I have my hotel reservations for July, and I'm ready to make some restaurant reservations. We will be staying in St. Remy (Chateau des Alpilles) for three nights, Collioure (Casa Pairal) for 3 and Carcassonne (Domaine D'Auriac) for 3. Any suggestions? We will be eating at the Domaine D'Auriac and Chateau des Alpilles for one night. Thanks.

Carcassonne has a number of good restaurants: La Divine Comédie, Le Château, Restaurant Chez Fred, and Le Languedoc among them.

In Collioure, La Frégate and La Balette both serve marvelous seafood dishes.

Here are some suggestions for St Remy and a few other places, in case you don't want to dine there every night...

St. Remy
Jardin de Frédéric
Small, cozy restaurant with a small outdoor terrace. Good seafood dishes. Friendly owner and service is good.
Closed Sunday and Monday lunch
Dress - Casual
8, boulevard Gambetta Tel: 04 90 92 27 76

La Serre
Charming restaurant in an old greenhouse in the village - chef is the grandson of Gaston Lenotre. Very good, inventive food, reasonably priced.
Dress - casual
8, rue Commune Tel: 04 90 92 37 21

La Source
Charming, small restaurant fairly off the tourist path. Very good food, beautiful shaded terrace overlooking a garden for summer dining. Closed Wednesday
13, avenue Liberation Tel: 04 90 92 44 71
Lunch menu around 21 euro Dinner menus 30/40 euro

La Gousse d'Ail
Small restaurant with great atmosphere, recently moved into a large old house on the 'ring' road around town - across from the church. Chef/owner is actually Dutch - but the food is French and very good. Bouillabaisse is served on Tuesdays. There is sidewalk terrace for outdoor dining in good weather.
Dress- Casual

L'Apostrophe
Newer brasserie . Fusion cuisine - French, Thai, Antilles Islands, Chinese, Moroccan. The food is very good - although some portions are a bit large.
It has a two tiered terrace with a view of the church. And the chairs are very comfortable. Prices are reasonable - entrees are in the 7 euro range and main courses around 14 euro.
17, place de la Republique Tel: 04 90 92 02 13

Outside of St. Remy in the direction of Noves:
La Maison (Domaine de Bournissac)
New restaurant and country inn (about two years old) - in a lovely old mas. Excellent cuisine. Terrace shaded by a fig tree. A bit on the high side.
Closed Monday and Tuesday noon
tel: 04 90 90 25 25
Menu at around 40 euro

Maussane-les-Alpilles
La Vallée ( Chez Karine )

One of their most successful menus has been based on the artichoke.... extremely popular.

15, avenue de la Vallée des Baux Tel: (33) 490 54 54 00
[email protected] website: www.la-vallee.net

* Bistrot de La Petite France
Former Michelin one star restaurant, just outside Maussane near Le Paradou in a renovated farmhouse. They "turned in" their star and changed the style of the restaurant to a less formal bistro. Excellent food, good service. One of the best wine lists in France (the chef's father is the owner of the largest wine distributor in the south of France)
Personal favorites are the raviolis with green olives, sage and ricotta and the breast of duck.
Casual. Reservations recommended Closed Wednesday and Thursday
55, avenue de la Vallee des Baux Tel: 04 90 54 41 91
Menu - 25 euro



The Camargue - Le Sambuc

* La Chassagnette
This is a restored Carmaguais sheepfold, beautifully opened up and decorated. One wall is "caged " with chickenwire and filled with sage leaves. The only registered "organic" restaurant in France, almost everything is grown in their gardens. The menus are based around Camarguais tapas. One evening we counted thirty different dishes....
An amazing memorable restaurant that I highly recommend.
Lunch menu at 37 euro Dinner menu at 60 euro
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday lunch
Tel: (33) 490 97 26 96 [email protected]



Patricia

Patricia, I think those are bay leaves under the chicken wire. Sage doesn't dry with out crumbling, and they turn brown.

Last fall we looked at the restaurant in the Hotel de la Cité in Carcassonne, which has a single Michelin star, but it looked pretty stuffy for our taste. Our best meal within the walls was at Comte Roger, on the terrasse.

Barb19:

We stayed at the Chateau des Alpilles last May and loved it. The restaurant was excellent. Sometime thereafter we saw the Chateau on the show "The Amazing Race." I would second PBProvence on La Gousse d'Ail, which was very reasonably priced, quaint and with exceptional food.

Have a great trip!

Steve

It was many years ago that we stayed at the Domaine D'Auriac and I still remember the dessert I had in the restaurant. It featured prunes (!!) and oranges and was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.

Thanks so much for the great advice, as usual. Any recommendations for Collioure and the surrounding area?

Hotel-resto, Les Templiers, quayside.

In Collioure, there is an unassuming little restaurant called "Le Puits" where my husband had a fish stew that he said was the best he ever tasted. My meal was less memorable, but we had an excellent Collioure rose as well.

Here are the notes I took for my recent trip for Collioure (trip report to follow) - we ate at Le Neptune and had an excellent, but expensive, lunch.

Le Neptune

Michelin one star ? consistently good reviews

Les Templiers

Some inconsistent reviews

Le Tremail ? 1 rue Arago

One mention ? grilled fish a la planxa

La Balette ? from Gourmet mag ? excellent review but 1987


Also have notes for other towns around Collioure - I'll e-mail to you if you like?