A Tale of a Restaurant Visit That Turned From a Regular Saturday Night Dinner to a Movie-Scene-Like Adventure (cute dogs and car racing included!)

Once upon a time there was a little restaurant in a country not so far away. The restaurant was surrounded by hills with medieval castles and thick, dark forest in a small town famous for its picturesque landscape. Despite of being popular among mountain climbers the town is not often visited by hordes of tourists but does get it 's share of visitors from the neighboring areas. With mainly one spoken language, visitors often need to use sign language and use their creativity to communicate with the locals. Friendliness is often the second language people tend to go by in this little town by the country border.

The village with brown roofs

In the centre of the town there is a building made of beige limestone. It looks just like any other building in the village, hiding it's treasures behind the windows with red window frames and blue linen curtains. There is a sign nearby, not particularly inviting, pointing to the restaurant and tavern. A few steps lead you to the terrace and further ahead inside the building.

Image source: http://restina.net/nl/belgium/leffe/restaurant-cafe/le-confessionnal/486691874782186#1

A deep red door leads you to the cozy dining room with checkered table cloths, candles and flowers on the table. There is art on the walls, newspaper articles, drawings and such. It's usually packed with locals and some tourists sitting in one of the three dining rooms or the lovely terrace if it's a nice day. The owners often drop by from the kitchen to say hello to new diners and check up on all of the guests while preparing the food and taking care of the restaurant. They are a lovely local couple who work there by the two of them since what to us looks like a forever. They share the work taking parts in kitchen and the dining room, having mutual understanding and sharing responsibilities without even saying too many words, It's comes naturally, as if they've always done it.

Image source: http://restina.net/nl/belgium/leffe/restaurant-cafe/le-confessionnal/486691874782186#1

There's also someone else in the restaurant that everybody knows - and loves. It's the family dog who behaves better than most people even and doesn't pay much attention to the diners - yet won't decline a pad or two, if you really insist!

The cutest dog!

There is no set menu in the restaurant and foods do run out sometimes! The restaurant gets its ingredients from the nearby producers thus it's never a problem to get fresh produce to make up for what ran out. They will explain every dish in detail and even give you a taste if you find it hard to decide or don't know what something is! The restaurant has the most exotic dishes, well at least for the city folks! They are not afraid to cook the most authentic local dishes and they prepare them with great tradition and skill.

Normally the days go by in the same peaceful pace. There are locals visiting but every time also people from out of town or even far away countries. Some get a drink, some have a full meal but all leave with an full stomach and a smile. Sometimes there's more behind the smile though, sometimes it will hide fun memories for years to come.

Delicious, home-made starter

We were enjoying our meal from the first sparkling wines to starters, mains and all the way to desserts. The wines were superb and service the warmest. However, every day comes to an end eventually and so do the dinners. When we were happily full of the delicious food and it was time to pay we found out that no card payment was possible! As we arrived in a slight hurry we didn't have a dime in our wallets! What to do, where to go? How to ask for an ATM when we don't have a common language besides the drinks vocabulary covering cremant and vin rouge? Many smiles and signs were shared and the lady of the restaurant took Tony by his hand and off they went!

She opened the wooden garage door where the old, blue and lovely Citroen stood in all it's old days' charm! The lady took the drivers seat, of course, and rushed through the town, driving a good 10 minutes to the ATM. The Citroen was caughing a little and you could tell it wasn't born yesterday but it did it's job well.

I really cannot believe we were able to find this photo online! The car and the restaurant in the same picture looks like it was made for a blog post! :)

Image source: http://restina.net/nl/belgium/leffe/restaurant-cafe/le-confessionnal/486691874782186#1

Meanwhile I sat in the restaurant, sipping my (complimentary, I must mention) glass of bubbles and talking sign language with the gentleman of the restaurant as well as some guests. No one seemed to understand each other but everyone were very entertained. It was an amusing situation to find yourself in but I believe it was much more amusing for Tony, driving through the town with the lovely lady in their old Citroen.

After 20 bizarre minutes Tony and the lady returned, all smiles and laughs. We paid and left on our way, being cheered off by the remaining guests, the owners and the elderly dog.

You can find the charming Le Confessional on the Rue Rémy Himmer 4 in the town of Dinant in Belgium.

Don't forget to bring cash!

Some of the pictures are not ours as we were enjoying the food and not taking that many pictures. Luckily Google and eventually also Restina.net were able to help us find some great photos that show the restaurant as it really was!