L’Autruche

ARLES

5 Rue Dulau
13200 Arles
04 90 49 73 63
PRICE RANGE – LUNCH MODERATE, DINNER EXPENSIVE

Taking over this small restaurant in 2006, young couple Ouria Zarouri and Fabien Naillis have given Arles a smart eatery tucked into a quiet side street just off the Rue de la République. L’Autruche (the Ostrich) is the kind of place that every town needs – central, reasonably stylish, reasonably priced and serving delicious food.

The décor sets the tone with cool grey walls, simple metal chairs and scuffed wooden tables, each with a tiny pot of fresh flowers. The success of the enterprise hinges, however, on a talented young chef. Antoine Soupizet worked for the almost frighteningly famous Michelin 3-star L’Oustau de la Baumanière for four years before coming here. ‘I like small restaurants,’ he says. He still can’t be much older than 30.

As dinner is à la carte only (working out at €70-80 per head), lunch offers the best value with a cracking two-course menu currently at €17, dessert counting as an optional extra. A recent midday visit began with the inspired arrangement of scallops, endives and orange that you see above, continuing with a hearty yet elegant dish of sage-infused rabbit, buttered cabbage and roast parsnips. Fresh market produce, all of it, in well-judged and flavourful combinations. Pudding was a killer chocolate and caramelised pineapple tart.

A hand-picked selection of about 30 wines, many from estates featured on this site, adds to the carefully orchestrated pleasure of the place. This ostrich definitely doesn’t bury its head in the sand.

Château de Saint-Martin

CÔTES DE PROVENCE – TARADEAU

Route des Arcs
83460 Taradeau
04 94 99 76 76
www.chateaudesaintmartin.com
PRICE RANGE – MODERATE

To say that you step into the past crossing the threshold of this château in the Var hinterland is a grave understatement. Close to the Via Aurelia, the site was once occupied by a Roman villa. From the 10^th century until the early 18^th it was a monastery. And since 1740 is has been continuously passed down from mother to daughter – a source of pride to Adeline de Barry who took over from her mama, the Comtesse de Gasquet, in 1996. Portraits of aristocratic women are all over the place – even on the wine labels.

With 40h of vines, a massive tasting room and a swish new winery, this is an estate of some substance, producing an extensive range in the middle price bracket. My favourite is the red Comtesse de Saint-Martin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes with a few years of bottle age ; there’s a countess with a plunging décolleté on the label ‘because it’s such a sensual wine,’ Adeline says.

But the chance to stay (even for a night) in a grand old house where the clock still seems set to 1800 may be an even greater lure than the Saint-Martin wines. There are four charmingly old-fashioned rooms (part of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was filmed in No 2), and if you are a well-behaved guest you will no doubt be allowed to see the tiny private chapel with its exquisite, centuries-old vestments.

Pâtisserie Deroy

BEAUCAIRE

29 bis Quai du Général de Gaulle
30300 Beaucaire
04 66 01 67 86

David Duroy was a pastry chef and baker at the perfectionistic Michelin two-star restaurant L’Oustau de la Baumanière in Les Baux before he succumbed to the chocolate obsession symbolised by a chocolate fountain in the window of his shop. While his wife Sonia mans this little temple to indulgence, David remains in the background creating not just exotic chocolates but exquisite cakes and prettily coloured macaroons in 14 flavours.

Although classics such as baba au rhum and Black Forest gâteau are not neglected, Deroy is best known for original creations like the trio up above. L’Ebène, the most coveted of all, made from 72% chocolate, has a layer of crunchy praline and a biscuit base. Victoire (in the middle) combines passion fruit with a coconut mousse, while L’Émeraude is a rich chocolate cake with fresh mint cream at the centre.

‘Yes, our kids do eat an awful lot of chocolate,’ Sonia admits. So, I suspect, do the people who attend David’s Saturday chocolate courses. If you can’t get to Beaucaire on a cake and chocolate spree, remember there is a Deroy stand in Les Halles in Nîmes.

La Prévôté

ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE

4 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
04 90 38 57 29
www.laprevote.fr
PRICE RANGE – MODERATE

When Séverine Alloin and her chef husband Jean-Marie took over and refurbished La Prévôté in 2003, it had already been a town landmark for hundreds of years, having been a wash-house in the 13^th century and the home of the chief of police much later on. Now it is a key address once again, and for three reasons – eating, sleeping, drinking.

