Paris and the rest of France

Paris, fine dining

Hélène Darroze, 4 rue d'Assas, 6th Arrondissement
Telephone 01 01 42 22 00 11. Métro Sèvres-Babylone. I enjoyed a stunning meal at the two Michelin starred Hélène Darroze. Darroze is from the Southwest of France, and her menu reflects the ingredients and dishes of the region, in a very sophisticated interpretation. I had the tasting menu of eight courses, at least four of which were breathtaking (the sort of delicious food that has you asking "how did they do this?") and the other four were merely excellent. Highlights included a carpaccio of lobster served with a salad of crunchy summer vegetables, black truffle and lobster jus, and a stunning dessert: raviolis of apricot stuffed with an almond cream in a fresh thyme and almond soup, and served with an apricot and thyme sorbet. Somehow, thin slices of the apricot flesh had been moulded into perfect raviolis containing the almond cream. You can opt for a glass of wine of the restaurant's choice served with each course, but I chose from the very good list, which is strong on southern France and has plenty of half bottles. Hélène Darroze is super-expensive (this menu is £100 per person without wine) but this is brilliant food, with friendly but immaculate service, served in an atmosphere of casual elegance. There is also a downstairs bistro serving tapas-like dishes. I've heard it is very good too, but make sure you specify where you want to dine when booking (2003). Closed Sunday, Monday.

Pavillon Montsouris, 20 Rue Gazin, 14th Arrondissement.
Telephone 01 45 88 38 52. Métro Porte d'Orléans. For a really different option, great food and a lovely atmosphere, the Pavillon Montsouris has just been refurbished and relaunched in the south of the city (near Montparnasse). It is a fine gourmet restaurant with moderate prices, which has a broad terrace in one of the nicest corners of the parc Montsouris, overlooking a woodland and a lake. The park closes at dusk, and from then on you have this beautifully quiet countryside and lake to yourself, yet slap bang in the middle of the city. The set-price menu is 45Euros (about £30) for four courses including coffee and petit-fours. The wine list is presented as a large scrap-book full of labels, and the prices and selection are decent, if uninspiring. But the atmosphere of this place is what makes it really special on a warm evening when you can sit outside, and the food is very good and prices low. The RER station Cité-Universitaire is actually closer than the métro (2003). Open every day, except Sunday evenings from September through Easter Sunday.

Boulogne: Hostellerie de la Rivière, Pont-de-Briques. (0)3 21 32 2281
Not in Boulogne, but just a few miles south, is this very charming old restaurant with rooms, which is very comfortable, with spacious gardens and a wood-panelled dining room. The Cuisine and setting are quite formal and traditional, but the rooms are simple and not too expensive (we stayed the night before sailing home). For dinner we ate the "Menu Degustation du Mois", a seasonally-pitched set menu using local ingredients. A starter presented foie-gras done several ways, including cooked in a marinade. A terrine of lobster and langoustine was rich and nicely textured with chunks of meat, served with a herb butter-dressed salad. My main course of three fillets of freshwater fish was light and very well cooked, served with a coriander-infused dressing. The full panoply of six courses plus the ususal nibbles and migrandises was reasonably priced at 300ff - Michelin now quotes 70€. (2002)

Near Saumur: Le Prieuré, Chênehutte-les-Tuffeaux. (0)2 41 67 9014
Chênehutte-les-Tuffeaux is a tiny village a couple of miles outside Saumur. The Prieuré sits right above the village. Meals are taken in an atmospheric dining-room with commanding views of the Loire. It really is a magnificent panorama and the light on the distant hills as the sun sets makes a wonderful backdrop to some seriously good food and wine. There is a full à la carte choice as well as seasonal and "typical" menus of the region. Dishes like medallions of monkfish, cooked to just translucent perfection and sitting on a meaty jus, studded with capers and sun-blush tomatoes, or a wonderful take on tarte tatin: an individual tart formed from a slice of fresh pineapple on a butter and almond sponge base, sweetened by caramel and served with a lime sauce and coconut ice cream. Breakfast can be taken on the terrace with the same stunning views. The Prieuré is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group and is, as you might expect, not cheap. Rooms start at around 900ff (£90/$150US) for a double. Breakfast and meals are not included. Dinner should cost around £40 ($60US) per person (2006).

Near Saumur: Jeanne de Laval, Les Rosiers. (0)2 41 51 80 17
Sadly, Jeanne de Laval was boarded up as of 2006

Near Saumur: Le Promenade, St-Mathurin-sur-Loire. (0)2 41 57 01 50
Another 10 miles or so further west, on the D953 heading along the Loire towards Angers, lies Le Promenade. I stumbled into this one quite by chance one Sunday lunchtime and it was just a treat: a really old-fashioned and comfortable bourgeois restaurant that's so typical of rural France. Inexpensive, yet very proper with crisp linen, sparkling crystal and fine Laguioli silverware, the food was perfect and simple: really good steaks with pepper sauce and buttery fondant potatoes washed down with a bottle of very good Anjou-Villages from Domaine Richou. Around £20 a head for a four course lunch including wine and coffees (2004).

