Advice Sought from those who have visted Oustau de Baumaniere, Les Baux, Provence
 

I'm hoping to get some feedback on those who have stayed at Oustau. I have a four night reservation at Le Manior and have heard from the hotel that although it is 900m from the main hotel the building has its own pool and is close to their new spa.

Has anyone stayed in Oustau and specifically Le Manoir? Am I making a mistake by not staying in the main building?
Thanks for your help!

We stayed at Oustau de Baumaniere in another one of their properties between Le Manoir and the main hotel. They are all lovely and we actually preferred being down the raod from the main complex. The rooms are beautifully decorated. We were disappointed with our meals and the service in the dining room.

Suque,
Thanks so much for your reply which was very reassuring, at least in terms of the room! Sorry to hear the meals were disappointing.

We purchased a Luxury Link package and in the past these have been such an incredible value for us, but I was becoming nervous because of the mixed reviews.

If anyone else has any other experiences I'd appreciate hearing from them too.

We will be eating in the restaurant for our wedding anniversary and have a cooking class with the chef. I'll write a hotel report when I get back.

The Manoir is quite nice and very well decorated. The rooms are nicer than in the Oustau itself.

I live about five minutes from Les Baux and we used to dine at the Oustau quite often...but haven't for several years as the quality and service are not what they once were. It got to a point that the only really good thing on the menu was the vegetarian menu.

The restaurant at the Cabro d'Or is very good on the other hand (another Oustau owned property close to the Manoir).

Patricia

I stayed at Oustau de Baumaniere in 2005. We were in a large building next to the the gift shop and the pool. I guess this was the main building.

I loved the building, the grounds, and the room. Very charming. The staff was very friendly. The size of the room was on the small side, but adequate. The air conditioner was small, and barely adequate. It was not comfortable in the room during the day. There were an inordinate number of unruly children running around and making a lot of noise in the hallways and in the dining area.

Some might also consider the atmosphere in the outdoor dining area to have been degraded by the presence of a pack of about six scruffy dogs that, at one point, came wandering over the hill and started begging for scraps from various tables. The waiters were mortified, but appeared used to this. They attempted to appear dignified as they vainly shooed the dogs around in circles, with increasing displeasure and increasing amounts of racket. The dogs, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the whole exercise in futility, and they almost seemed to be gloating when the waiters finally gave up. I found the whole thing hilarious.

It was only at the emphatic insistence of my dining companion that I refrained from conveying most of my dinner to the dog that eventually settled at my feet. The food was poor. Really poor. And this really disappointed me, because, as a big foodie, I had been looking forward to my meal at this historic restaurant. We even tried ordering an extra dish that wasn't on the gastronomic menu, but that too was poor. I don't know if the same chef is still there now, but, if so, taking a cooking class from him or her would be like taking singing lessons from William Hung.

I've not been to Cabro d'Or, but we did have an excellent meal at Chez Bru, in nearby Eygaliers.

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm reassured regarding the accomodation.

Do you think a singing lesson from William Hung could be as amusing as watching waiters at a 2 star Michelin restaurant try to retain their dignity while they shoo of a pack of dogs?

Well, the meal and cooking class are included in our package and given what we paid I can view them as free, which given what all of you have said is about the right price!

Thanks for the restaurant reservations.

I'll definately give an update when I return.

Wow, it doesn't sound like the place where we dined! No dogs, great food, beautiful surroundoings and a nice staff.

cigalechanta, I'm hoping for the place you ate!

We had an extraordinarily good meal at the Oustau de Beaumanière, but that was back when Raymond Thulier (is that the right spelling?) was the chef/owner. It sounds as though things are not the same, which is too bad.

WTB - I should emphasize that, overall, I really enjoyed my stay at Oustau de Baumaniere. The buildings and grounds were really beautiful, and the staff was wonderful (or _were_ wonderful, for those of you on the other side of the pond). The location was excellent. And I don't really blame the hotel for the ubiquitous bratty kids. I do hope you have a better experience than mine with the food, but, just in case you don't, I at least hope that my friends the neighborhood dogs return to keep things entertaining!

Anyway, as you'll be there for four nights, there will be plenty of opporunities to pop out to Eygaliers, or someplace else, if you're craving some additional gastronomic delights.

We dined there 3 years ago, and it was the best meal of our trip. And, the service was impeccable.

annieladd

We stayed in Eygalieres for almost tem years the place has been sold but I wanted to vouch for Chez Bru. They had a less expensive place around the corner from the Progress (le Petit Bru) but it's gone now an Italian Restaurant.

