RESTAURANT LA PLAÇA

RESTAURANT LA PLAÇA – Plaça Promotori 2, Llafranc, Catalonia, 17211 Spain

The restaurant is a part of Hotel Llafranc in the center of Llafranc. The hotel also has a more casual alternative with outside service. Both places have really good food and the service is perfect.

After arriving at the hotel, we had a fantastic turbot in the outside restaurant with a good local white wine. In the evening, we visited the main restaurant and had one of the best tenderloin we have had. An interesting thing is that at both places we asked about a good local wine from the wine list, but the waiter instead suggested a less expensive house wine.

Llafranc is a very pleasant place, especially in off-season. The place is beautiful and one can take long walks, be on the beach, do diving or other water-sports and a lot of things.

By the way – the hotel is really nice and we can recommend you staying there.

WEB: http://www.hllafranch.com/
LATEST VISIT: May 2017
NUMBER OF VISITS: 1

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

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

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

AU LAVOIR

AU LAVOIR, Rue du Lavoir, 34440 Colombiers

I never stop being surprised about all these gourmet restaurants that one can find in the smallest villages in France. A few days ago we visited the restaurant Au Lavoir in Colombiers, a little village along Canal de Midi.

It was really a nice surprise. The restaurant was very nicely decorated in a subtle way. The food was excellent, with a few dishes that we don’t find in most restaurants. Of course foie gras was present in many dishes, both in starters and main courses. I had a fried fresh foie gras as this is not always present on menus. The ladies, Anna, Ann-Katrin and my wife were more traditional and had foie gras the traditional way. None of us were disappointed. Two of us had pigeon and two of us had lamb. I notices that they also had wild duck on the menu and many other things to try for next time. The cheese trolley was impressive, full of beautifully aged cheese. I myself had a delicious desert.

The only complain I have is the prize of the wine. Most restaurants here add 100% on the prize from the vine-yard, but her it was at least 200% add-on. I do not appreciate that in the middle of a wine district. The prize of the food was however correct and there was both two set menus and one choice were you could choose one, two, three or four courses from the “a la carte” selection. All four was 35 euros.

Revisited January 2015: We were five very demanding people celebrating my wife's birthday. We all agreed that it was the best meal we have got for a very long time.

Revisted January 2017: Like always a fantastic experience with excellence food and good friends

Revisited March 2018: Disappointment! We had my birthday lunch here today as it is a favorite. It has changed a lot in a year. Foie gras for starter was overcooked until it has shrunk into a little lump. The plate for the second course was so stained and greasy so we lost the appetite for it. The before fantastic desert was totally changed into something much simpler. The pieces of cheese from the trolley was cut without removing the dry part of the cheese that occur when it is left in air for a while.
Minor problems was that they did not offer us to taste the wine before poring and that their understanding for our complaints were minor. About the stained plate they said that some fingerprints were normal on a plate. We said that fingerprints do not normally stick.
They charged us a little less than normal prize despite we did not ask for it, which was good.

Web: http://www.au-lavoir.com/
Latest visit: March 2018
Number of visits: 9

LA TABLE DES FRÈRES DE IBARBOUR

LA TABLE DES FRÈRES DE IBARBOUR - Chemin Italienea - 64210 Bidar

Guide Michelin 

The food is exceptional in the Basque Provinces, both on the French and Spanish side of the border. We went there to celebrate that we had been married for 20 years. One of the restaurants we visited was La Table des Frères de Ibarbour i Bidart . This traditional restaurant has one star in Guide Michelin.

We started off with an aperitif in the lovely garden while they prepared our table and we studied the menu. The food was excellent and a little more rustic when we mostly find on Michelin starred restaurant. The setting was pleasant and the service, naturally, perfect.

