Restaurant reviews
Auberge de Combes: a real taste of the Languedoc
Over the past few years we’ve become so disillusioned with restaurants in the Languedoc that we almost invariably end up eating at home.
That included the Auberge de Combes - a small family-run inn up in the mountains above Lamalou-les-bains with fabulous views over the surrounding countryside. When we discovered it 4 or 5 years ago we loved the food but were shocked when we checked the menu one day to find that the new generation had taken over and that it seemed to be in the grip of molecular gastronomy.
Happily Bonano fils has decided to move on and although there are still copies of Ferran Adria’s cookbooks in the dining room they’re not influencing the food which is firmly back in the hands of papa. In fact they’ve moved boldly in quite a different direction introducing a natural wine bar and largely natural wine list which may make some customers as apoplectic as I am about smears, drizzles and foams
Cleverly they’re keeping their options open. There is still a bit of fancy presentation and exotic flavours such as the cod with coconut milk, ginger and lemongrass on my fixed price La Balade du Chef menu but you can also order good old-fashioned dishes such as a fall-apart tender daube of Charolais beef and hearty plate of country ham with cep butter, two generous specials from the blackboard which could easily have fed the two of us even if we hadn’t ordered anything else.
My 32€ (£22.90) four course menu included a Spanish-style ‘amuse’ of 3 different tapas, two generous slices of homemade terrine, a main which included 4 quail breasts (below), a whole goats cheese, a miniaturized gateau St Honoré (a choux puff filled with crème patisserie and drizzled with caramel) and some petits fours. We badly needed our post-lunch walk to recover.
My husband being a natural wine nut we drank a couple of glasses of a local ‘pet nat’ (petillant naturel from Domaine Rimbert) and two more from one of the more hard core offerings from the list - a deliciously funky red called Les Temps de Cerises from a local producer called Axel Prufer which they solicitously offered to decant for us then rebottled so we could could take the remainder home. But they do have less scary wines if that puts you off. A few more wines by the glass would be welcome given the restaurant’s location.
The only other quibble I have with the place is that the service is a bit slow and distracted. Despite the fact that there were only 10 other people there it took us almost half an hour to get a glass of wine and about 40 minutes for our first course to arrive. I imagine it could be worse at weekends and in the summer when there are also outside tables though maybe they take on extra staff at those times.
That aside it’s perfect - a restaurant that really reflects the Languedoc and there are far too few of those these days.
The Auberge de Combes is at 24240 Combes by the D180 from Poujols. Tel: 04 67 95 66 55. Our bill came to €126 (£90.22) but you could easily spend less. There’s a 25€ lunch menu that includes a glass of wine. (It has a Michelin Bib Gourmand.)
Bistro d'Alex, Florensac - a real find in an unlikely location
On a return visit this week to Bistro d'Alex in Florensac I found it just as good as it was when the review below was written five years ago - and the set menu, now 18€ (£15.50) for two courses, only 3€ more expensive.
We have actually been a couple of times in the interim - and been unable to go even more often than that. It's always packed, especially at weekends, so it's essential to book.
The menu is a little longer and more ambitious with a number of dishes that attract a supplement including the inevitable foie gras and a lobster lasagne but we stuck to the basic menu: a nice riff on pissaladière with marinated sardines, a pokey potato salad with jarret de porc and plenty of mustard (obviously using up leftovers), roast pork belly and rosemary potatoes, onglet with a strange but rather delicious creamy pasta 'risotto' and a fig tart (below) which we shared.
Wines which come from the co-op which rents out the space are still a ridiculous 2€ a glass. Total damage 42€ for two. Still one of the best places to eat in this part of the Languedoc, I reckon.
My review of February 8th, 2008:
Le Bistro d’Alex sounds like a smart Parisien neighbourhood restaurant. In fact it’s anything but. It’s a clever and ambitious initiative by the cave co-operative at Florensac down on the Languedoc coast.
Co-operatives are the traditional way of selling wine in the area. Owned by the local growers they would vinify the grapes and sell wine in bulk. Derided for their poor quality wine they’ve been getting their act together over recent years bottling their wines instead of selling them in plastic ‘cubis’ and even producing the odd prestige cuve. But the Florensac co-op has gone one stage further and opened a restaurant next door to a very large showy tasting room and shop, a complex they’ve dubbed Vinipolis.
We turned up on spec and were nearly turned away until I reassured them that we would wait for a table. The place was heaving. A local winemaker who was hosting the tasting room for the morning offered to take us through a few bottles. (This was standard treatment - he had no idea I was a wine writer).
The wines we tasted - 5 whites - were simple and clean. Decent everyday quaffing but there’s a time and place for that. The sauvignon in particular, a ridiculous 3.99€ (£2.97/$5.78) a bottle was a real bargain.
The food though was something else. We each had six fabulously fresh oysters from the nearby Etang de Thau (a very good match with the Sauvignon) then I had a deliciously savoury hunk of veal that had been roasted on the rotisserie served with a creamy wild mushroom risotto. With it I drank a perfectly decent glass of Merlot that cost - wait for it - just 2€ (£1.49/$2.90) for a 175ml glass. My husband had an exemplary tuna a la plancha with fried aubergine chips. Our menus cost just 15€ (£11.18/$21.74) a head.
Although the space itself is quite utilitarian it’s been stylishly decorated and the tables are set with good quality glasses and cutlery.The eponymous ‘Alex’ - chef Alexandre Fabre - used to work for a one-starred restaurant called Léonce (now closed) in Florensac, which accounts for the quality of the cooking and presentation. If you’re in the area it’s a real find. But make sure you book ahead.
Le Bistrot d’Alex, 5 avenue des Vendanges, 34510 Florensac Tel: 04 67 77 03 05
(NB At the time of writing there were no signs to the restaurant in the town. If your sat nav lets you down follow the signs to the Cave Co-operative)
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