Calais or Dijon
Faced with a long journey through France I booked an overnight stop en route both ways. Going out was Novotel Dijon. Coming home was Holiday Inn, Coquelles, Calais. Which would you consider the better deal?
Dijon Novotel was easy to find. They had used the simple tactic of putting a sign on a board as you left the autoroute saying where the hotel was situated. We followed the instructions and there it was.
Holiday Inn promised to be within 4 minutes of eurotunnel terminal. There were signs at the some roundabouts but they petered out and we had to guesss the direction at several roundabouts and eventually arrived.
Dijon offered a red Marsannay 2002 at 24 euro; Holiday Inn a Vin de pays d'oc for 22 euros.
Dijon menu at 30 euros provided a good quality meal with starter, steak, dessert. Calais did a 25 euro 'plaisance' menu but we chose a la carte which was more expensive. Both were asked for water. Dijon supplied a carafe with ice and fresh water; Calais a carafe with tepid tap water.
Dijon menu was good but tourist oriented (chips...) but substantial. Pate starter, two different steaks to follow. Cheese course. Nice pace. Nice staff.
Calais was clearly trying to be upmarket. The pate with armagnac hints had no armagnac I could discern and the pate itself wasn't easy to find so small was the portion. Two miniscule chinese leaves and half a cherry tomato completed the dish. The steak and my son's seared scallops were good. Son ate his traditional ice cream. The service was very poor. We waited 13 minutes after being shown our table for anyone to offer anything. No-one bothered to think of asking if we wanted a cup of coffee or cognac. As we left the restaurant no-one asked our opinion.
Breakfast at Dijon included in the price. Breakfast at Calais a monster 15 euros each and the french still haven't mastered bacon 'n' eggs.
One hotel tried very hard and delivered a quality room for 3 with evening meal and breakfast for 158 euros. One tried to be something that wasn't wanted and charged 406 euros for the same. I'll leave you to work it out.
Dijon Novotel was easy to find. They had used the simple tactic of putting a sign on a board as you left the autoroute saying where the hotel was situated. We followed the instructions and there it was.
Holiday Inn promised to be within 4 minutes of eurotunnel terminal. There were signs at the some roundabouts but they petered out and we had to guesss the direction at several roundabouts and eventually arrived.
Dijon offered a red Marsannay 2002 at 24 euro; Holiday Inn a Vin de pays d'oc for 22 euros.
Dijon menu at 30 euros provided a good quality meal with starter, steak, dessert. Calais did a 25 euro 'plaisance' menu but we chose a la carte which was more expensive. Both were asked for water. Dijon supplied a carafe with ice and fresh water; Calais a carafe with tepid tap water.
Dijon menu was good but tourist oriented (chips...) but substantial. Pate starter, two different steaks to follow. Cheese course. Nice pace. Nice staff.
Calais was clearly trying to be upmarket. The pate with armagnac hints had no armagnac I could discern and the pate itself wasn't easy to find so small was the portion. Two miniscule chinese leaves and half a cherry tomato completed the dish. The steak and my son's seared scallops were good. Son ate his traditional ice cream. The service was very poor. We waited 13 minutes after being shown our table for anyone to offer anything. No-one bothered to think of asking if we wanted a cup of coffee or cognac. As we left the restaurant no-one asked our opinion.
Breakfast at Dijon included in the price. Breakfast at Calais a monster 15 euros each and the french still haven't mastered bacon 'n' eggs.
One hotel tried very hard and delivered a quality room for 3 with evening meal and breakfast for 158 euros. One tried to be something that wasn't wanted and charged 406 euros for the same. I'll leave you to work it out.
posted by Julius Caesar at
12:53 pm