Those of you who can read Swedish you are welcome to read about our whole trip to the Basque Countries on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2011/08/brollopsdagsresa-till-baskien.html

WEB: http://freresibarboure.com/fr/
LATEST VISIT: 2011
NUMBER OF VISITS: 1

LA TABLE de JEAN

 LA TABLE de JEAN - 62, la Corniche de Neuburg, 34200 Sète

Outside Sète in direction of Agde you find La Corniche de Neuburg or just La Corniche. This is a summer village, but is slowly growing into more permanent living. You mostly do not expect to find gourmet restaurants in such areas, but Restaurant La Table de Jean is a splendid exception. It is housed in Hôtel La Conga just were the famous beach starts.

This is a very good restaurant and is almost always full of guests. We have been there several times with friends and they are all impressed by the good food and good value. The chef Guy Dagorrette has an ability to prepare the traditional food of the area in a fantastic way. Naturally sea-food is the big thing here, but do not hesitate to order meat if you prefer that. My absolute favorites are their home made Foie Gras to start with followed by their Ravioli with lobster. The service is correct – they do what they are there for but nothing more. In this place it is the food that talks and make you feel great.

This is not a restaurant you would choose from the outside look of the place. It looks quite plain and there is nothing that gives you a hint that you find a top class gourmet restaurant inside.

Revisited x-mas day 2015: Despite we reserved very early we did not get a good table - it was near the entrance. The biggest problem was that we could smell an unpleasant dour from the toilets. The food was not as it is normal days, but acceptable.

WEB: http://www.conga.fr/index.php/restaurant

LATEST VISIT: X-mas day 2015

NUMBER OF VISITS: >5

HÔTEL DE PARIS

 HÔTEL DE PARIS - 2 rue Frederic Mistral, 34200 Sète

During all time we had our summer studio in Sète we were puzzled because of Hotel de Paris in the center of Sète.  It was so odd that the hotel with the best location in Sète was so run down. It was once a beautiful art deco hotel, but now it was more or less a wreck run by an eccentric old lady. Just for curiosity we stayed there one night, but the standard was so poor we had to move. As it was cheap it was however a popular place for motorcycle tourists.

Last year when we returned to Sète, the hotel was renovated into a beautiful boutique hotel and the restaurant was fixed up to how it might have been when the hotel was at its best. The food is prepared by the chef Christophe Chiavola and was really a positive experience. When we last visited Sète we noticed that they served lunch in the renovated inside garden, which must be very nice. We did not go there this time though. We have something to look forward to next time we come to Sète.

WEB: http://www.hoteldeparis-sete.com/fr/index.php#bar-et-restaurant.php

LATEST VISIT: 2012

NUMBER OF VISITS: 1

QUAI 17, ESCALE

QUAI 17, ESCALE - 17 Quai de Tassigny, 34200 Sète

Quai 17, Escale is a gourmet restaurant in the Grand Hôtel in Sète. As there are very few gourmet restaurants in Sète this is something special. The chef Pascal Hemnet creates a combination of modern versions of traditional Mediterranean food and the modern molecular kitchen. 

At a few special occasions we have visited the restaurant and have always been very pleased with the service and the fantastic food. It was here we first came in contact with molecular cooking and found it very exciting. 

The restaurant is housed in the beautiful Grand Hotel and the view over the canals in Sète is really nice. 

WEB: http://www.legrandhotelsete.com/#/fr/restaurant/

LATEST VISIT: 2011

NUMBER OF VISITS: 3

RESTAURANT LA BERGERIE

RESTAURANT LA BERGERIE - Châteaux de Lastours, 11490 Portel des Corbières

Restaurant la Bergerie is situated at Château de Lastours. A couple of years ago we visited this restaurant quite often. We had birthday parties there and we often took friends there. We have not been there for some time now and it might be time for a revisit.

The reason why we stopped going there was that they did not change the menu for a very long time. After having tasted all the dishes, which all were delicious, we got a bit tired of eating the same thing time after time. For those who never have been there it is really worth a visit and you can go there quite a few times before you have explored the menu in full.

The service was also very nice and the atmosphere of the restaurant is very pleasant. They only serve wine of their own production, but they are of such quality that you do not need anything else. You can also buy some bottles and bring home and you can have a full tasting in the wine shop.