The restaurant is L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in microcosm – an old stone building up against the church, its interior strangely (but picturesquely) bisected by the famous river Sorgue. Outside, a snug courtyard is just the spot for a summer lunch, especially on Sundays when the town is abuzz with antique hunters. Competent, classical cooking is matched by a carefully chosen wine list and perfect cheeses from wizard fromager Josiane Déal.

Upstairs are three attractive bedrooms and two spacious suites – perfect for those end-of-big-meal situations where you can’t bear to go home. All are Provençal in style with gentle colour schemes and decent bathrooms with walk-in showers. Breakfast is lifted up a notch by seasonal fruits, home-made jams and sometimes a home-made cake.

And the latest addition from this enterprising pair is the rather jazzy wine bar that you see in the photo. The big plus here is that an interesting selection of worthwhile terroir wines is on offer by the glass – not just any old plonk.

Château d’Aquéria

LIRAC & TAVEL

Route de Pujaut
30126 Tavel
04 66 50 04 56
www.aqueria.com

Standing on high ground behind stately gates not far from A9 motorway exit 22 (Roquemaure), Château d’Aquéria is well worth visiting for a rewarding introduction to the white and red wines of Lirac as well as the rosé of Tavel.

Although the house was built in the 18^th century (in neo-classical style with a beautiful formal garden), the first vines were planted here by Louis Joseph d’Aquéria as early as 1595. The estate was bought in 1920 by the grandfather of the two brothers representing the current generation of owners,  Bruno and Vincent de Bez (seen above with lemons brightening a still-wintry vineyard scene). It is large by local standards – 66 hectares, 45 of which are in one block beside the house.

Through glass doors in an attractive tasting room, you’ll glimpse an immaculately maintained cellar. The de Bez approach is fastidious – serious, indeed. Time permitting, Vincent de Bez enjoys discussing the finer points of winemaking with visitors. The Tavel is excellent and the red Lirac, matured in a combination of large old foudres and newer, smaller barriques, is even better – refined, elegant and ageworthy.

Mas Saint Germain

ARLES

Villeneuve–Camargue
13200 Arles04 90 97 00 60
www.massaintgermain.fr
PRICE RANGE – VERY MODERATE

These white Camargue horses in a field opposite the house express more vividly than words the essence of Mas Saint Germain. Dating back to Roman times and in the same family for over 300 years, this old farm is the perfect place to experience traditional camarguais life without the tourist trappings that afflict some establishments dotted across the gloriously unspoilt, watery landscape that stretches between Arles and the coast.

Monique and Pierre Vadon have what they describe as a small ranch with about 200 bulls (some destined to star in the local courses camarguaises, some to be eaten); 40 horses (some to round up the bulls, some to ride for pleasure) and local Mérino d’Arles sheep as well as fields of organic rice and wheat. ‘The Vadon family has always followed an organic approach because it was traditional here – and suddenly we find ourselves in fashion!’ says Monique, explaining how important it is not to pollute the lake water of the serene Étang de Vaccarès which borders their land.

Two guest rooms are on offer in this cosy, ancient, fascinating house with saddles in the hall and bullfighting posters and cuttings on the walls – and there are also three gîtes. For a small supplement, guests can go out to watch the work of the farm in a 4×4 or, better still, on horseback.

Guineafowl with Garlic and Olives

MICHEL PHILIBERT – LE GAJULÉA

Serves 4

1 guineafowl (1.2kg)

50g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 head of garlic

200g black olives, stones removed

25cl white wine

50g butter

Choose a nice free-range guineafowl.

Brown it in a heavy casserole, coated in a 50:50 combination of butter and olive oil. Add a dozen unpeeled garlic cloves, the stoned black olives and the white wine. Roast in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes.

When cooked, remove the guineafowl from the casserole. Cut it into four and arrange the portions on a serving plate.

Reduce the cooking juices and at the last minute add 50g butter and stir. Serve in a gravy boat or sauce dish so that it can be poured over the meat.

This dish can be enjoyed with mashed potatoes and a red wine from the Ventoux or Beaumes-de-Venise.

Taken from Ventoux – Cuisine autour du Géant de Provence by Michel Philibert and Dominique Bottani (published by Équinoxe). Michel Philibert is the chef-proprietor of Le Gajuléa in Le Barroux.

