Eating out

We’re back to classic North Lancashire weather i.e. rain, so different from the weather in Provence. It seems another world almost.

In his blog the Fox has already touched on one of the delights of holidaying in France, in Provence in particular, and that is eating out. I mean literally eating out under the stars.

On this holiday we did eat at restaurants a bit more often than on some holidays. Our favourite restaurant was “La Chaise Bleue” (the Blue Chair) at La Cadière d’Azur. The actual inside was too small for any tables so all the tables at the restaurant are laid out on the street. We gained our regular table next to the fountain.

 

Dining area at the Chaise Bleue

Where the food is cooked. I do like the blue chair on the wall

We go to know Eric & Brigitte (yes, she was named after Brigitte Bardot), the waiting staff. The chef came out to talk to his customers. Once he got over the shock of realising we could speak French, he became much friendlier & keen to discuss our local culinary specialities i.e. potted shrimps, & rugby (his other passion). Indeed on the last day we had to go to wish them all farewell. Brigitte reckons the good thing about saying goodbye is that you now have a reason to come back – to see friends once more. After our first night there we were given a complimentary glass of champagne to start every meal. I confess I slipped a bit & did have a sip on each occasion although the Fox had the rest. There were no adverse repercussions.

There was another restaurant in La Cadière, we tried a couple of times. On both occasions we weren’t entirely happy. We were tempted to the second visit only because it did have an inside & the mistral wind was blowing coldly that day so we wanted to escape inside. 

There were two other restaurants in La Cadière, both expensive. One was a Michelin 2-starred Hôtellerie. It looked very fancy, too fancy for us in holiday mood. The other was the brasserie belonging to the Michelin starred Hôtellerie. That required negotiating numerous steps, not a task we fancied with me in a wheelchair. A couple of burly Frenchmen did see us looking at the menu & insisted on taking us in, to discover the restaurant was full so there was no table for us. They helped us down again. We headed back to the Blue Chair.

Why we explored the culinary delights of La Cadière d’Azur was because that was the village we were actually staying in so it was a short, if hilly, stroll back afterwards.

La Cadiere d'Azur on its hilltop

We did try eating out elsewhere, once for lunch at a village on the way to Le Val. We do try to convince ourselves lunch would be a good idea. The meals are often cheaper & so much of Provence closes down for lunch between 1 and 4pm. However our stomachs are used to a more substantial meal in the evening & rebel against the change of time. A snack at lunchtime is one thing, a meal is another.

Our last night we decided to try an auberge we’d passed several times on the way to Bandol. We thought the Chaise Bleue would be a bit too emotional stressful for that night & anyway we fancied trying something different. The entrance to this auberge had caught our eyes & intrigued us. We couldn’t help thinking next time we go to France maybe this was the sort of place we ought to stay – a family-owned auberge (inn) where the people are very French, there is food on site & there’s no need to worry about the shopping, bed-making, cleaning etc that self-catering involves.