O Bontemps - oh, bliss!

Excellent news down here in the Languedoc. We have a really clever, original restaurant on our doorstep which has just been awarded 14 points by Gault Millau. Now you may not think 14 points sounds a lot and you’d be right but it has only been open for 5 months and I guarantee it will go higher.

There are also, you may point out, other good restaurants in the Languedoc such as those run by the ubiquitous Pourcel Brothers. True, but not ones that are really thrilling or which haven’t succumbed to the French obsession with sucré/salé (sweet/savoury flavours on every plate) And the Pourcels have become something of a fine dining chain.

O Bontemps has been set up in the village of Magalas by Olivier Bontemps (hence the name), the former chef at Octopus in Beziers which also garnered a high Gault Millau rating.  (He also worked for the Pourcels) The formula is unusual in that you can tell the chef what your likes and dislikes are and he’ll adapt the menu for you. (You can also order a fixed price menu based on your choice of dishes on the ‘carte’ or the ‘Suggestion du Jour’ - menu of the day)

Bontemps himself appears before your food arrives to serve a dish of mussels in a creamy sauce at table, just as you’d be served en famille - a charming and hospitable touch.
All the dishes that followed (we all tried different options) were delicious - inventive without being silly. And incredibly good value. My basic lunch which was 24€* included seared and marinated salmon delicately spiced with Asian flavours, a fantastic dish of pigs cheek cooked in a preserving jar until it was falling apart served as a side dish to a flashy main of heirloom potatoes, mushrooms and lardons and a dessert of a creamy ‘flan’, two knockout apple desserts - a whisp of pure apple flavoured ‘emulsion’ and a ‘brunoise’ (finely diced crunchy apple) and an almond sorbet.

Other stand-out dishes were grilled sardines on toast served with a ‘gazpacho’ - almost a cocktail of iced, puréed fennel and Pernod (a great match, this), a fillet of pork ‘sur un air de Feria’ with piquillo peppers and chorizo and an extraordinary dessert of iles flottantes (floating islands) which were flavoured - I think - with lavender, served like a sundae and layered with caramel and vanilla icecream. Oh, and there were also some wonderful little soups served as an amuse-bouche - whipped bacon fat, topped with roasted hazelnuts and topped with pumpkin soup.

What was notable about the food, at a time when so many chefs are creating menus with which it’s hard to enjoy a serious wine, was how wine-friendly the meal was. We ordered a couple of local wines we were familiar with - a Fruit Défendu rosé from Domaine Magellan which is also in Magalas and a slightly disappointing 2006  Mas des Chimères Vin de Pays des Coteaux du Salagou but another time would place ourselves in the hands of the friendly and knowledgeable sommelier. There are plenty of options available by the glass.

A word of warning - you have to make a reservation. Well ahead. It’s incredibly hard to get in, even at lunchtime. It took us several tries and we ended up having to book a week in advance - unheard of for this part of the world. But it’s well worth the wait.

O Bontemps, Place de l’Eglise, Magalas 34480 Tel: 04 67 36 20 82

*This is only available at lunchtimes from Tuesday to Saturday