Bistro À Côté

ARLES

21 Rue des Carmes
13200 Arles
04 90 47 61 13
www.bistro-acote.com
PRICE RANGE – MODERATE

Have a look at the website for this place and you’ll see an animation in which a stocky, long-haired fellow with a manic gleam in his eye strides down a street of red-fronted restaurants at a frenzied pace. As a portrayal of Jean-Luc Rabanel, Arles’ glitziest chef (snapped above with his latest book), it’s 100% accurate.

Born in Gascony and taught to cook by his granny, Rabanel has turned Rue des Carmes into a culinary empire in six years. First came L’Atelier, the main crucible of his relentless creativity – a soigné little restaurant (how could it be otherwise with a staff of 17 for just 28 diners?). Currently it holds two Michelin stars, ‘and it will have three in 2013,’ he says.

Next came the more relaxed Bistro A Côté. After that, Rabanel added Iode specialising in seafood platters; then Salle à Manger offering a set menu of Atelier dishes at tempting prices… and he still has more projects tucked up his crisp white sleeve.

Why choose the small, sometimes quiet town of Arles for this gastro-explosion? Rabanel’s response is to unbutton his shirt, exposing in the dead of winter a bronzed, medallion-bedecked chest. ‘For the weather, of course!’ he says. ‘The produce here is marvellous all year round – even better than in Gascony.’ His comes from 32 small organic growers all around Arles.

So to the Bistro, an unpretentious place with a Spanish-bodega-meets-Pays-Basque feel. Here chef Eric de la Lande, who has worked with Rabanel for 24 years, conjures up hearty, almost rustic food with noticeable precision. I loved a starter of endives transformed into unctuous richness with smoky bacon and the blue cheese Fourme d’Ambert. Equally tasty was a main course of duck cooked two ways, the leg meltingly tender and the magret pink and firm, served with roast potatoes and roast garlic in an opulent cèpes sauce.

The wine list, although short, is well put together. Only the flesh-baring flamenco dancers on the walls seem a shade tacky.

Le Carré de Blé

AVIGNON

4 Boulevard Raspail
84000 Avignon
04 90 82 54 71

Sebastien Beaupère reckons that his is the only totally organic boulangerie in Avignon, besides being the oldest: the big, Roman-style oven at the heart of the building has been in use since 1880. But this is rather missing the point. Because he was trained as a chef and worked in restaurants for 20 years, Beaupère applies a more creative approach and a wider spectrum of ingredients to bread than any other baker I’ve ever come across.

‘For example, we make a different speciality bread every day,’ he explains. ‘Yesterday it was carrot and ginger; today it’s apricot and tomorrow it might be seaweed which is wonderful with fish. We also do a black rye bread with cocoa in it – you should try it with smoked salmon or foie gras.’ Right! Now I’m beginning to see why this chap cycles around Avignon every morning, delivering loaves to leading restaurants like Christian Etienne, La Mirande, L’Europe…

Despising the ready-mixed flours which explain why breads from so many different bakeries taste pretty much the same, Beaupère makes all his own combinations from scratch. And if you prefer plain classics to fanciful creations, well, there are plenty of those too, with la meule, a big crusty number made from stoneground wheat topping the list of bestsellers with nutty petit épeautre not far behind.

Deli-style sandwiches, pizzas and quiches are also on sale in this small shop which is just off Avignon’s central Rue de la République. Note that it’s closed on both Saturday and Sunday – another sign, presumably, of its intense success.

More information on Avignon: http://bit.ly/Azl9Gi

Domaine Chaume-Arnaud

VINSOBRES

Les Paluds
26110 Vinsobres
04 75 27 66 85

Not too many women were running wine estates in the Southern Rhône back in 1987 when cheerfully determined Valérie Arnaud took over her parents’ vineyards to launch her own wines. With her husband Philippe Chaume (above), she has created one of the flagship estates in Vinsobres – organic since 1997 and certified biodynamic since 2009.

‘Biodynamics is the agriculture of the future,’ Valérie says. ‘We noticed an improvement in the vines right away, and in the wines after a year or two. With climate change our wines had become heavier and warmer and we didn’t like that. Biodynamics makes the minerality more pronounced as well as raising the level of natural acidity. But you have to embrace it fully. You can’t play around with it.’

No question about it: the Chaume-Arnaud wines, coaxed from 40 hectares all on the slopes and plateau of Vinsobres, have freshness and verve far above the norm. Look out especially for the silky, blackberryish estate Vinsobres (featuring a dash of Cinsault and old-vine Carignan as well as the usual Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre). The white La Cadène (50:50 Marsanne and Viognier) is also a delight – fragrant, delicate and lively all at once.