A little special thing is that the castle also is a center for training and other kinds of activities with four wheel drive vehicles.

Revisited 2015 after 6 years: It was good and more than that! The service was pleasant as usual and the food was exceptional. We had the three course menu for 26 euros. Our starter was cabbage with a stuffing of game (wild bore) and it was really good. It reminded us a bit of the Swedish traditional dish "kåldolmar". My main was "bavette" which was very nice and tender and the different vegetables that came with it were perfect. I had a chocolate dessert - also very good. We will return soon.

WEB: http://www.chateaudelastours.com/
LATEST VISIT: April 2017NUMBER OF VISITS: >10

CHÂTEAU L'HOSPITALET

CHÂTEAU L'HOSPITALET - Route de Narbonne Plage, 11100 Narbonne

Château L’Hospitalet is a very good restaurant with a nice environment but it is also something much more than that. Starting with the restaurant; it is a very popular lunch for business people in the area but also somewhere to go when you are on a vacation trip. The food is quite good at a fairly good prize. The wine you get is of their own production, which means that it is among the best you can get. The owner Gérard Bertrand has been elected the European Wine Producer of the year by The Wine Enthusiast.

At least before, you were offered free tasting of wine with your meal, but I think they had to stop that as it was abused, mostly by foreign tourists, that caused a number of accidents on the winding roads in the La Clape mountains.

This place is a very good place to go for a half days trip or maybe if you are not from the neighborhood, for a week-end. They have a splendid hotel, several gift shops an enormous wine shop, often high quality art exhibitions and music evenings with jazz in the summer.

This place is however, above all, a place to go for wine lovers. The selection of wine is enormous and represents a large number of appellations of Languedoc. The price range is from a few euros per bottle up to prestigious wines for 40 euros and up per bottle. If you eat in the restaurant you get a small discount in the wine shop.

Revisited May 2015: We have not been here for some time for other than buying wine. The food has changes from very traditional French food in a gourmet version into something much more posh. It looks very much like the food in top gourmet-restaurants – small portions, a lot of purées and fancy names, but it lacks the intense tastes that make up for quantity in the modern French gourmet kitchen. Even for me who is a very small eater, it was a little too little. I had one of my favorites – wing of ray – which was good but a third of what you mostly get in other restaurants. The price 29 euros for a three course lunch would have been OK if the food have had a taste that lived up to the looks of it and maybe a little more generous portions.

WEB: http://www.chateau-lhospitalet.com/restaurant-bar-lounge.html

LATEST VISIT: May 2015

NUMBER OF VISITS: >10

HÔTELLERIE DE BALAJAN

HÔTELLERIE DE BALAJAN - 41 Route de Montpellier  - D 612 - 34110 VIC-LA-GARDIOLE

This restaurant is one of our big secrets. It is not possible to find if you do not know about it. It is located on the very boring coast road outside Frontignan on the road to Montpellier.  You find it in the middle of an industrial area and you would pass it without even a glance if you do not have eyes like a hawk and can see all the awards from every gourmet guide in France that is put up on the front door.
The place is an old fashioned restaurant with very correct old fashioned service and absolutely fantastic old fashioned food. I am talking of the hotel and restaurant Hôtellerie de Balajan. We have been there twice and the latest time we had a birthday party with our friends. Everything you get on your plate is better than you expected. The only problem might be that you get a little to full; especially the grand cheese trolley and the grand desert in the end could be too much for anyone.
The good news in the end is that the prize is very reasonable. On top of everything one of the ladies got a loaf of their homemade bread as she said she liked it.


