francofiled

Hotel Tatin at Lamotte-Beuvron, France Ever since I can remember I have loved apple tart.    As a child it was sometimes served with a taste of milk in a small bowl or saucer and at Hallowe’en the pie would hide a buried treasure - a sixpence wrapped in greaseproof paper.   Now when I see it on a menu, it’s hard to say no!   Much though I am a fan of that closed, deep-filled pie variety if Tarte Tatin appears on a menu, that’s it.   Forget profiterolles or crème brulée, I’ll be making straight for the luscious, caramelised upside down apple tart.   Given its gourmet status on many posh restaurant menus, Maxim’s for example, it is hard to believe it was created by accident.   When I bite into a portion, I guess I feel a bit like Marcel Proust tucking into a madeleine and being transported back through time to old memories.   Tarte Tatin brings me back to France and its Région Centre, to Lamotte-Beuvron in fact.   I first went there...