Restaurants in Languedoc Roussillon
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L'Écurie
Enjoy fine fare either within this attractively renovated 18th-century stable, all polished woodwork, brass and leather, or in the large, shaded garden. Pick from its long and choice selection of local wines.
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Cantine Robert Rodriguez
Chef Robert Rodriguez works with exclusively organic raw materials and considers himself as much artisan as chef. Fraicheur, saison, tradition, créativité (fresh, seasonal, traditional and creative) is the leitmotif at his cantine. It's all consciously retro with marble-topped tables, bentwood chairs and early Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet warbling in the background. Walls are bedecked with his many diplomas and awards, plus photos of your heavily moustachioed host with famous guests.
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La Girafe
You're indeed greeted by a tall model giraffe as you enter. Dine in the intimate downstairs area with its ox-blood-red decor and original artwork, or upstairs beneath the cross arches of this former chapel. Chef Pascal Schmitt gets his ingredients fresh from the market and nothing but nothing comes from the freezer. Try the heavenly breast of chicken rolled around prawns with fresh coriander and satay sauce.
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Au Bon Pasteur
At this welcoming, intimate family restaurant, the simple wooden tables and chairs belie the sophistication of the cooking. You can warm yourself in winter with the yummy cassoulet or choucroute (sauerkraut), 100% authentic since the chef hails from the Vosges. Year-round, their menu classique (classic menu) and formules de midi (lunch specials) both represent excellent value.
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Restaurant Le Menestrel
The husband and wife team who have taken over the Menestrel offer a range of gastronomic delights. Meat and fish are of the freshest and all desserts are homemade. Peek at the guest book with its multilingual tributes to the quality of the cuisine and observe yourself in the giant overhead mirror as you tuck in. There's always a choice for vegetarians and menus are in both English and French.
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Le Marché sur la Table
You could just pop in for a glass of wine at this friendly spot, run by up-and-coming young chef Éric Vidal (see his impressive culinary credentials on the toilet wall, no less) and his partner, Caroline. But you'd be missing a lot. Éric buys fresh and organic from the nearby food market, his fish is never farmed and Caroline maintains a large selection of local wines. Eat in the attractively furnished interior or quiet, green rear courtyard.
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Le Bouchon et L'Assiette
Refined cuisine indeed. Dishes are attractively presented and described sotto voce as they're slipped before you. For dessert, go for the blanc manger, a smooth, creamy confection of white chocolate beneath a bed of stewed berries and worlds away from the synthetic blancmange of childhood parties. Service can be slow so come with a thick book or a scintillating companion.
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Les Bains de Montpellier
This former public bathhouse is now a highly recommended restaurant. Tables are set around the old perimeter bathrooms where you can almost hear the gurgle and slurp of long-emptied tubs. For something light, try the assiette des Bains, a platter with salads, pasta, garnishes, vegetables and a hint of meat. If you're hungrier, select from its prime quality fish dishes.
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Le France
Le France manages to insert harmoniously the ultramodern – right down to the all-glass handbasins in the toilets – within the historical setting of what was once Perpignan's stock exchange. Mains are smallish but attractively presented and there's a good selection of tapas and pizzas.
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Les Antiquaires
The cuisine is as traditional, reliable and mature as both the clientele and the splendid line of vintage bottles displayed above the fireplace. Portions, such as the two huge dollops of chocolate mousse for dessert, are mightily generous.
reviewed
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Auberge de Dame Carcas
This casual restaurant specialises in suckling pig (spot the model porkers all around) and carries a fine selection of well-priced local wines (including a delightfully smooth house red at €11). The ground floor is cosy and agreeably rustic, and you can see the chefs at work. The larger upstairs room offers more light, and there's a summer terrace too.
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Tamarillos
'A cuisine of fruit and flowers' is Tamarillos' motto and, indeed, all dishes, sweet or savoury, have fruit as an ingredient or main element. Chef Philippe Chapon is double champion de France de dessert and taught a young Gordon Ramsay his pastry cooking. Go for a full meal or nibble on a lunchtime salad (€14 to €19) or special (€15).
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Roule Ma Poule
Like most places in the area, it pulls in a mainly student crowd with its decent, uncomplicated fare. Happy-go-lucky and with rapid service, it has a large terrace that spills over the square and does a filling midday formule rapide (similar to a menu but allows choice of whichever two of three courses you want.
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Restaurant Verdi
This restaurant does delicious Italian fare, especially fish dishes, in an Italian ambience (walls are plastered with posters relating to the eponymous Verdi). It has an outstanding wine list. Two doors away, Pizzeria Aïda serves pasta, pizzas and salads from the same kitchen and in a more informal setting.
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Pizzeria Aïda
This restaurant does delicious Italian fare, especially fish dishes, in an Italian ambience (walls are plastered with posters relating to the eponymous Verdi). It has an outstanding wine list. Two doors away, Pizzeria Aïda serves pasta, pizzas and salads from the same kitchen and in a more informal setting.
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Casa Sansa
Here's another highly popular spot – or rather two adjacent places. Choose the older, more southerly one, its walls scarcely visible beneath photos of the famous and less famous who have enjoyed its fine Catalan cuisine.
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La Galinette
In an elegant setting, La Galinette offers refined cuisine, delicately confectioned desserts and an ample selection of regional wines. For a frisson of the unexpected, go for the menu confiance fish menu (€55) and let the chef select the best that the sea can offer that day.
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Côte Bleue
Decked in attractive Provençal blues and deep yellows, tiny and bustling, it's as attractive inside as on its summer terrace. Save a cranny for the gâteau de marrons et noix, a dessert that looks like sludge, tastes like ambrosia and comes with a generous squirt of Chantilly cream.
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Chez Fred
With a large window pierced in one of the walls of the ox-blood-red interior, you can peek at what Fred's chefs are rustling up; it's sure to be something creative. Alternatively, dine on its shaded tunnel of a terrace. The weekday menu bistro (lunch €17, dinner €21) is superb value.
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Caves Jean Jaurès
Scan this attractive restaurant's range of tasty dishes on the chalkboard that the waiter props against a nearby table. A glass of wine? Select from the bottles of the day on the bar counter. Rather more? Pick from the shelves; every bottle has its price marked and the range is superlative.
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Carré d'Art
This is a place to enjoy exceptional cuisine in sublimely tasteful surroundings. The classical decor with its gilded mirrors and moulded ceilings blends harmoniously with fresh flowers, bright, contemporary artwork, cascading, feather-light chandeliers and sotto voce canned jazz.
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Grand Café de la Bourse
Great for breakfast or a quick coffee. Sit on the terrace or inside this vast, flamboyant café bang opposite Les Arènes. It was closed when we visited (the proprietor was having a spot of bother with the law), but it should again be serving, in his or his successor's hands soon.
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Au Plaisir des Halles
Ingredients here are the freshest and the lunchtime three-course menu (€20) is excellent value. The photo portraits around the walls are of the winegrowers whose produce features on its impressive list of Languedoc vintages. Located just along the road from the covered market.
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Le 9
Have a meal or simply drop in for a drink at this mildly eccentric place, tucked away behind high green doors with just a sign swinging outside. Eat in the vast, arched former stables or in the leafy, vine-clad courtyard. Everything except the lunch menu is à la carte.
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Laurens'O
This cheerful modern locale with its striped tablecloths and orange and black decor offers innovative Mediterranean cooking. Its distinctly Italian flavour is garnished with a creative French twist and a little Thai touch here and there.
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