WEB: http://www.hotel-balajan.com/
LATEST VISIT: 2008
NUMBER OF VISITS: 2

CHÉZ SASKIA CLOSED

CHÉZ SASKIA - Place Auguste-Pierre Pont - 11000 Carcassonne
This restaurant does not exist any more, but the other two mentioned are still open,

Restaurant Chez Saskia is the winter home and across the street in Jardin de L’Evêque they serve the guests in the summer. Both restaurants are parts of Hôtel de la Cité, which is an extremely costly hotel in the center of the old castle of Carcassonne. In the hotel you find the Guide Michelin awarded restaurant La Barbacane, which we have never visited.
We really like Chez Saskia, a restaurant with a lot of atmosphere with their walls covered with photos of all film stars and royalties that have been dining there. Hôtel de la Cité is the place to stay if you are rich and famous and visit Carcassonne. As quite a lot of films have been shot in Carcassonne through the years there has never been lack of famous people among the guests. Sometimes they might like to relax a bit and Chez Saskia might be the right place to be more anomymous. If you want to enjoy this fantastic atmosphere without spending a fortune you should go to Chez Saskia.
Their food is excellent and not expensive. Their lunch menu including wine is not more expensive than in any other restaurant and their fantastic gourmet menu is also affordable. The service is friendly and professional.

WEB: http://www.hoteldelacite.com/
LATEST VISIT: 2011
NUMBER OF VISITS: 4

LE TOURNEDOS

LE TOURNEDOS - Rond point de Lattre de Tassigny, 11200 Lézignan-Corbières

The traditional restaurant Le Tournedos was started in 1970. It is now run by second generation owners since less than a year. For the locals the restaurant is known for high quality local food served in generous helpings. It is a typical winter restaurant where you can enjoy good food and high quality local wine in front of the enormous grill. Their grilled meat is fantastic.

The interior is somewhat booring and still the new owners pretend they have modernized it, but it is hard to notice. The service is, under the new management more custom oriented when it used to be in the old days when it had a certain "no noncense style".

If you appreciate really good local food to reasonable prizes, there are few better places to go. Maybe that is the reason why it is mostly packed with people in the restaurant.


WEB: http://www.letournedos.com/
LATEST VISIT: 2012
NUMBER OF VISITS: >5

OASIS

OASIS - Boulevard du Front de Mer, 11100 Narbonne Plage

There are a large number of restaurants along the beach-walk in Narbonne Plage. We have come to like the Restaurant Oasis. There are no gourmet restaurants along this walk, but what you need is good affordable food in a restaurant with good service. Oasis is the place where you can get lunch or dinner if you spend your day on the beach. It is just five minutes’ walk from the water to the restaurant and it is open all day so you do not have to eat between 12 and 2 PM as is mostly the case in France.

The food is nice, the service friendly and they have a good selection of wine. You can get pizza, salads of the generous French style, fish and meat dishes. They also have a number of set menus and a children’s menu. I often eat their beef Carpaccio that I find nice and just enough for lunch a hot day.

Revisited in April 2013: The restaurant seems to be upgraded to meet the summer. New menus, a big selection of new biers from Leffe, more ambition on the dishes and as always good service. An even better place to have something to eat any time of the day at a stay on the beach.

Revisited June 2013: It is not pleasant to be disappointed. We have visited Restaurant Oasis more times than any other restaurant in the region. This time we came a little after two in the afternoon and the restaurant was fairly empty. We ordered their second most expensive menu and half a liter of rosé wine.

The “moules marinières” my wife got were half freshly made half heated up so most of the mussels were dry and small like peas. The main courses we got were OK, but when we came to the desert the trouble started. My wife does not eat any sweets of medical reasons, but on this menu it said “desert of your choice” and on the dessert menu they had cheese. I did not take any of the more fancy deserts, but was happy with just two scoops of ice-cream without any topping - a very inexpensive choice. The waiter said to my wife that she had to pay 2 euros extra for cheese. The two euros was not a problem in itself, but as we are customers since many years, I took a more inexpensive desert and it said “free choice” on the menu and no notation of any supplement 2 euros, we pointed this out. 

If it had been any of the regular guys that serve it would not be a problem because they know us well and are always very nice, but this guy had to ask the manager and we know from experience that she is not very interested in service or customers.

