Food Glorious Food - Again!

Tourrettes is particularly well off for restaurants, as is Vence, our nearest town. This is probably to do with the fact that both places are sightseeing hot-spots and consequently, there is no shortage of places to feed the hungry tourists.

When I first arrived in Tourettes, the ex-pats would all gather in the Bar des Sports every Sunday. We’d get a table in the back room and between 20 and 30 of us would have a right good lunch – adults and kids alike. Sorting out the bill was a nightmare but at the end of the lunch everybody was very well fed and quite squiffy.

As a family, back then we also frequented the Bar Midi, but the large lunches were restricted to the Sports Bar as they had the space for large groups – the most we’ve ever had in the Midi is about 12 people.

Over the years, we drifted away from the Sports Bar as they became quite complacent despite the amount of custom we gave them (both bars are absolute licences to print money), refusing us service if they were too busy and generally failing to acknowledge us, despite our years of patronage, so we started frequenting the Midi.

Generally, the food in the Midi is fresher and we know for a fact that much of the vegetable and salad ingredients are grown in a field just below us and probably contributes to the fact that J thinks the Midi’s Salad Nicoise is the best ever. Me – I think their Rôti Pork and their Quiche’s are to die for but the absolute star of the show is their Hot Chocolate and Pear Gateau. With a boule of vanilla ice cream, it is just amazing and I’m afraid if I lose my willpower and have one, I know that an afternoon nap is then a necessity.

Tourettes has many other restaurants and we try and go to all of them at least once a year. The Chez Grande Mére which does couscous and lamb dishes and the recently changed Bacchanales, where the up and coming chef,  Christophe Dufau, used flowers (pansies in case you’re wondering) to decorate his dishes quite liberally – not to my taste I have to say. Christophe has recently moved his restaurant to Vence and has just won his first Michelin star. Maybe this accolade for the competition prompted temperamental superchef Jacques Maximin to close his wisteria-covered Michelin starred restaurant in Vence - his home and his place of work. Having cut his teeth at La Bonne Auberge in Antibes and become a star at the Chantecler at the Negresco in Nice, he left it all for the arrière-pays that is Vence but, as I say, word is that Maxima has now closed.

Then of course, we have the Auberge du Tourrettes, where J and I had our wedding. The food has been absolutely wonderful for the last 3 or 4 years but recently, as you will know if you’ve read my blog, the portions have become so small that you need a Big Mac after you’ve left the premises! Even J, who loves to pose there with her girlie friends, has found herself to be ravenous after lunch, so a period of non-attendance is required methinks.  

Our local town Vence, about 5 miles away,  is absolutely crammed with eateries and if Google Trends is correct (a measure of search subjects year-on-year) they’ll be 30% less busy this year as the strength of the Euro starts to bite and people stop coming to France. That’s no bad thing really, as trying to get a table in summer is like trying to find Eva Longoria in the village – it’s impossible! Of the literally hundreds of restaurants in Vence, we have no particular favourites. A pizza at The Clemenceau under the plane trees in the old square or pan fried kidney’s in the Rose garden at Le Farigoule or if you’re feeling particularly flush, a one-star Michelin dinner at the Chateau St Martin, with its magnificent views over Vence and the coast (see picture).

Then there’s the Victoire and the Regence, traditional French brasseries which serve good food at reasonable prices. It’s true what they say about competition, it keeps the prices down and the service up.

This Saturday however, we’ll be giving Tourrettes and Vence a miss and heading to the Auberge du Caussols up in the mountains. This is, on first glance, a rough and ready establishment but once seated, the food starts to arrive in mountainous quantities and anytime I go for lunch, I advise my guests not to partake of breakfast to do it justice. When the foot long block of paté arrives, or the huge plate of grilled peppers is placed on the table, it doesn’t take long for diners to understand that they’ll be crawling out of the door on hands and knees, stuffed to the gills.

I can’t wait for Saturday!