Blue Sky Living

Lou Pebre D'Ail Lauris

I am busy finishing off the next magazine this week, so here's a guest review of a local restaurant by my father in law!

Credit crunch lunch

Blue Sky Living challenged its readers to find and review the best value restaurants in the Luberon and Les Alpilles. Here Stuart Southgate presents the case for Lou Pebre d’Ail in Lauris which offers a three course lunchtime menu for just €13.50

Lou Pebre D’Ail, 78 Avenue Joseph Garnier, Lauris, Tel: 04 90 08 27 00

As you approach Lou Pebre the first impression is not one to set the pulse racing. Right on the main road leading into Lauris, the outside with its plastic windows suggests better times. Through the porch and into the restaurant there is an immediate change. Arriving at 12.40 we were struck by the fact that all the tables were taken save for ours and another table for two. The atmosphere of bonhomie was apparent. Forty plus customers were already hard at work, the wine was flowing and the wonderful smell of good food pervaded the air.

Le Moulin de Lourmarin

Right now I am in the middle of writing the next edition of BSL and I have been debating what restaurant to critique. Top of the list in these straightened times was Lou Pebre D’Ail in Lauris. It’s known for providing the most fantastic value for money - three courses and wine for 12 euros. Everyone says that it’s great and it must be because the couple of times we’ve tried to go its been fully booked.

Last night though we had some friends over from England who were staying in the Moulin de Lourmarin. Due to the rain they were unwilling to venture out and so we ended up eating in the empty hotel dining room. The Moulin was the old gastronomic temple of Michelin starred Edouard Loubet who has now moved to Bonnieux. It's now being run by the Pellegri family with a new chef - Philippe Brun. Poor old Philippe was probably looking forward to another night off when the call came in that he had a booking and so for opening up their dining room in February when other more illustrious hotels (such as the Bastide du Gordes) keep theirs shut, I thought I would do a review.

You’ll have to wait for the magazine for the full version. There were some definite highlights such as the John Dory topped with fried foie gras and some lowlights such as the last minute substitution of chopped peaches for the fig confit that was supposed to accompany the foie gras starter. As you might have already gathered there was also a lot of foie gras. Overall it was a good experience.

Restaurant review - Bistrot de France, Apt

My wife and I have a happy marriage. It’s not often that we fall out and rarely over something as trivial as a restaurant.

So who was to blame for the ear-shrieking row that reverberated around the Combe de Lourmarin last Sunday night and the resulting disgraceful chocolate tart thrown on the floor, retaliatory yogurt arcing past its target (my wife) and splurging against the wall, behaviour?

La Pitchoune - Restaurant review

In any other circumstances we would have left immediately. All ten of us had sat down to Sunday lunch in La Pitchoune restaurant. The setting was peaceful - a calm courtyard set back from the bustle of Mausanne les Alpilles. Branches from the olive tree above dropped over my shoulder creating a patterned of dappled sunlight on the table.

Restaurant review - L'Etang Cucuron and Le Bastidon, Lourmarin

Back when I was at university it was ham, egg and chips in the pub. A few years later at law school I couldn’t survive without a weekly madras in the local curry house. Now living in deepest darkest Provence my choice of comfort food is the confit d’agneau at the Restaurant d’Etang.....

Restaurant review - La Petite Maison de Cucuron

Perestrello Geller eats at La Petite Maison:

I had a girlfriend once who had the miraculous ability to be in two or even three places at once. She had long lustrous dark hair and almond eyes which held a glance for a quavering, quivering, indecent second too long.

In the early stages of our relationship she kissed me goodnight at a teasingly early hour and but for her irresistible almond eyes we would have split up when I discovered that she was cramming two dates into the same evening.....

Restaurant review - Le Bistrot Decouverte

Blue Sky Living restaurant critic Jamie Ivey ate at:

Le Bistrot Decouverte - Saint Remy de Provence.

19 Boulevard Victor Hugo

Tel: 05 90 92 34 49

Star Rating: **** A sympathy steak tartare

Some husbands become so involved in their wife’s labour that they develop sympathy symptoms - morning sickness, swollen legs and in extreme cases false labour. I thought it would never happen to me. I was wrong and it was all down to an injudiciously timed Steak Tartare.......