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special meal for a special man


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Hello

We are coming to stay near carcassonne in august to finalise the bying of our house, in the same week it will also be my husbands birthday.

I would love to take him for a special meal, He likes good fish/ seafood meals and loves chateau villerambert moureau (minervois) wine. he likes to sit outside to eat and is even happier if there is a view of water to look at, can anyone sugest a good place between carcassonne and mazamet or surrounding area that i could take him to, maybe on the canal du midi? He likes quite places (no loud music) and a place which has friendly staff who will putup with our alwful french. somewhere special for my special man please.................. 

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Although I have not eaten their myself (I don't like fish) many people I know have commented of the fish restaurant as you enter Limoux (on the right just past the rugby ground) which is 20 mins south of Carcassonne on the D118.
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Actualy Quillan, I was going to suggest your place!

What could be nicer that an evening meal followed by a bit of skiny dipping in the flowing waters at the end of your garden  no driving home and a breakfast on your patio?

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Your place looks lovely Quillan, but you've misspelled Mirepoix on your photos page. [;-)]

Pads, I don't know the area that well, but I certainly hope you can find something for the celebration.  Have a lovely time!

 

Rosebud

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Restaurant Gils in 32 Rt Minervois in Carcassonne just by the canal is very good fish and fruit de mer we were there a couple of weeks ago for my husband's birthday and had a great meal.  it is inside tho' and so you can't see the canal. 04 68 47 85 23

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[quote user="Rosebud"]

Your place looks lovely Quillan, but you've misspelled Mirepoix on your photos page. [;-)]

Pads, I don't know the area that well, but I certainly hope you can find something for the celebration.  Have a lovely time!

 

Rosebud

[/quote]

Many thanks for that I have now changed it.

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[quote user="pads"]

Hello

We are coming to stay near carcassonne in august to finalise the bying of our house, in the same week it will also be my husbands birthday.

I would love to take him for a special meal, He likes good fish/ seafood meals and loves chateau villerambert moureau (minervois) wine. he likes to sit outside to eat and is even happier if there is a view of water to look at, can anyone sugest a good place between carcassonne and mazamet or surrounding area that i could take him to, maybe on the canal du midi? He likes quite places (no loud music) and a place which has friendly staff who will putup with our alwful french. somewhere special for my special man please.................. 

[/quote]

Pads - not getting much luck with you replies today are you ? - Try looking at this thread for restaurants in Carcassone  itself- http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/675875/ShowPost.aspx  I don't think any of them fit the bill exactly although Comte Roger has a beautiful shady terrace where you can eat and watch the world go by (no water though). Also I don't think any of them have Villerambert Moureau on the wine list.

 Nearest fit I can think of is in Homps (30 mins drive for you I guess) - Relais D'arbousier - lovely setting right on the edge of the canal where you can dine outside under the shade of some huge plane trees. Good food - a little lighter than most of the local fayre - does a lovely Perch/Pike poached in a parcel. very good wine list - if they don't have a Moureau try the Piccinnini or La feline from borie de Maurel.

If you can drop the canal setting , and the warm welcome and wine are more important then you should try Hotel D'alibert in Caunes Minervois. You eat in the 16th Century courtyard which is listed as a national monument in France. Perfect Host (perfect english) and probably the best wine list for Minervois wines anywhere. Menu is very traditional (was featured in Rick Stein's french odyssey) does not have a lot of fish but the Rouille Camarguaise is very good. A very special place.

I don't know if you know but you actually have one of the regions best restaurants very near to you in Lastours. Le Puits du Tresor - http://www.lepuitsdutresor.com/ . unfortunately I have not been but is highly recommeded. Make sure you book the restaurant and not the cafe of the same name. Did try that and it was a bit dissapointing.

Hope that helps

rgds

Hagar

p.s did you know that Villerambert Moureau was featured in Kate Mosse's book "the Labyrinth"? Its on her website too. Personally I think it is much better value than their more famous neighbour - but both are good. 

 

 

 

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[quote user="KatieKopyKat"]

Because nobody ever answers my pms.  Just wanted to make sure Pads even looks at it.[:(]

Miki said he would pm me but he ate my last malteaser and run away.  No pm received.

[/quote]

How do you know Pads isn't ignoring your posts as well?  Sorry, just teasing.  Or malteasing.  I find a half of lager is a great malt-easer.

Somebody bring this thread back on course again before it's pulled.

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Hi katie kopykat yes I did receive it ,and havnt answered it yet but will as soon as i get home from work in the morning .

havnt been awake long and brain not in gear yet

but i have the same problem it seems my pms never get there or im not being answered

many thanks for your sugesstion i will get on to it regards

many thanks to everyone who gave good suggestions and the rest of you get a grip.....................................[kiss]

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Thanks April for that one it looks very nice (just trying to find it on my map) has anyone tryed Les Pailhes Hotel resturant? In pradelles cabardes it looks nice on there web site any idea about the food? It is in walking distance of the house we are bying (not that i have ever seen it while we were there) but that might be a good idea after a couple bottles of wine.........................
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Re earlier recommendation for the hotel d'Alibert in Caunes Minervois. I had a VERY disappointing meal there in April. We'd gone there on the basis of the Rick Stein recommendation, and it was to be a special meal to thank my French solicitor for being so wonderful (and cheap...) when my house purchase got terribly complicated by a major bereavement and a tenant who didn't move out. I would never have got my house if it hadn't been for him and I really wanted to treat him royally.

It was a Friday lunchtime (for which we had been warned to book early!) but the place was empty (I mean it - from 12.15 until 2.30 not another table was occupied), the food poor and the service non-existant. I expect the chef wasn't there as everything seemed heated-through or over-chilled.

The one delicious thing was the wine but my solicitor doesn't drink! I was thoroughly embarrassed by the whole thing and won't be going there again.

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Fay & Jc - sorry to hear that you had bad experiences at Hotel d'Alibert - we have eaten there many times and always enjoyed it - particularly the service and the welcome from the host/proprietor.

Its a family run establishment where the owner runs the hotel and does all  front of house in the restaurant. I do know that his father died of lukeamia in early May and the period running up to that (and immediately after)  was very difficult indeed for the family -  his mother was rushed into hospital with a suspected stroke just after the funeral.  The hotel was shut for around a week in mid  May - was that when you visited Jc?. 

Also he does shut from Sunday Lunch to Tuesday Evening (35 hour week for the Chef) and every afternoon between about 15:00 and 17:30 . If he doesn't lock the place up when he is not there then tourists just wander in to take photographs of the courtyard.

I have spoken to the owner a few times in the last couple of weeks and things seem mostly back to normal now.

rgds

Hagar

 

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[quote user="Jc"]I never said Alibert;it was elsewhere.Off his TV programme.[/quote]

My apologies

In my defence , and indeed defence of Hotel D'Alibert, the ONLY previous references to Rick Stein (RS?) in this thread are in the context of Hotel D'Alibert .

Since you were referring to another establishment entirely, don't you think it would have been better to make that clear in your original post?

rgds

Hagar

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[quote user="Fay"]Thanks Hagar I'm sure that explains a lot. I'll give it another try in that case.[/quote]

If you can  - try Sunday lunchtime - normally an eclectic gathering of locals, ex-pats and some tourists - can be a lot of fun.

rgds

Hagar

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I believe it was this thread where someone (can't remember who it was)

posted a link for luxury Inns or something along those lines.  I

didn't have time to bookmark it then and now that I have come back, I

don't see it.  It did seem relevant to the original posters

question.  Did it get deleted or am I having an alzheimer's moment?

Would like to check out the site if it can be reposted.

Thanks.

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