DON EDUARDO

DON EDUARDO - Passeig Marítim, 68, Platja d’Aro

We visited this restaurant two years ago when we had a short and very pleasant mini-vacation to Costa Brava. When my wife, myself and our friend Eva revisited Platja d’Aro this week we had to go back to Don Eduardo on the beach. Last time we had a very nice fish lunch and a meat dinner that was perfect. This time they had got fresh sole so we settled for that. It was as perfect as we remembered it from last time.

The restaurant is one of the many places on the beach and the service is professional and very relaxed. It is a place where we feel we can trust them to recommend both the food and the wine.

Latest visit: May 2014
Number of visits: 3

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html but also and earlier trip on 

http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2012/09/costa-brava-utanfor-sasongen-sa-skinka.html

CASAMAR

CASAMAR – c/ del Nero 3, Llafranc
Guide Michelin

After some troubles finding a good restaurant that was not closed on Tuesdays we were recommended by a very helpful person in a neighbor village to go to Restaurant Casamar in Llafranc on Costa Brava. This family-owned restaurant was really something else and well worth its star in Guide Michelin. It is beautifully situated high up with a fantastic view over the Mediterranean bay bellow.

All three of us had just a main course as we had planned to eat at a good restaurant in the evening also. We had chateaubriand which came with a puree of potatoes and a sauce with a mild mustard taste. It was delicious and the meat was perfectly cooked to our liking and very generous. The service was relaxed and very professional.

Web: http://www.hotelcasamar.net/

Latest visit: May 2017
Number of visits: 2

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html

KøSa bistrõ

KøSa bistrõ – c/ Valls 16, Palafrugell

We had planned to eat at a couple of nice restaurants on our visit to Costa Brava. What we did not know was that most places are closed on Tuesdays. We were however lucky at lunch and found a fantastic place, but in the evening it looked as we should have to eat at a fast food place or a place with roaring tourists that were more interested in drinking than eating.

Again we asked a lady we met in the street that we categorized as someone who might have our kind of taste of restaurants. She directed us to a very small tapas restaurant where we only heard Catalan language when we entered the place. It was this family owned restaurant with the funny name KøSa bistrõ. The food was however not funny at all, but really delicious. It was a kind of local version of tapas that was freshly made by the chef and served on big plates for the whole party. We got the dishes one by one as we ate. We had of course Iberian ham and also big tempura fried shrimps, filled artichokes, cheese, sliced entrecote and I had a lovely baked apple.

Web: https://www.facebook.com/kosabistro
Latest visit: 2014
Number of visits: 1

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html

D’ALIBERT

D’ALIBERT – 11160 Caunes-Minervois

Caunes Minervois is a beautiful village with a history going back to the 8th century and with a lot to explore. You must not miss the marble mine with the famous red marble. The oldest restaurant and hotel in the village is d’Alibert that is going back to the 16th century and has been I the family Giuraud for generations. It is situated in the core of the village and can only be comfortably reached on foot. Next to the ancient restaurant you find the birth place of Pontus de la Gardie whose descendants for centuries became the richest and most influential generals and noblemen in Sweden, starting in the 16th century.

The restaurant d’Alibert is really worth a visit. It is housed in a historic building and the courtyard is magnificent. The dining room is a strange mixture of very attractive pieces of genuine art, mostly marble sculptures and very “kitschy” artifacts. The food is very good and the service is, represented by the owner himself, laid-back, humorous, personal and very nice. You enjoy the tasty food with a background of soft jazz music on a pleasant volume.

We all had to try something very different for starter – a crème-brûlée on foie-gras and Jerusalem artichoke. It was delicious! I had guinea-fowl and the women had lamb and confit de canard, which all were very good. It is a restaurant that serves local French food perfectly made and they serve it the old fashioned way where you get all parts of the meal separately in deep dishes, individually or for the whole table. A very nice way there everybody can help themselves to how much they like to eat or one can even share or taste each other’s dishes.

Revisited March 2015 for friends 70th anniversary: Lovely, delicious and friendly! We were 10 at the table.

Web: http://www.hoteldalibert.com/index.html
Latest visit: March 2015
Number of visits: 2

LA PETITE COUR

LA PETITE COUR – 9, Rue Auber, 11 100 Narbonne

We found this restaurant by accident. We were wandering around in the small winding streets just north of the Canal de Robine in Narbonne on May 1st and just saw it and it was closed. On the following Monday we were looking for a place for lunch and we remembered it. I do not think any tourist would find the way to the place but the locals obviously do.

The place has a good atmosphere, and the couple who owns it gave us a feeling this could be nice. We were not disappointed. The lunch of the day was excellent. I had entrecote which was perfect and very tender and so was the skewers on veal my wife had. We could choose among three mains and they were accompanied by lovely baked potatoes. The starter was a buffet with a lot of very tasty small dishes.

We sat in the little garden or rather a little patio in the back. The service was excellent. We will certainly go back to this place and try their more expensive menus. This time I got three courses for just 15.50 euros and that was really good value. The only thing we complained about was my wife’s “café noisette” which was cold as it get if you put cold milk into a small cup of espresso. When we complained about it she got a new cup – this time with steamed milk.

They speak Dutch.

WEB: www.petitecour.com
Latest visit: May 2014
Number of visits: 2

RELAIS CHANTOVENT

RELAIS CHANTOVENT, 17 Grand Rue, 34210 Minerve

Minerve is a fantastic place that is a must to visit in this area. The Restaurant Relais Chantovent is a good place to have the lunch. The view from the restaurant’s terrace over the beautiful river canyon is magnificent. The food is good and the look of it even better, but at our visit there was a few buts. For starter I had trout that was supposed to be made as a gravlax. As gravlax is something of a national dish in Sweden and as I make it several times a year I am quite picky and this was not made the right way. It is supposed to be marinated for two days in a mixture of 50/50 of sugar and salt. They had overdone the salt so it was far too salty, which was a pity as the rest of the dish was very tasty, but the intense saltiness of the fish ruined the whole thing.

My main dish was a 24 hours cooked pork, which was not as tender as it should be after such long time in low temperature. The restaurant pretends to be a gourmet restaurant with traditional food. I would rather say it is a restaurant with enhanced country cooking. I say this as they serve the same garnish with all dishes if it is an expensive or cheaper menu or if it is fish or meat. On a country cooking restaurant that is all right, but not in a gourmet restaurant. It is a pity as the main ingredients was good, well cooked and tasty.

Finally the deserts were, in my taste, far too sweet and lacked more subtle dimensions than just being sweet.

Web: www.relaischantovent-minerve.fr
Latest visit: 2014
Number of visits: 2