Logis Auberge du Cheval Blanc

I confess I booked this stay at Auberge du Cheval Blanc by mistake. We have stayed at two other Cheval Blancs in the region in the past, and I meant to book one of those. When I set the sat nav for Westhalten I was shocked to find it was two hours south of where I had meant to be, and seriously considered cancelling our booking. I am so glad I didn't. Our spirit of adventure kicked in and we followed the sat nav. Westhalten itself is charming - an apparently sleepy, yet plainly quite prosperous village surrounded by vineyards. The Auberge is central, and has its own parking for the hotel: not obviously so when you arrive, but the receptionist told me to drive through a gateway and down to where the rooms are, and you can park securely right outside the building you will sleep in. Frankly I suspect you could leave your car unlocked, though that might be naive of me, because this village seems to me to be a good place. The decor in the hotel is a throwback to the late 1980s. I don't know if that is deliberate retro, or because there might have been a "re-looking" (as the French call it) in the 1980s and not again since, but it is certainly clean and in no way faded. The menu in the restaurant is a choice from set menus, though you can go a la carte if you wish. We had a set menu with locally sourced produce, and there were little treats by way of amuses-bouches as well. Everything we ate was delicious, and in no way formulaic. The chef has his own style, and it's a good one. My main course was monkfish in a creamy but amazingly light and aerated sauce, with morels and the merest hint of coffee in it! It was like eating fish with a kind of mushroom zabaglione (without the amaretto flavour!) which sounds wrong but was fantastic. We had some local wine by the glass, and the service was attentive and friendly. I don't know if any of the staff speak English, but they were all very helpful and polite. In the morning the lady who was in charge of the super breakfast buffet was very friendly and we chatted about where she lived, and what a nice commute to work she had. She told us what excellent amenities the village has, and what a great place to live the area is. Well, I will never live in Westhalten, but if I did the restaurant at l'Auberge du Cheval Blanc would be getting a lot of my custom. I'd definitely come back and stay again: on purpose this time!