LA PENICHE

LA PENICHE - 19, quai des Tonneliers, 11200 Homps

As we did not want to disturb Restaurant En Bonne Compagnie across the canal we went to La Pénich that we had been to a couple of times before and found quite pleasant. The service is good and friendly. Many of the staff can speak English which is almost necessary around the Canal du Midi nowadays. The food is good and it is the kind of no-nonsense cuisine that you might appreciate for lunch. They have a large selection of pizzas and a couple of set menus with traditional French food.

There is an inside restaurant and a few tables on the side of Canal du Midi. The main part of the restaurant is in the back garden which is divided into one open part there you can smoke and a glass-walled part what is possible to cover if the sun is to disturbing.

WEB: http://www.restaurantlapeniche.fr/
LATEST VISIT: 2013
NUMBER OF VISITS: 3
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EN BONNE COMPAGNIE

EN BONNE COMPAGNIE – 6 Quai des Negociants, 11200 Homps

The restaurant is located just at the side of Canal du Midi in Homps. Homps has a number of restaurants, some just open in the summer but this place is open all year. The place is unpretentious but the in-door dining room is very nicely renovated in modern style. The food is French, made with quite a lot of ambition, but still the prizes are affordable. The owners are English that makes it easy for those who still are a little nervous for ordering in French.

Homps (pronounced “omps”, with a short  “o” as in “off”) is one the many beautiful places along Canal du Midi. It is the home of the sparkling wine Chevalier de Malte, that Swedish readers might remember as the first drinkable and affordable sparkling wine that we could buy in Sweden.

Trying to revisit in September 2013: The outside restaurant had more than 12 free seats and it was totally empty inside so we decided to eat here. We were ingnored when we came 15 minutes past 1 on a Thursday. Finally we stopped the owner and asked her if we could get something to eat. "20 minutes waiting", she snapped - no welcome, no smile, just a very stressed body-language and an angry face. "Waiting for what?", we asked. "To order", she said, "we have many customers". We were not in a hurry so we could have sat down with a drink and talked for a while, but it was so obvious she did not want any more customers that day. We did not want to disturb her so we left for Restaurant La Péniche across the canal, where we were welcomed with a smile, despite a very busy restaurant. I do not think we will make her life more difficult by visiting her  restaurant in the future.

Revisited September 2014: Invited by English friends that assured us that the angry co-owner was not around any more we gave it a new chance. The food is quite good and the service friendly nowadays. If you are looking for a restaurant there you do not risk to meet any French people and everybody speak English, this is the place.

WEB: http://www.en-bonne-compagnie.com/
LATEST VISIT: 2014
NUMBER OF VISITS: 2
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