Favourite restaurants

[chessfou]

We eat fairly regularly (once or twice a year up to five or six times a year) at our local 1* Michelin restaurants:

- Le Moulin de Cambelong at Conques (Hervé Busset);

- Le Vieux Pont at Belcastel (Nicole Fagegaltier);

- Gouts et Couleurs in Rodez (Jean-Luc Fau).

Our favourite? Without a doubt Jean-Luc Fau at Gouts et Couleurs. Why? The dining experience at Le Moulin (and Le Vieux Pont) is swisher and I think one might be able to argue that the cooking is "better" (at least at Le Vieux Pont) ... BUT Gouts et Couleurs is the place to put a smile on your face. Two small examples from the meal we had last night (menu saison €48):

One of the amuse-bouche was a "soft-shell" mussel. This was a magnificent invention - a mussel in its "shell" of a paste made from squid ink. Pretty as a picture, delightful and surprising texture, excellent and surprising combination of flavours.

Everything else was, as usual, very good indeed and then we came to dessert and ... braised endive (a.k.a. chicory). Magnificent. Delicious. I bet you've never had chicory for dessert before!

Incidentally, all the artwork on the walls is by the chef - not bad but the artworks he produces in the kitchen are much better.

Which are your local favorites?

[Renaud]

One of our favorites is L'Ecluse in Port Maubert. In the season it is a smart fish restaurant.

We were there a fortnight ago and turned-up before seven-thirty without booking. It was country n western nite. A dj looking spookily like Sarkozy with a pony skin waistcoat played Abba in an ajourning room.

There was no menu, one has what they served. First up was a kir-style cocktail. My wife took one sip and said that she hoped that nobody was going to expose it to a naked flame. I drank mine which tasted as if it had a melon alchol base then white wine and lighter fuel. On a rainy March evening I will drink anything.

The food was certainly very good. As the table next to us filled-up with an extended family, out came the waitresses with more jugs of the cocktail. I was not paying attention but one of them must have sipped the stuff because the manageress suddenly whized over to them and wipped away all the filled cocktail glasses. Effusive apologies were tendered and new drinks were supplied.

Various of the youth of the area drifted in and out of the disco area in the morose way that the French seem to adopt on a night out (Abba having given way to Bruce Springstein). Some teenagers showing the spirit of the event by wearing cowboy hats.

Dancing had not started by the time we left - but neither had war.

[derf]

Our favourite? Without a doubt Jean-Luc Fau at Gouts et Couleurs. Why? The dining experience at Le Moulin (and Le Vieux Pont) is swisher and I think one might be able to argue that the cooking is "better" (at least at Le Vieux Pont) ... BUT Gouts et Couleurs is the place to put a smile on your face. Two small examples from the meal we had last night (menu saison €48):

You are out of my league at €48 for a bit of grub, we can eat a 3 course including wine at Ma Maison in Sauvetat Sur Dropt (47) excellent quality for less than €30[kiss]