Provence hotel splurge
Feb 4th, 2008, 03:51 PM
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Provence hotel splurge
Does anyone have any opinions on a better spot to stay between La Bastide de Moustiers or Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle? I believe they are both run by the same group. Also any experience stayiny at La Riboto de Taven?
Feb 4th, 2008, 04:04 PM
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I've been to all those places to check them out for dinner, but we've never stayed at any of them. La Bastide & La Riboto are certainly in prettier locations than l'Abbaye.
We chose to dine at La Riboto (wife's 50th birthday) and to pass on l'Abbaye. We were just wandering around La Bastide & really were not seriousy considering it for dinner because we had plans for elsewhere when we stayed in Moustiers for a night.
We stayed near l'Abbaye for 4 weeks, and La Riboto for 2 weeks.
I'm curious - all those places are not really close to each other. Are you choosing an itinerary based on a particular hotel that you like, or are you visiting each of those areas and deciding where to splurge?
Stu Dudley
We chose to dine at La Riboto (wife's 50th birthday) and to pass on l'Abbaye. We were just wandering around La Bastide & really were not seriousy considering it for dinner because we had plans for elsewhere when we stayed in Moustiers for a night.
We stayed near l'Abbaye for 4 weeks, and La Riboto for 2 weeks.
I'm curious - all those places are not really close to each other. Are you choosing an itinerary based on a particular hotel that you like, or are you visiting each of those areas and deciding where to splurge?
Stu Dudley
Feb 4th, 2008, 06:22 PM
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my, Stu you never seem to like where I dine. I went there when they first opened and since they have taken over the whole tiny village. I never had a bad dinner there. The bistro is not as good as the dining room and terrace.
Feb 4th, 2008, 09:20 PM
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>>my, Stu you never seem to like where I dine<<
Well - we seem to have had about 2 restaurants mentioned here recently where you've liked it & I didn't. The other restaurant was Les Santons in Moustiers. In both cases, I had VERY high expectations (perhaps too high) and my meal left me a little disappointed. I'll explain in more detail tomorrow.
Stu Dudley
Well - we seem to have had about 2 restaurants mentioned here recently where you've liked it & I didn't. The other restaurant was Les Santons in Moustiers. In both cases, I had VERY high expectations (perhaps too high) and my meal left me a little disappointed. I'll explain in more detail tomorrow.
Stu Dudley
Feb 5th, 2008, 09:10 AM
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Crillon la Brave
Like I indicated previously, I had my 60th birthday dinner at Crillon la Brave. We had visited the hotel on previous occasions and the setting is fabulous. We had never stayed there, however. Like you said, it’s terraced and the views east in the evening (with the sun at your back) are spectacular. Also, we were staying at a Gite (for the second time) for the entire month of June, that was just 15 mins away. We arrived in Provence on June 2 & my birthday is June 6 so we reserved ahead from the US. I was hoping to dine outside
Early June of ’07 was quite cold – we didn’t dine outside for the first 2 weeks. However, the inside restaurant at Crillon la Brave was quite cozy & romantic. We were seated at a table next to the fireplace at one end of the vaulted dining room. We noticed that two legs of lamb were suspended from a wire and were slowly roasting in the wood burning fireplace. The aromas were tantalizing.
We received the menus and there was no fixed price menu – which didn’t bother us because we were going to splurge here & order anything we wanted. I am a very adventuresome eater, and I always gravitate to something on the menu that I’ve never tried before. The main course menu at the restaurant did not have anything that looked interesting to me:
Leg of lamb (which was roasting in front of us)
Camargue Bull
Veal
Chicken
Bar
Rougets – you see these on many, many menus in the South
Sandre – not one of my favorite fishes
Risotto with morels – I don’t want risotto in France
I almost never order beef in France, because I think our beef in the US is much better (I’ve heard Paul Bocuse make this statement also). Anyway, I ordered:
- Foie Gras in a glass terrine – normally I would not order this at a “high end” restaurant because it’s available everywhere in France and I often purchase it at markets & have it at our gites – but it was the only think on the appetizer menu that seemed interesting
- Gambas with spring olives, fava beans, in a light tomato sauce – which was OK
- Caramgue Bull with French fries and Bernaise sauce. You can get fries anywhere in France and Bernaise sauce is a standard at most good beef restaurants in the US – and this offering of it wasn’t anything special. The plate came with only these 3 things. No art-on-the-plate, not tiny halved asparagus spears, no other vegetables or purees – just the 3 “steaks frites” type items. The Camargue Bull was cooked perfectly, but had very little taste. This was to be my last beef in France for as long as I live. I’ll stick to US prime or US Kobe beef. The price of this entree was 35E. It was not the restaurant’s fault that the beef was tasteless – but they could have done a much better job of presentation and adorned the plate with other things for $50.
