Name: Jean de Sâone
Address: Jean de Saône 71260 Montbellet, Montbellet, Montbellet, Montbellet, 71260, France
Rating: 8

Location

Jean de Sâone

Little piece of Heaven beautiful setting Amazing Food and Excellent
Owner that makes you feel like your at Home : ) if you find yourself in this part of the world then you must visit this magical place... You won't want to leave it's calming energy and spectacular views

My husband and I stayed at Jean de Saone for 3 days this April.  It could not have been more perfect.   The tone was set by Caroline, the  charming proprietaire, yet more like a gracious and warm hostess.  The 17th century former customs toll house was decorated by Caroline herself with comfort and taste.  Our view of the Saone from the balcony was breathtaking, especially for the morning sunrise.  The setting was in an area of pure tranquility yet convenience to everything we wanted to see in the area.  Breakfasts on the front deck, aperitif on the terrace, dinners in the lovely dining room. Delicious food, beautiful room, gorgeous setting, warm and friendly welcome.  We couldn't have asked for more.

This country hotel is really isolated being sandwiched between the agricultural land to the west and overlooking the Saone just a stone’s throw away. We were greeted very informally by the lady owner/manager (hints of a copy of the Jennifer Saunder’s character Edina Monsoon from “Absolutely Fabulous”)  and without any hint of bureaucracy, she lead us up the ancient uneven stone stairs to a room which she seemed to think best met our requirements. She wasn’t mistaken. 

The room was fairly rustic with a small rickety balcony providing superb views of the river. We had a double bed and a separate single bed, a large bathtub and modern double washbasin in one third of the room near the large windows. On the day we were there the temperatures were in their mid-thirty degrees centigrade – both outside and inside the room. Particularly hot was the little separate WC – certainly not a place to dawdle without experiencing the full effects of a powerful sauna. The plumbing there was rather erratic – we had to play around to stop it flushing all night. My recommendation would be to offer a powerful fan on hot nights in the future. We had a major challenge to sleep with the heat. 

There was free WiFi available which went off at 22:00 – that is until my son asked for it to be switched on again. The next morning reception was very erratic – this was logically explained on account of the fact that we were in a very rural environment.

On having settled in and letting our dog stretch her legs I noticed that the restaurant had a very intriguing menu including snails and frogs legs. Knowing that my son would NEVER be so adventurous I took the chance to negotiate whether the chef would be flexible enough to prepare his some simple noodles. He was, thank goodness. So that meant that I didn’t have to do any more driving that day and we settled down to a lazy evening in a wonderful setting. 

I started my meal with the house cocktail – cremant and Kir liquor. My snails came as a starter in a puff pastry and creamy garlic sauce. For the main course I chose the intriguing frogs legs – in fact a whole bowl of frogs minus their heads. They had been prepared in batter and soaked in a mix of garlic butter. I found them tasty but really difficult to eat – they have many more tiny bones than I had ever realized. Apparently they originated in Turkey – not France after all – I suppose I was expecting them to have been fished out of the nearby river. I washed these down with a glass of chilled rose wine and a number of carafes of iced water. Following the fight with the dead frogs I continued my meal with some fresh sheep’s cheese and as a “piece de la resistance” I concluded my meal with a typical French crème brule. Meanwhile my son has devoured his pasta and then left to the safety of our room to play with his electronics. The young waitress was an angel of politeness with a slight memory loss bearing in mind the number of times she forgot to bring parts of our order - I mean there were also two other groups of three which she had to contend with that evening. 

After our sauna night we had breakfast out on the terrace – a pleasant, simple French affair with delicious café au lait prior to continuing our journey south.

I appreciated this place as it was so remote. There was plenty of free parking, loads of options to walk our dog and it was great to watch the occasional river traffic, ranging from small private holiday vessels to large, heavy barges and river cruise ships. As long as you don’t come expecting all the mod cons of a large chain hotel, Jean de Saone is certainly a nice experience for us townies.

We booked the JdeS and then saw some less than complimentary reports on TA - there were enough good ones to make us stick at it - and I must say I am very glad we did.  The food got the most poor comments, so let me add my own thoughts as this is as much a restaurant as a small hotel:  We ate there twice and in my view dinner and breakfast were absolutely fine.  Shortish dinner menu reflect a limited number of covers (more variety = more waste = more cost) - the value was very good with a €34 menu - good simple, wholseome and clean food, simply served and very tasty.  The kind of good basic French family restaurant food that is such a joy and increasingly hard to find.  The there is a short and mostly local wine list that is incredibly good value - (try the St Veran).  Breakfast is simple - bread/croissants and good coffee - just enough and also good value.  No complaints about the food at all.  Local people eat there, so must be good.

Now for the rooms - we stayed in different rooms going south and returning.  Both were simply and pleasantly decorated and furnished, comfortable, adequately equipped and decent showers*.  Comfortable big beds, but the usual continental pillow problem (we travel with our own now).  Rooms are newly decorated and clean, decor is pleasing contemporary and simple.  *Showers were the only real issue as they were in baths with no screens, so it was hard to keep the water from making a mess.  Water volume and heat were excellent though.

Location is a big plus.  Although two rooms share a small balcony, the third, biggest, room has no balcony, but it doesn't really matter.  Very lovely views accross the Saone, location is peaceful, considering the proximity to the railway and autoroute, there is no real noise intrusion and the Saone is a strangely quiet waterway up here.  It is all very relaxing and peaceful and a real haven after the 'excitement' of the autoroute.

Owners and staff - very pleasant, helpful and conscientious people, they keep a good hotel and restaurant, a family business I am sure and all the staff were pleasant, attentive, helpful and friendly - they all seem to speak decent enough English - but this is France - try to speak French.

I'd like to recommend this hotel more highly - but I am scared that if I do it will be full up next time we want to go back - and we will.  It is also worth taking some time to explore the countryside - the hinterland of Tournus and the Cote Challonais - this really is pretty country with old villages, chateaux and romanesque churches and castles - veyr peaceful and relaxing bucolic scenes, quiet roads, large forests and farmland - and vinyards.  It made me wonder why we were going to the trouble and cost of going further south.

The Jean de Saone would be ideal for short break or as a stopover when rushing headlong south - but why continue any further?

Montbellet

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Quiant family hotel in the countryside with beautiful views on the Saone

Nice Little Stopover.

idyllic sejour

Amazing

We visited this place as a family. The location is wonderful along the river Saone. The rooms are nice with view to the river. We ate at the restaurant what was ok but not special. The owner Caroline is very nice. But once we had a misunderstanding about our staying and she seemed very annoyed about that. Not very client friendly. But we recommend a stay at this place.

Jean de Sâone

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