11 – Zoom

a closer look

Unashamedly - and I hope you’ll find justifiably - today’s image is actually a digital zoom into the previous shot of the street scene (thank goodness for today’s high definition cameras).

Having spoken in earlier posts of the gates one encounters making the trip up the Mont to the abbey, this second gate with its visible (if reproduction) portcullis is known as the Porte du Roi or King’s Gate. You’ll also see the posts and chains of a drawbridge. These too are not original, but somehow suit the scene! The film set analogy springs once more to mind. To compare how this looked in the late nineteenth century, an appealing sepia image of the gate from the Cornell University collection may be viewed here. (Use your back arrow to return to this page).

What does endure however and what I most want to draw to your attention is the sign indicating that you are the door of La Mère Poulard, home of arguably the most famous (and costly) omelettes in the world.

Annette Boutiaut came to the Mont St Michel in the 1870’s to serve as chambermaid to Sir Edouart Corroyer, the then head of historic buildings. Married to one Victor Poulard in 1871 the young couple took a lease in 1879 on one of the local auberges or inns, where Mme Poulard soon established a reputation of providing well for the many visiting pilgrims to the abbey. Prepared in hand beaten copper dishes and made to a secret recipe that from my observations of kitchen activity would have included dollops of butter and not a little cream - good for the soul if not the heart - La Mère Poulard’s most famous dish became the (not so) humble omelette. That first auberge now houses the local post office, and Annette’s original fireplace over which her famous egg dish would have been cooked is still to be seen. The inn moved into larger premises and today two hotels named after the Poulards accomodate visitors to the Mont.

The omelette is a widely available dish at many eateries on Mont St Michel – and prices elsewhere do not approach those of La Mère Poulard where you will be charged per hundred grams of your serving. With a minimum portion of two hundred and fifty grams as at the time of my visit, your stock of Euro’s will take something of a knock. Which begs the question – to eat or not to eat? Reasoning that I may not pass this way again, I ate. Filling and airy - more a soufflé than your regular hotel omelette - was it worth it? Let’s simply say I cannot recall any other meal I had during this visit to France - but then again I’m not sure I could afford to eat once more until I came home. Who cared?