Full review, pictures and more on my blog
http://hungryinlondon.com/2011/09/residence-de-la-pinede-st-tropez/ What better to do in the glamorous seaside town Saint Tropez than to visit a 2 Michelin starred restaurant beautifully set on the posh shores of the Cote D'Azur? Residence de la Pinede
The restaurant Vague Do'Or attached to the small hotel Residence de la Pinede is one of the 76 restaurants of France with 2 stars (25 have 3). I have been disappointed on several previous occasions by Michelin star restaurants in the UK,but was absolutely willing to give the recommendation by this very French restaurant rating system another try,this time in the land of its origin. Compared to the massive and flashy yachts lying in St. Tropez Harbour (I was told that you increase your chances of being invited to one of the wild yacht parties by wearing a particularly short skirts,or,even better,no skirt at all),the chateau-like boutique hotel Residence de la Pinede is an oasis of calm and sedate style. Restaurant Vague D'Or Restaurant Vague D'Or
We sat in the beautiful garden with mature trees while the sun was setting over the bay of St. Tropez and we suddenly understood why this part of the world is so popular (something that is less obvious when you only see the above mentioned yachts). We decided on the Fugue gormande the chef's surprise menu. The chef in this case is Arnaud Donckele,who was trained by Michel Guerard and Alain Ducasse. I was told that the prices were astronomical,but I took advantage of the fact that I got a lady's menu without prices (I had no idea they still existed!) and enjoyed blissful ignorance. The menu was heavily based on the 3 ingredients that are characteristic of Provencal cuisine:herbs,fish and olive oil. There is one problem with this kind of menu,I can only guess what we have eaten as the waiter was very French and did not spend a lot of time explaining the dishes. So look at the pictures rather than my lucky guesses and come with me now on a culinary journey through Provençal high-end cooking. Already the canapes were a bliss:sweet,moist and light crab croquettes (the little things on the stick),seared tender swordfish and almost raw St. Jaques which were melting in my mouth. A promise of things to come! Canapes
If I hadn't known that there were still quite a few courses ahead of me,I would have eaten about 10 pieces of the incredibly delicious bread. Of the 6 different styles to choose from,I opted for this little marvel,made out of fluffy and light croissant dough (much lighter and softer than puff pastry) and topped with chunky crystals of sea salt. With the bread came rosemary flavoured butter as well as 3 different kinds of high quality olive oil,which were so good that I had to hold my olive oil obsessed boyfriend back to not actually drink them. But it was worth to hold back on the breadA beautiful and generous piece of langustine was served together with wild chanterelles as well as thyme infused butter. The soup bowl was then filled up at the table by a rich and aromatic bisque These perfectly cooked pieces of fish (which fish I unfortunately never found out) drizzled at the table with a fragrant olive oil lemon mixture. Stunning also the mixture of raw and cooked vegetables which were served in the shell of a St. Jaques these were finished off,again at the table,by bergamotte infused olive oil,the final proof that bergamotte not only works for tea. And the strong flavours kept coming this piece of succulent orata came with a saffron based sauce and delicious saffron flavoured,fluffy potato gnocchi. The much needed palate cleanser had all the ingredients necessary for a good old herbal tea. Fortunately you wouldn't get 2 michelin stars if you didn't manage to take herbal tea to another level:Refreshing and aromatic shaved thyme ice was served with an fennel flavoured sorbet somewhere between sweet and savoury,and was,at the table,topped by a generous helping of absinth. Refreshed tick,palate cleansed tick. tipsy tick. ready for another course certainly! The next and last course before dessert was the highest of many highlights. This unknown white fish came wrapped in summer truffles (which actually subtly tasted of truffles) and immersed in a sensational broth of Provencal herbs and deep earthy,almost smoky morels At this stage we had emptied a bottle of gorgeous local white wine and were moving on to Muscat,the lovely sweet wine of this region which we had with the dessert. The dessert was the perfect ending to a divine meal:I will just call it Trio of Rosemary and Apricot. It indeed consisted of three parts:a glass of fresh and aromatic apricot and rosemary juice,luscioius and velvety apricot and rosemary souffle,and,last but not least,apricot sorbet on panna cotta with rosemary biscuits and almonds. The bill came to something like 350 Euros for the two of us,but if you love good food and have some money spare,this is the place to spend it. read more