Montpellier: Jardin de Sens, 11 avenue St-Lazare. Tel: (0)4 99 58 38 38
It was four years since my previous visit to the 3* Jardin de Sens in Montpellier, and whilst one wine-pages visitor had reported a less than satisfactory meal, I really looked forward to my return visit. At lunch time I decided to push the boat out and have the 125 Euro dinner Menu de Saveurs, of around six courses. Starting of with a gorgeous array of amuses guelles, including a wonderful apricot soup, thick with pulp and a tiny gratin of fruit, served with a white cheese and lemon sorbet. Other highlights included a terrine of langoustine and lobster, served with a lobster and vegetable broth. The main course was some astonishingly good lamb, served as two perfect little chops along with a disc of succulent meat that literally melted in the mouth and was full of flavour. The puddings ("premier dessert" and "deuxieme dessert", preceded by "pre-dessert") were a touch disappointing. A peach soup with a scoop of ice-cream was perfumed and light, but not as dazzling as other flavours here, and a bitter chocolate tartlette served with a quenelle of white chocolate was again excellent in flavour and execution, but I have had similar desserts elsewhere which were on par. We took coffee in the beautiful garden, shaded from the Mediterranean sun, with brilliant petit fours. The wine list is comprehensive, for both local, and the best French wines of classic regions. Expensive, top quality and still worth a visit. (2004)

Fontjoncuse: Auberge de Vieux Puits. Tel: (0)4 68 44 07 37
This two Michelin Star restaurant with rooms sits in a small hamlet dominated by a ruined church and château, the rugged, isolated and barren hills of Corbieres all around with their parched vineyards, gorges and rocky outcrops. The hamlet was founded in the 8th century when a source of water was discovered (the "font" of fontjoncuse). The Auberge is a haven of tranquillity, with very stylish, modern rooms with minimalist décor but beautiful appointments, a sunny heated swimming pool, and of course, the restaurant. The 68 Euro Menu de Garrigues, offers two choices at each of five courses, plus various little freebies. We chose this menu on both nights of our stay, simply alternating one set of dishes for the other. A bowl containing plump langoustine tails on a thick smear of bouillabaisse reduction, with a silver spoon holding a quenelle of fennel sorbet, looked superb, but wait until the waiter pours a ladle of warm fennel-scented soup into the dish, melts the sorbet and creating a magnificent dish. A seared, plump two-inch thick triangle of tuna was seared on the outside, raw in the middle, and served with an intricate black olive biscuit, a salsa-like tomato and olive chutney and a glass of pungent escabeche. A tranche of beautifully cooked turbot was crusted with almonds, and served with a separate little dish of haricot beans and girolles in a rich butter sauce. This is a relatively simple and laid back restaurant, where chef-patron Gilles Goujon does things the way he has for years: with consummate skill. (2004)

Collias: Hostellerie Le Castellas, Provence. Tel: (0)4 66 22 88 88
Tucked away inside the ancient, narrow passageways of Collias, only a few minutes drive from the Pont du Gard north of Avignon, the Hostellerie Le Castellas is one of those magical French places who's modest doorway leads through to enchanting gardens, terraces and a bijoux swimming pool surrounded by aromatic flowers and shrubs. The rooms are simple but full of character, but the restaurant at Le Castellas is its strength. I stayed and ate there on two nights. On the first I had the "Saveurs et Parfums" tasting menu of local produce, including herbs and legumes from the Hostellerie's own gardens, which I counted as 10 courses, plus canapés and frivolitie (petit-fours). There was superb invention here, but in some ways I enjoyed the more ample portions and slower pace of dining à la carte on the second night even more. Highlights included a wonderful dish of Goujonettes - plump fillets - of Saint Pierre, served with courgette flowers stuffed with a chicken and wild mushroom mousse. A Tranche de Beouf de Salers was served as three thick slices, along with a terrific St Emilion reduction, and thick-cut, crisp but meltingly soft chips. My Sabayon, served with a ring of pineapple marinated in an infusion of wild herbs, was also a brilliant, tangy, yet luxurious dish. I drank a brace Chateauneufs-du-Papes: Vieux Telegraphe 1998 (80 Euro) and Chateau Simone Pallet (60 Euros) as well as a couple of halves of the excellent Château Haut-Gleon Corbieres Blanc. The Menu Degustation is 85 Euros, and dining a la carte comes in around 60 Euro per person. (2004)

Pauillac: Cordeillan-Bages. (0)5 56 59 24 24
Thierry Marx is the Michelin two-star chef who presides here in this luxurious hotel and restaurant on a corner of the Lynch-Bages estate in Pauillac, northwest of the city of Bordeaux. For my mid-week lunch here the dining room was very quiet, so a rather hushed atmosphere prevailed, with half a dozen staff standing to attention by the kitchen door. The food was fabulous: a confit of lamb starter came with flaking, delicate meat and a beautifully dressed salad of bitter leaves. A fillet of beef was seared black, but a pointe inside, served with simple buttered new potatoes, sweetly-caramelised onions and a rich, dark red wine reduction. We drank a bottle of the 1985 Cordeillan-Bages, to complete a really lovely lunch for around £40 per person. (2000)

