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Le Vivier, 6 rue Dominic Maisto, 13200 Arles, Provence, France

Le Vivier, 6 rue Dominic Maisto, 13200 Arles, Provence, France

6 rue Dominic Maisto, 13200 Arles, Provence, France

This was near our hotel and looked really promising. The interior was quite shabby, the seats on the chairs had “gone” (not literally) and it had not been redecorated for some time, but this need not be a bad sign in a French restaurant. The food is the thing and the menu looked excellent. We went for the €25 menu: my soupe de poissons had been diluted once too often and was very watery, but came with the traditional croutons, aoli, grated cheese and garlic. L started with foi gras with lavender bread and lavender ice cream, and while it sounds a bit unlikely, it was actually the star of the meal. When did you last have ice cream and foi gras on the same plate? My main course of fish gratinée was nice enough, but it was a tiny portion, and no bread or vegetables accompanied it. L had a variety of grilled fish, well presented, but some were overcooked. My dessert - chocolat crème – tasted OK, but the presentation was complicated and didn’t really come off as the pudd slid dangerously around the plate on its way to the table, dislodging some of the fruit garnish. Of L’s plate of four cheeses, two were very salty, and he had to ask for bread as no biscuits or bread came with it.

By Daisy Middleton at 29/11/2007 - 16:44 | 2007 | France | French | OK | Review | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 100 reads

Au Tout Petit, 4, rue d'Amphoux, 84000 Avignon, France

Au Tout Petit, 4, rue d'Amphoux, 84000 Avignon, France

4, rue d'Amphoux, 84000 Avignon

We didn't book, and they were full when we arrived, so with regret we walked away. But the man ran after us and said come back in five minutes and we'll have a table for you. We did, and they did !

I had La Trilogie autour des champignons d’automne en poêlée, soupe et glace (cèpes) which was a pungent mushroom soup, a bowl of sauteed wild mushrooms with - I think - marjoram, and ... mushroom ice cream! It all comes together on a tray, and oddly enough, it works. L had trout with almonds, mushrooms (it's that time of year), mange tout and barley, which he really enjoyed.

By Daisy Middleton at 29/10/2007 - 22:13 | 2007 | Approved | France | French | Review | Service | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 87 reads

La Tomate, 6, Rue Four des Flammes, 34000 Montpellier, France

La Tomate, 6, Rue Four des Flammes, 34000 Montpellier, France

6, Rue Four des Flammes, 34000 Montpellier, France

We tried to get into this place three years ago, at the height of the holiday season and with no reservation. Fat chance. Back in Montpellier again in early October, we took the precaution of booking, though it was probably unnecessary. It looks exactly like a restaurant in the Languedoc should - I’m a sucker for a red checked tablecloth, me. The waiter brought a bottle of chilled tap water immediately, none of that paying extra for bottled water nonsense. The back of the menu has a la carte, but the front has a range of fixed price menus. The €16.90 caught our eyes, and although there were five courses, for that price we felt confident that the portions would be small, more like a tasting menu, really. Hah!

By Daisy Middleton at 29/10/2007 - 20:11 | 2007 | Approved | France | French | Review | Romantic | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 44 reads

Le Pot de Fer, 12 rue du Pot de Fer 75005 Paris, France


12 rue du Pot de Fer 75005 Paris, France

This street is lined on either side with dozens of restaurants, and we chose this one not because it had the same name as the street, but simply because they had a free table outside. They have 3 set menus: at 14, 18 and 20 euros respectively and you get three courses for that, or you can go a la carte. We went for the 18 euro menu: my asparagus mayonnaise was OK, the fine fat asparagus spears were tinned but tasty, although the mayonnaise was thin and disappointing.
By m at 08/02/2006 - 13:55 | Europe | France | OK | Review | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 133 reads

Auberge St-Maclou, 224-226 rue Martainville Rouen, Normandy, France


224-226 rue Martainville Rouen, Normandy, France

In one of the many half timbered buildings of the old town is this modest and lovely restaurant. We had the 67fr menu, which included a kir aperitif, three courses, wine and coffee. When you consider that there are roughly 10 francs to the pound at the moment, that's under seven quid. We started with a chevre salad, followed by colin (hake) in buerre blanc sauce with a mousse au praline for dessert.
By m at 08/02/2006 - 13:55 | Approved | Europe | France | Review | £/$ | add new comment | read more | 34 reads

Les Mouettes, 11 Rue des Bains, 14360 Trouville, Normandy, France


11 Rue des Bains, 14360 Trouville, Normandy, France

Every restaurant we passed looked good. All the menus outside seemed interesting and modestly priced. We couldn't decide. Les Mouettes was just off the main drag, it looked fine, we marched in. They sat the four of us at the central round table, and brought us menus in French and English. There was a catch - they were different menus, offering different set meals. This led to much merry confusion, wrong dishes, misunderstandings and apologies, all very good humoured. It would all have been simpler if they had not attempted to produce an English menu at all! We had the 140Fr menu and stars of the meal were the oysters, the steack au poivre and the surprisingly excellent combination of haddock in a buerre blanc on choucrout. The desserts were home made and a tad stale, to be honest. Never mind, they came round three times with the complementary calvados! The waiter explained that this was a speciality of the house, they steep fresh ginger in Normandy's finest product (who cares about apples, butter or camembert?) for seven days. Concerned that we didn't understand him (again!) he came back with a big lump of root ginger to demonstrate. More merriment and ribaldry.
By m at 08/02/2006 - 13:55 | Europe | France | OK | Review | ££/$$ | add new comment | read more | 112 reads
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