L'Auberge de la Fontaine du Berger

An inn at the foot of the Pariou

L'Auberge de la Fontaine du Berger is a late 19th-century house on the Limoges road, in Orcines, at about 900 m altitude and ten minutes from Clermont-Ferrand. It is next to the former military camp that is now the starting point for volcano walks, and a few minutes from the Les Goules car park, where the Puy de Pariou path begins. Laurent and Laurence Rivallain have run it since 2004. He is Breton, and it shows on the menu.

The house has an entrance hall with a large fireplace, a vaulted dining room, a bright veranda at the front, a more intimate room at the back with views of the volcanoes and a shaded terrace for summer.

What to order

Seasonal cooking, everything made to order, with a blackboard and a menu. A good part of the fish comes from Erquy, in Brittany, from the Frères du Cap. On the published autumn menu there are Erquy scallops with a potato foam, Roscoff pink onion with brandade and bouchot mussels, pollock with Jerusalem artichoke cream and Guémené andouille, wild boar fillet with poivrade sauce, veal sweetbreads grandmother-style and beef fillet with Cantal potatoes. The godaille is the fish of the day, as it arrives.

The menu costs €44: starter, main, dessert and, for a €4 supplement, a Saint-Nectaire. Starters run from €11 to €20 and mains from €25 to €33; at weekday lunchtimes there is a dish of the day for €17. For children there is a €14 menu. For dessert, the Paris-Brest made to order. The cellar ranges from small-producer wines to great Bordeaux and Burgundy crus, with many from the Rhône.

When to go

It opens Wednesday and Sunday at lunchtime, from 12:00 to 13:45, and Thursday to Saturday at lunchtime and in the evening, from 19:30 to 21:00. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Book by phone or on its website: they recommend doing so. It makes a good Sunday lunch after the Pariou.