Thanks so much for all the feedback, I greatly appreciate it.

I told my husband about the dogs and he thought it sounded hilarious - until I told him it was where we were going! Frankly I think alot of this is about expectations and pricing. The bar has been set fairly low on the food so perhaps we'll have a great time!

Before Les Baux we'll be staying at Bastide de Capelongue (near Bonnieux) for three nights so I think we'll have maxed out on the elaborate meals and will be looking for something simple on the nights we don't eat at Oustau. In Decemeber we stayed at Edouard Loubert's other property, Moulin de Lourmarin and we enjoyedthe Luberon in the winter sunshine. We're looking forward to visiting another of his properties.

Interestingly the Moulin also had mixed reviews but we had a great time, again perhaps because we'd paid a very reasonable rate.

I have Loubert's cookbook. When he moved to his father's place, the Capelongue. I read one of his chefs took over the moulin and it's now a less expensive bistro?

WTB-based on my experience, if your bar is set pretty low with respect to food, you'll probably love Oustau de Baumaniere, because the food was the only bad part of the place. I went in with high expectations -- good food was one of my main priorities in visiting France, and I had twisted my schedule around quite a bit to fit in a meal at OdB. It was a huge letdown when the food turned out the way it was. Not just disappoiting for me... I sort of felt a little sad for the grand old hotel, having slipped as it has.

As it turns out, I too traveled directly from the Luberon to Les Baux, and I dined at Bastide de Capelongue the night before my dinner at OdB. Loubet's cuisine was excellent, exactly what I had my foodie heart set on when planning this trip. I also had an excellent lunch the day before that, at Loubet's little bakery/cafe close to Moulin de Lourmarin. I resolved that, in any future trips to Luberon, I'd try to have at least one meal a day at a Loubet restaurant, at least until I tired of his food.

Here's one thing you might want to keep in mind: I believe that Loubet runs the kitchens both Moulin de Lourmarin and Bastide de Capelongue. However, he seems to pick just one place or the other, and cook there exclusively for at least a few months at a time. I learned shortly before my departure that he had ceased cooking at Moulin de Lourmarin and moved over to Bastide de Capelongue, and I changed my dinner reservation accordingly. I'm sure one would dine very well at either place, but, if Loubet is a major draw, you might want to consider calling to find out where he's cooking these days, or perhaps checking for an update on a foodie website, so that you too can follow him to wherever he is. I don't think you could miss Chef Loubet if he's in fact in the kitchen at the restaurant where you're dining. When I was at Bastide de Capelongue, he spent a lot of time out in the dining area, directing the staff around, greeting guests, discussing their meals, etc. He has a reputation for being hard to work for as an employee, but he was extremely gracious with diners, and I really enjoyed meeting him.

Moulin de Lourmarin is now the lower priced bistro with simpler food and while Loubert can certainly be seen around the hotel, as I understand it he is no longer cooking there and is now at Bastide de Capelongue.

We enjoyed the meals we had therevery much though I wouldn't have gone greatly out of our way for them. The hotel is charming and was lovely off season. We liked the location, views and the quirky style including a reception with a postmodern corn field ceiling, but the bathrooms are a little dated and I think it's due for a refurbishment. Again we had a VERY reasonable rate -less than $600 for three nights half board, in a large room with fireplace and seperate sitting area. I mention this only because I think the more you spend the greater the downside potential, particularly with the strong Euro.

We were most charmed by the hospitality. We had a dinner included but didn't want it on the first night, insted we asked for a bottle of wine another night or a menu upgrade. They gave us both and the night before we left we were informed that the chef felt very badly about us missing dinner and he would be packing a special picnic for us. It was extraordinary, fois gras, beef, several different salads, a pasta dish and wonderful fruit tars in their own special boxes. We ate it in the freezing cold sunshine at Carcassone!

Hawksbill, I think you were there during a transitional time and I don't think he is still moving between the kitchens.

We're of the foodie persuasion too, living in the Bay Area it's really an obligation, in London or NY people might talk about the theater but here it seems to be all hiking, property prices and food! In fact I've just finished eating some wonderful local organic dry farmed tomatoes!

cigalechanta, have you cooked anything from the cookbook? I also have it and was charmed when Loubert signed it to us in "amitiee gourmande!

Again thanks for all the discussion.