It is very nice to find new restaurants one likes, but very sad to be badly treated at a place where you thought you were a valued customer. It is also very hard to get new customers, but easy to lose them. With such a terrible summer so far, one could expect that a manager should be keener on keeping the regular customers.

Revisited October 2013: This restaurant is still one of the few we know who refuse es to serve non-sweet deserts to diabetics. If you take a menu you can not even pay the difference, which is 1 euro. You have to leave the desert that is offered and pay full prize for cheese. This time however le patron made an exception.

Revisited February 2014: It is a new season and we again visit the beach for walks. The last two times we have not been happy with this restaurant. The last time the pizza-bread was very hard and dry and my wife could only eat half of it. The steak haché I had was cold inside. I can eat raw meat, but I ordered medium and I do not like meat that is cold inside and fried on the outside. The big problem is however that the owner never admit anything - she never give you a refund or a compensation or even an excuse. "No-one have ever complained" is her answer to everything. It is a pity because the other two restaurant on the promenade serve totally uneatable food and the service is terrible. We have therefore given this place a heart, but now we take it away.

Revisited June 2014: The last few times we have not been happy with the food and not with the service. Still we decided to give the place a chance on the new season. Everything was very good this time. All our food was good and very much improved from earlier times. The place my wife got was big and perfectly cooked. The service was observant and nice. We really hope it is not just a beginning of the season improvement, but is the new trend for the year 2014 and on.

Revisited August 2014: It seems the improved quality we saw in June is continuing even in the most hectic week-ends in high season. At our visit a couple of times in August the food has been good and the service very nice. 

Revisted summer 2017: They have improved their menus. The pizzas are now really good and their meat is always of very high quality. Service has also improved and is now good. It had a dip last year.

Revisited July 2018: It is always interesting to come here in the beginning of summer and find out the quality of the year. To often one finds that restaurants has changed to the worse since last year. This is not the case here. The same nice food at a resonable price and good service as ever. Favorites are carpaccio of beef and their bavette, but the sea-food is many peoples favorite.

WEB: http://www.hotel-narbonne-plage.com/
LATEST VISIT: July 2018
NUMBER OF VISITS: >50

L'AUBERGE CÔTE JARDIN

L'AUBERGE CÔTE JARDIN - 11200 Conilhac-Corbières

L’Auberge Côte Jardin is a restaurant what gives me mixed feelings. The ambition of the chef David Prevel is high and he mostly succeeds to serve delicious innovative dishes that are modern variations of the traditional kitchen of the region. One can feel a certain inspiration from the big star in the area Giles Goujon at Fontjoncouse when it comes to choice of products and presentation. Because of the mostly high quality of the food we have visited the restaurant quite a few times. The design of the restaurant is very pleasant with spaces from outdoor to inside depending on the season.

On the downside the service is not very professional or pleasant. Sorry to say some of the very young girls they prefer to hire try to compensate their lack of professionalism with a snobby attitude towards the guests, something that is very unusual in gourmet restaurant or any restaurant in south of France.

At one occasion we ordered a glass of the very nice house wine and after tasting it we asked what wine it was. “Red”, was the answer. Another time we got a luke-warm bottle of a quite nice white wine. When we complained about the temperature we got a glass with ice cubes to put into the wine. My wife is not allowed to eat sweet desserts and therefore all restaurants exchange the dessert on the set menu with some cheese for her. At this place it was not possible as it was "not included on the set menu".

WEB: http://www.auberge-cotejardin.com/auberge-cote-jardin_restaurant.html
LATEST VISIT: 2012
NUMBER OF VISITS: >5

L'AUBERGE du VIEUX PUITS ♥

L'AUBERGE du VIEUX PUITS - 5, Av St Victor 11360 Fontjoncouse.
Guide Michelin

The three-star restaurant L'Auberge du Vieux Puits is located in the small mountain village Fontjoncouse that has a little over 100 inhabitants. You reach the village through the winding mountain roads with stunning scenery. The food is prepared by the eminent chef Gilles Goujon and despite times of crisis, it is difficult to get a table even on an ordinary weekday. They are open both at lunch and at dinner. Their lunch menu Bienvenue au Pays costs 60 euros, their major menu 110 and the chef's surprise menu is 130 euros. The lunch menu is only offered on weekdays.
The most honest thing to say about eating at L'Auberge du Vieux Puits is that one gets a dining experience that goes beyond what one gets at all the usual gourmet restaurants we have visited. It is not just a meal but rather a show for all senses. The friendly, relaxed service and the tasteful decor contributes to the total experience.

