering hiding it in my bag, except I didn't have one with me! Thankfully my plate had a couple of huge lettuce leaves as garnish, so I managed to mush most of the tripe up and hide it underneath the lettuce. Then I mushed the potato down to make it look smaller, and hoped for the best. Thankfully a young guy came out from the kitchen and took my plate and he scraped the contents down the waste disposal before the big scary owner saw ... I was saved! I wouldn't normally go to these lengths to hide horrible food, but when I said the owner was huge I mean HUGE, and he looked mean, better safe than sorry, and who knows maybe it wasn't tripe hiding under my lettuce, maybe it was the last customer who couldn't finish their food. I have noticed during our time living in France that it is very rare for anyone to leave food on their plates, and I usually get strange looks whenever I leave any which is most of the time. I am not fussy but Richard is a very good cook and nine times out of ten I am disappointed with the food when we eat out. I did however thoroughly enjoy all of the wonderfully delicious food we ate recently at a little restaurant in a small village near to our house ... I guess that's why the restaurant is in the Michelin guide, but that's another story. After dinner we headed next door for an early night, we were up and out again the next morning before daylight to continue our journey.