Pezenas May 2012

Pezenas May 2012

When we decided to go on holiday together, we knew we’d need somewhere where food and wine was a big focus. Our friend Google helped us decide; the Languedoc region in France came to our attention when we typed in foodie holiday and we soon realised that Pezenas, half an hour inland from the southern coast, was perfect. We booked cheap Ryanair flights and arranged to stay at a beautiful looking B&B called Villa Julliette which we found on trip advisor. When we arrived; Marie, the owner of the Villa showed us around her beautiful home which had a stunning walled garden with a beautiful swimming pool. 

The room was perfect and we instantly felt relaxed as she suggested we try some of her husband’s wine as an aperitif before heading into town for dinner (wow! we couldn’t believe we’d chosen accommodation owned by one of the top wine producers in Languedoc unintentionally!). She gave us lots of advice on where to eat so after we had settled in we strolled into the ancient town centre to begin our French culinary adventure.  

We had a wonderful week; we ate lots of delicious food, drank lots of delicious wine and had some amazing experiences. Some of these experiences were exceptional and so we have decided they are worthy of their own blog entries which will follow soon.

Le Vieux Coq (the old chicken)

It seemed to be a locals favourite in Pezenas as everyone we spoke to suggested it. We were served by a young teenage boy who although didn’t speak much English was very helpful. As it was a Monday night and one of the few places open they had run out of a few of the dishes we were interested in. However we both settled on carpaccio of beef to start which was beautiful, the presentation was stunning and the flavours complemented each other perfectly. It was topped with black olives, capers, parmesan, cherry tomatoes and oakleaf lettuce which was so fresh and crisp it tasted like it had been picked out of someone’s garden that day.

For mains we had fillet mignon of pork with honey, tarragon, preserved lemon, pine nuts and cream. It had obvious Moroccan influences and was cooked very well but was slightly too rich and sweet for me.

The other dish was Entrecote of beef served rare which had lots of fat like a rib eye and was very tasty. Both came with the same accompaniments which were: courgette stuffed with sweet red cabbage, roasted tomato with breadcrumbs and herb, chunky potato mash which was full of flavour but the ingredients were hard to distinguish (can anyone enlighten us?), boiled carrots with butter but so fresh and bright and a soufflé with basil, garlic and possibly some cheese.

We didn’t have any puddings as we were too full but we had a lovely rosé wine from the Languedoc region to accompany our meal.

La Mamita

We ate here on our third night and it was perfect for what we wanted; a light meal due to stuffing ourselves with pate and cheese at every opportunity. La Mamita is a small tapas restaurant spread over two sides of an alleyway; the decor made you feel you were in a locals only tapas bar in Madrid and the food was simple and tasty. We placed our order with a very friendly waitress who then brought us complimentary black olive tapenade and bread. The tapenade was clearly homemade, heavy on the garlic and salt which is right up our street and a great way to start the meal. We chose a mixture of salad, cheese, cured meat and tomato bread. The salad was fresh and crisp and the chorizo and Serrano ham were of excellent quality. For our small dinner budget it was perfect.

Cafe Blahbla

On our second day we went for coffee at Cafe Blah Bla; we were drawn in by the delicous smell of coffee beans being roasted outside and the coffee that followed didn't disapppoint. 

While we were having coffee at Cafe Blahbal we noticed a really interesting looking restaurant next door; Hana Sushi.

Hana Sushi

We were instantly taken by the way the owner seemed to know everyone and effortlessly floated around her restaurant charming all the customers. The restaurant is tiny and the decor is very traditional Japanese with beautiful parasols outside and huge origami birds hanging from the ceiling inside. We had heard the food was excellent and decided to try it later in the week.

We went back on the fourth day of our holiday when we needed a break from all the heavy rich food. We had delicious gyoza (vegetarian dumplings), amazing vegetarian udon noodle soup and edamame beans. The gyoza was so good that we had to order a second portion. They were perfectly soft with a powerful spring onion, garlic and cabbage filling and were served with a rice wine vinegar, soy and chilli dipping sauce. You could see Yumi (the owner) making the dumplings which was really special knowing they were fresh.

The udon noodle soup was full of ginger and fresh coriander and felt homely but fresh at the same time. The clear broth that the noodles were swimming in felt like it had healing powers and was so clean; the noodles were clearly freshly made and cooked to perfection. 

Yumi was the perfect hostess and impressed us with her multiple language skills; her restaurant is perfectly simple with beautiful home cooked food and excellent service.

 

Pre Saint Jean

So this was the one we were really excited about; number one on trip advisor and renowned for being the best restaurant in Pezenas; sadly I think that ship has sailed!

Pre Saint Jean is classically decorated with crisp white linen and expensive glassware. The service was prompt, discreet and very professional but nothing about it was exciting.  We were served a complementary appetiser of beetroot gazpacho with goats cheese cream and salsa verde. It was fresh and very tasty; a very good way to start the meal.

We skipped starters as we were holding out for dessert and went straight to main course of Fillet steak with morels, cream sauce and parmentier potatoes and Duck breast with cherry and liquorice jus, asparagus, pea puree and macaroni cheese . The fillet steak was perfectly cooked and the classic flavours were a delicious combination, you couldn’t fault it. The duck dish was conflicting; the duck was cooked well and the sauce delicious, but the macaroni cheese was very bland and stodgy, the asparagus was extremely overcooked and sadly the pea puree was lumpy and tasted very strongly of bacon; all of these ingredients could have been wonderful however they should not have been on the same plate!

We had a dessert each and on paper they both sounded lovely; pineapple, red berries, white chocolate ice cream and passionfruit sorbet was exactly what it said on the menu, it was fresh and zingy but we were hoping for something a little more creative; lemon curd, strawberries, ginger biscuit, Chantilly cream and pop rocks was a little bit more exciting with the tartness of the curd matched with the sweetness of the cream and the tingling on your tongue from the pop rocks made us both smile, but still failed to wow us as much as we had expected it to.

Pre Saint Jean has an excellent reputation built over many years of business but for us it felt tired and we were disappointed with the lack of creativity in the dishes. The service was spot on and the beef dish we had was delicious, but the restaurant itself felt as though it’s heart wasn’t really in it anymore.

Pezenas is a beautiful town full of wonderful restaurants and lots of like minded people, the best bits are still to come; watch this space for information on an amazing wine tour and two absolutely fantastic restaurant reviews.