- Pomme Tarte with caramel sauce & vanilla ice cream – with a chocolate “Happy Birthday” spelled out on top (in English). This dessert was very good.
My wife had the diced tuna tartar , the Rugets, and strawberries tossed with sugar-crystal covered lavender. She said the dishes were OK, but all pretty ordinarily prepared & presented.
Also, this restaurant was perhaps the only mid to upper-end restaurant in France that we’ve dined at, that did NOT serve and Amuse Bouche. They either don’t serve it, or they forgot ours.
The most amusing part of the dinner was the leg of lamb. There were two legs roasting in the fireplace. Each time lamb was served; a young waitress carried a dish up to the leg, grabbed a carving knife, and proceeded to slice a serving from the leg. When I carve a leg of lamb at home, I cut vertical to the bone so each piece is crisp on the outside and pink in the middle. She carved horizontal to the bone, so the first piece was all crisp & medium-well to well done, and the last piece was all pink. I also only plan of serving 6 “cuts” from each leg – usually the “end” pieces near the foot are not that good of a cut and are usually cooked medium-well. What was amusing, and an attention getter for us and the other diners in the restaurant, was the number of servings they obtained from each leg. Perhaps because the weather was cold, a roast seemed like a popular choice for too many diners. As the evening proceeded, the waitress cut more & more servings from each leg and the carcass soon looked like it had been picked over by vultures. But the waitress continued to slice tendons, fat, & gristle from the carcass. People at other tables were finding this an interesting thing to watch. As she approached the carcass, heads would turn and people would start chuckling. A table of 6 next to us was finding this amusing. Finally their entrees arrived and one person ordered the lamb. When the waitress set the plate in front of him, the other diners howled in laughter. If I had been at the other end of the room and had not watched the waitress serve tendons & gristle to others – and a plate of such was set in front of me, I would have refused the entrée. A Relais et Chateau establishment charging pretty steep prices, should know how many “good” servings are obtained from a leg. When that limit was ordered, they should tell customers that the item is no longer available. The Leg was 27E.
Les Santons in Moustiers
Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, there was an article in Bon Appetite or Gourmet about this restaurant, that included a chicken leg & thigh that was marinated in Armignac and other spices – including cinnamon – and then roasted. I prepared it at home & it was excellent.
In the mid 90s we planned to stay in Moustiers and looked forward to dining there. We did not have a set itinerary, so we just showed up, found a room, and immediately went over to Les Santons to make a reservation. It was closed that day, so we dined elsewhere. In ’99 we returned and made sure we were there on a day when les Santons was open. It was a Michelin 1 star restaurant. We had already spent 8 weeks in France that year, so we had dined at about 40 different restaurants up to then. I ordered the same chicken dish and was quite disappointed. The rest of the plates were not that interesting either. Both my wife & I did not think it was as good as about 70% of the other restaurants we dined at that year. A Michelin 1 star should be better, and perhaps our expectations were too high. The next year, it lost the 1 star.
Stu Dudley
Like I indicated previously, I had my 60th birthday dinner at Crillon la Brave. We had visited the hotel on previous occasions and the setting is fabulous. We had never stayed there, however. Like you said, it’s terraced and the views east in the evening (with the sun at your back) are spectacular. Also, we were staying at a Gite (for the second time) for the entire month of June, that was just 15 mins away. We arrived in Provence on June 2 & my birthday is June 6 so we reserved ahead from the US. I was hoping to dine outside
Early June of ’07 was quite cold – we didn’t dine outside for the first 2 weeks. However, the inside restaurant at Crillon la Brave was quite cozy & romantic. We were seated at a table next to the fireplace at one end of the vaulted dining room. We noticed that two legs of lamb were suspended from a wire and were slowly roasting in the wood burning fireplace. The aromas were tantalizing.
