Provence Restaurants

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Provence Restaurant Reviews

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You'll eat late in the south, rarely before 1 for lunch, usually after 9 at night. In summer, shops and museums may shut down until 3 or 4, as much to accommodate lazy lunches as for the crowds taking sun on the beach. But a late lunch works nicely with a late breakfast—and that's another southern luxury. As morning here is the coolest part of the day and the light is at its sweetest, hotels and cafés of every class take pains to make breakfast memorable and whenever possible served outdoors. Complete with tables in the garden with sunny-print cloths and a nosegay of flowers, accompanied by birdsong, and warmed by the cool morning sun, it's one of the three loveliest meals of the day.

Universally emulated for its winning combination of simplicity, healthy ingredients, and vivid sun-kissed flavors, Provençal cooking glories in olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, olives, and the ubiquitous wild herbs that crunch underfoot. France's greatest chefs scour lively markets for melons still warm from the morning sun, and buy glistening olives by the pailful. You can't lose when you start with an icy pastis, the pale yellow, anise-based aperitif; smear your toast with tapenade, a delicious paste of olives, capers, and anchovies; heap aioli, a garlicky mayonnaise, on your fresh fish; and rub thyme and garlic on your lamb. No meal is complete without a round of goat cheese, sun-ripened fruit, and a chilled bottle of rosé from the surrounding hills.

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