If we compare the perception of the visit a few years ago when the restaurant had two stars, I should say that the food earlier did appeal more to the eye than the palate and in some cases the food was a bit strange with attempts to be a bit artsy fartsy. Now the kitchen, in my opinion, has matured and become more of a harmony between the senses. All dishes are still very beautifully presented but what strikes me is a balance of flavors where one have used an intelligent combination of modern molecualar techniques and the best of traditional country cooking tastes.

What was very positive was the unpretencious way they talked about the food. We were told in simple words in French or English, what we were served. No elaborate descriptions that has become so popular among some finer restaurants and that just makes the customer lost and uncertain. As an example, it was served an oyster dish with a ganish of genuine caviar from sturgeon. If it was Russian or Iranian caviar we were not told because it was simply called "fish eggs".

On the minus side one has to mention the wine prices. In some cases they add 1000% to open a bottle of wine from a local vineyard. On the other hand the wine is quite affordable from the local producers so the price is still reasonable for a restaurant of this class. A plus is that you can buy selected wines by the glass, which, however, costs 10 Euros/glass. In conclusion one must say it's pretty unique to be able to eat a lunch in a three star restaurant with wine and coffee for about 90 euros per person.

Revisited July 20. 2012: 

Together with friends from Sweden we visited the restaurant to try their set lunch menu. Last time we were there with the same friend we had one of the more expensive menus. As always the visit was more than just a meal. Everything was absolute perfection. Among the remarkable thing we got the second little tasting dish is worth mentioning. It was a lightly poached oyster in a large shells on a bed of very tasty something that we could not identify. In the shell there was a large pearl almost the seize of a Ping-Pong ball that we had to crush with a little hammer and the content poured out on the oyster covered in smoke. I will not say anything more about the food – it was just delicious. Every attempt to describe it in words will just fall flat on the ground. Go there and enjoy!

Revisited May 2013 for son's birthday: It is hard to imagine it could be better. For the second time we had bad luck. We thought it was a weekday they served their normal affordable lunch menu, but as this day was between two holidays they only served their more expensive menus. I am actually joking – OK it became twice as expensive as we thought it would be, but both our guests and the food was worth every euro.

As always it was more than a meal – it was an experience for all senses. The service is very correct, professional and performed with quite a lot of humor. The food is of course absolutely world class. For every dish we thought it was better than the one before – in the end we could not really decide what we liked best.

Besides the small things that opened our senses in the beginning we got a tomato made of sugar and filled with mozzarella accompanied of a lovely gazpacho.  This was followed by a combination of fresh white asparagus, a tail of langouste and a lovely newly picket large morels filled with langouste cream –absolutely divine. Next course was a perfectly cooked back of turbot that was inspired by the taste of the Antilles. Finally we had a variation on all parts of suckling goat that was something else. For the first time I tasted goat liver that was fantastic the way it was done here. The cheese trolley was as always magnificent and as it so often is the desserts formed a spectacular finale.

Do I have to say that my son David and his spouse Jessica were overwhelmed by the experience and appreciated to talk to chef Goujon and tell him how much they enjoyed it. :

Revisited July 2013: Absolutely fantastic as usual! They are beginning to know us now.

WEB: http://www.aubergeduvieuxpuits.fr/
LATEST VISIT: 2013
NUMBER OF VISITS: 8

Reasons for the ♥:
It does not get better than this. Oh yes - there are eight higher valued restaurants in the entire world, but I can not afford any of those, but this I can - at special occasions. This is the place for celebrations and for a treat. You will never forget it.