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JCK restaurant Rue des Baines, Houlgate, France

publication date: Sep 16, 2009
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author/source: Louise Pollard

Houlgate, FranceJCK is situated just by the railway crossing along the quieter end of the seafront. It looked a little shabby from the outside, but in our view it proved to be a little gem. Its menu was mainly pizza, fish dishes, and steak. It also advertised Moules and Frites as a daily special.

The restaurant was fairly empty on a Tuesday nearing the end of lunch time service, but we had seen it full at the weekend. Friendly service was provided by our young waitress, and the jovial maitre d' was the chef also. My only criticism was that the waitress didn't warn us when we ordered a pizza (marguerittas with extra ham) each for the children.

The grown ups had a pizza (loosely translated as a meat feast), and a dish of langoustines and gambas as the moules were not available but frites were served with my dish anyway. Tap water in a carafe, and house white in a carafe were our drinks for the meal.

As JCK was quiet, our noise was not disturbing anyone. There was a relaxed atmosphere. The ambience when busier would also be relaxed and child-friendly we were sure. We could see lots of kitchen activity, but after quite a wait, with all the lovely bread having been nibbled away, our food arrived and we gasped!

The pizzas were huge!  Fat, doughy pizzas, thick spongy crusts, oodles of topping, in particular lots of melting cheese. The langoustines and gambas, in a cream sauce, were equally impressive, but as seafood lovers will know, eating it is quite hard work, in this case the langoustine shells were really hard to break. I did enjoy my meal, but the plate looked like an explosion by the time I'd finished. No finger bowl was provided, but trusty baby wipes were on hand.

Meanwhile the rest of the family were munching through their delicious pizzas. Sadly quite a lot was wasted, and no one really felt like having the leftovers brought home for their tea. Desserts (mainly ice creams) were passed on, and the bill came to a respectable 50 euros with a tip. The seafood meal had been 19 euros, so the pizzas were excellent value in particular as next time we would feed the whole family on one! 

A highly recommended little restaurant.

JCK restaurant, Rue des Baines, Houlgate, France