We received the menus and there was no fixed price menu – which didn’t bother us because we were going to splurge here & order anything we wanted. I am a very adventuresome eater, and I always gravitate to something on the menu that I’ve never tried before. The main course menu at the restaurant did not have anything that looked interesting to me:
Leg of lamb (which was roasting in front of us)
Camargue Bull
Veal
Chicken
Bar
Rougets – you see these on many, many menus in the South
Sandre – not one of my favorite fishes
Risotto with morels – I don’t want risotto in France
I almost never order beef in France, because I think our beef in the US is much better (I’ve heard Paul Bocuse make this statement also). Anyway, I ordered:
- Foie Gras in a glass terrine – normally I would not order this at a “high end” restaurant because it’s available everywhere in France and I often purchase it at markets & have it at our gites – but it was the only think on the appetizer menu that seemed interesting
- Gambas with spring olives, fava beans, in a light tomato sauce – which was OK
- Caramgue Bull with French fries and Bernaise sauce. You can get fries anywhere in France and Bernaise sauce is a standard at most good beef restaurants in the US – and this offering of it wasn’t anything special. The plate came with only these 3 things. No art-on-the-plate, not tiny halved asparagus spears, no other vegetables or purees – just the 3 “steaks frites” type items. The Camargue Bull was cooked perfectly, but had very little taste. This was to be my last beef in France for as long as I live. I’ll stick to US prime or US Kobe beef. The price of this entree was 35E. It was not the restaurant’s fault that the beef was tasteless – but they could have done a much better job of presentation and adorned the plate with other things for $50.
- Pomme Tarte with caramel sauce & vanilla ice cream – with a chocolate “Happy Birthday” spelled out on top (in English). This dessert was very good.
My wife had the diced tuna tartar , the Rugets, and strawberries tossed with sugar-crystal covered lavender. She said the dishes were OK, but all pretty ordinarily prepared & presented.
Also, this restaurant was perhaps the only mid to upper-end restaurant in France that we’ve dined at, that did NOT serve and Amuse Bouche. They either don’t serve it, or they forgot ours.
The most amusing part of the dinner was the leg of lamb. There were two legs roasting in the fireplace. Each time lamb was served; a young waitress carried a dish up to the leg, grabbed a carving knife, and proceeded to slice a serving from the leg. When I carve a leg of lamb at home, I cut vertical to the bone so each piece is crisp on the outside and pink in the middle. She carved horizontal to the bone, so the first piece was all crisp & medium-well to well done, and the last piece was all pink. I also only plan of serving 6 “cuts” from each leg – usually the “end” pieces near the foot are not that good of a cut and are usually cooked medium-well. What was amusing, and an attention getter for us and the other diners in the restaurant, was the number of servings they obtained from each leg. Perhaps because the weather was cold, a roast seemed like a popular choice for too many diners. As the evening proceeded, the waitress cut more & more servings from each leg and the carcass soon looked like it had been picked over by vultures. But the waitress continued to slice tendons, fat, & gristle from the carcass. People at other tables were finding this an interesting thing to watch. As she approached the carcass, heads would turn and people would start chuckling. A table of 6 next to us was finding this amusing. Finally their entrees arrived and one person ordered the lamb. When the waitress set the plate in front of him, the other diners howled in laughter. If I had been at the other end of the room and had not watched the waitress serve tendons & gristle to others – and a plate of such was set in front of me, I would have refused the entrée. A Relais et Chateau establishment charging pretty steep prices, should know how many “good” servings are obtained from a leg. When that limit was ordered, they should tell customers that the item is no longer available. The Leg was 27E.
Les Santons in Moustiers
Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, there was an article in Bon Appetite or Gourmet about this restaurant, that included a chicken leg & thigh that was marinated in Armignac and other spices – including cinnamon – and then roasted. I prepared it at home & it was excellent.
In the mid 90s we planned to stay in Moustiers and looked forward to dining there. We did not have a set itinerary, so we just showed up, found a room, and immediately went over to Les Santons to make a reservation. It was closed that day, so we dined elsewhere. In ’99 we returned and made sure we were there on a day when les Santons was open. It was a Michelin 1 star restaurant. We had already spent 8 weeks in France that year, so we had dined at about 40 different restaurants up to then. I ordered the same chicken dish and was quite disappointed. The rest of the plates were not that interesting either. Both my wife & I did not think it was as good as about 70% of the other restaurants we dined at that year. A Michelin 1 star should be better, and perhaps our expectations were too high. The next year, it lost the 1 star.
Stu Dudley
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