Langon: Claude Darroze, Cours du Général Leclerc. (0)5 56 63 00 48
Langon is a small town about 50 kilometres east of Bordeaux, which can be reached by a regular train service. M. Darroze is a renowned Michelin-starred chef, and I attended a dinner for a dozen people at the conclusion of a competition for Petits Châteaux Bordeaux wines. The exquisite food of Claude Darroze, together with fine wine and the restaurant's unbelievable collection of vintage Armagnacs - a few of which were sampled - made up for slightly tired, if elegant surroundings. This is classic French/Bordelais cuisine, so expect foie-gras and lamb to be staples on the menu. (2002)

Sauternes: Le Saprien. (0)5 56 76 60 87
Right in the middle of the tiny village of Sauternes, this is a lovely old building, which I thought was closed at first because it was so empty, but then I saw the large French windows leading out to a broad terrace behind, with tables already crowded on a summer evening. The food in Le Saprien was good, without hitting the high spots, but positioned in a bowl with the vineyards of the Sauternes Châteaux all around, that really doesn't matter too much. Service was also a little vague on this busy evening, but I would eat here again if in the area. Large range of Sauternes by the glass, as well as Sauternes red and dry white wines. (2002).

Chablis: Laroche Restaurant, 18 rue des Moulins. Tel : +33 (0)3 86 42 47 30
A beautifully restored old mill, the ancient fabric of this restaurant is offset by sleek, modern furniture and lighting, and gleaming glass and silverware. It's a casual dining room, but with a kitchen that is serious about its food. Apart from a selection of Champagnes, only Laroche wines are featured, but these range from inexpensive Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, to Grand Cru Chablis. What's even better, all are offered at shop prices plus 10 Euros (about £7). And the food? Well it is excellent and ample: the menu may be contemporary, but portions here acknowledge Burgundian appetites. Start at the bar with a glass of Chablis and some delicious gougères (posh, choux-pastry cheese puffs) before choosing from a short, seasonal menu that changes every fortnight. Highlights of my visit were crisp Seabass fillets, pan-fried on the skin side, and served on a heap of braised whole fennel with an interesting vanilla and mocha coffee sauce. A lovely, tender veal steak came with a creamed pea sauce, and the biggest pile of buttery, pan-fried girolle mushrooms that I have ever seen. Puddings are also worth saving room for, and coffee is served with buttery little Madeleine cakes. Food prices are moderate, with three courses costing around 30 - 35 Euros. (2007)

Beaune: Hostellerie de Levernois. Tel: 33 (0)3 80 24 73 58
In a small park just outside of Beaune on the road to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, this has two Michelin stars and expensive, but good food and wine list and a reasonable fixed-price lunch menu. I didn't like our waiter much, who I clearly saw swipe another member of staff's tip from another table, but it is an otherwise lovely dining room, with modern French cuisine. For my entrée on the set three-course lunch menu I really enjoyed a supreme of Perch, roasted with mustard and served with a leek fondue. Just before coffee and petit-fours are served, they bring a sliver casket full of dark chocolate-coated nuts, which are irresistible (2000).

Beaune: l'Ermitage de Corton. Tel: 33 (0)3 80 22 05 28
A few miles north of Beaune, on the main road to Aloxe-Corton, is restaurant with rooms which is an over-stuffed, over-the-top excess of a place revelling in rich Burgundy cuisine and wonderfully old-fashioned. I see it has lost its Michelin star since I ate there, but retains its "Top Class Comfort" rating. Wear loose clothing and take no vegetarians for huge plates of charcuterie, snails and other typically rich dishes (2000).

Autun: Le Chalet Bleu, 3, rue Jeannin. Tel: 33 (0)3 85 86 27 30
In Autun town centre, I enjoyed the old fashioned restaurant very much, for inexpensive and fine food. Stuffed rabbit, filled with rice, spinach and force-meat was delicious, and there's a moderately-priced wine list with some very good, mature Burgundies. Low-key, long-established, and gives a sense of doing what it does, despite changing fashions. (2000).

Fleurie: Restaurant Le Cep, pl. Église. Tel: (0)4 74 04 10 77
The charming but redoubtable Madame Chagny presides over this wonderful Michelin-starred restaurant in the Beaujolais Village of Fleurie. A few years ago Madame voluntarily gave up a second star so that she could lower prices and concentrate on the true country cooking of the region. A meal here is a veritable lesson in local geography, agriculture and cuisine, especially if Madame Chagny introduces each dish. A wonderful platter of herb-crusted frog's legs were made freshly we were informed: "almost everyone uses frozen frog's legs; these were alive in the kitchen until 10 minutes ago". A parade of foie-gras cooked "au torchon", wild duck from the local river and succulent Charolais fillet steaks followed, each presented with a minimum of fuss and absolute simplicity, but cooked with love and consummate skill. Washed down with moderately priced Beaujolais wines, this little restaurant cannot be recommended highly enough (2003).