France Archives - Page 6 of 15

Welcome to Saint Tropez and Beyond

Saint Tropez has changed, but the surrounding area still glows with an authentic smile deifying its face. The once tranquil fishing village on the Mediterranean coast of the Var department in the southeastern France paid the decades cashing toll for its celebrity-spotting tourism. The to-be-seen, high-rolling, champagne bathing and by jewels and billionaire’s yachts studded beaches seem to have lost touch with the real natural wealth of the area. During July and particularly in the French holidays month of August, it is hard to find a decent spot on the legendary Pampelone beach, where Brigitte Bardot barred herself into the hotness of her so 1960s bikini. A half century later, it just got a bit too commercial and crowded there.

Do not reach for a handkerchief yet, no tears are necessary yet to mark the farewell to the wild beauty of this village and the region. As the parties go on, the French authenticity moved further West. Two typically old French traditions though remained unspoiled in this coastal town – the rolling of the boules on the sandy central square and the cream filled brioche Tarte Tropézienne sold since 1955 at the local patisseries. This physically undemanding game never bores the French and the visitors do not hesitate to join either. Many a favourite pastime though is licking the cream off their fingers while indulging in the secretive local cake, whose exact ingredients are guarded by its namesake pastry shop.

Keep your boat or car engine running and you will discover a hidden beauty just around the curvy hip of the cape reaching to the sea west from the glitzy Pampelone beaches. The azure palette of blues glistens from the Mediterranean, while the robust medieval stones cool the hill-toping villages in the back country. The tiny communes Ramatuelle and Gassin, both about 1o minutes drive from Saint Tropez through the sprawl of local vineyards, are culturally as much as purely aesthetically rewarding. The views from the sea level of Saint Tropez’ Bay high up to the snowcapped Alps during the cool season pull you from reality into a blissful state of calmness. Most of the clear, star-studded evenings invite for a stroll on their cobbled carpets reminiscent of the villages’ advanced age and perhaps a dinner al fresco at one of their honest bistros and fresh produce plating restaurants.

Biodiversity of Mediterranean shrubs and flowers

The annual Festival de Ramatuelle attracts classical, French chanson and jazz music, theatre and comedy shows to its amphitheatrical stage built just for the occasion. Enrich your cultural soul in this almost a magic setting.
My favourite times to visit are in Spring – April and May, but also in the Indian summer of mid to late September. During these months, the Mother Nature wields its lushest embrace and the weather tends to be the most pleasant. Only the ‘omnivocal’ crickets remain humming from the tall pines, turning any hike along the environmentally protected coast into a meditative and rejuvenating experience. Tie your sneakers up and set your legs free, as now I am taking you for a visual trip through my favourite treasure islands in this blessed part of coastal France. The paths are well signposted, therefore I hope this teaser will provoke the walking zeal deep inside you.

The farmland and many of the wineries in the area also remain vastly authentic. White horses welcome you off the dirt road at Château de Pampelone, while the vines of Domaine La Tourraque, stretch all the way downhill to the protected sea coast. Nature hardly tamed by men’s hands still rules in this beautiful dominion of the sea, soil and shrubs overshadowed only by the mighty umbrellas of the Italian Stone Pine trees.

My local dining tips:

La Vague d’Or – gastronomic three Michelin stared Mediterranean experience overlooking the port from the privacy of the La Résidence de La Pinède in the Bay of Saint Tropez, by far the best food in the region.
La Voile – helmed by a chef with a similar pedigree, but less Michelin stars, this is one of the lightest dining options, perfect for a romantic dinner with tranquil sea views from the superb La Réserve Ramatuelle luxury hotel.
Couleurs Jardin – beach side siesta in the garden of tartan chairs overlooking the sandy Plage Gigaro in Croix Valmer can be reached either by an 8km challenging coastal hike from Plage Escalet in Ramatuelle or by car.
La Yaca – gourmet Italian in a romantic setting on a pool-lit patio in the heart of the old village in
Le Club 55 – the legendary Pampelone Beach spot with frequent celebrity appearances does not cease to offer excellent, simple Provençal food in its convivial, tightly set rustic scene. Get the artichoke and the wild strawberry cake.

Villa art by Jean Cocteau at Santo-Sospir in Cap Ferrat

Villa Santo-Sospir in Cap Ferrat is a special place on the glamorous coast of the French Riviera. Side by side with the lavish mansions of the ultra-rich, the by modern standards modestly sized vacation house, was in the early decades of the 20th century the hotspot of the most creative personalities of its era.

The owner of the villa Santo-Sospir madam Francine Weisweiller was a well-connected socialite. She hosted Coco Chanel, Picasso, and many others, who enjoyed a cocktail and certainly a captivating creative talk within its walls and on the tranquil, Côte d’Azur views offering patio.

Jean Cocteau as well as his adopted son stayed at the villa Santo-Sospir for 13 years. Not as ominous as they may seem, but certainly long for guests of any house. The wall art started one summer when his hyperactive mind bursted with mesmerising creative explosion on the villa’s walls, doors, wardrobes and finally in an elaborate colourful tapestry. The artist created by the Ancient Greek myths inspired frescoes that still adorn the ageing villa. The multi-skilled French poet, novelist and painter thus reclaimed an old form of a museum – an inhabited space filled with beauty created uniquely for the site and the numerous visitors passing through.

Art by Jean Cocteau at Villa Santo-Sospir

These artworks were made before the opening of the more conventional public museum dedicated to his oeuvres in the nearby Menton. It is essential to see now, before the walls crumble under the heavy weight of climate and time. The fading is already visible in the villa’s interiors, and the funding is scarce.

Santo-Sospir, 14 Avenue Jean Cocteau, 06000 St Jean Cap Ferrat, France
They usually do not pick up, but leave a message on: +33 4 93 76 00 16
or email : santosospir@aliceadsl.fr
You can book simple lunch or dinner at the villa to experience the gorgeous sunset over the bay of Villefranche Sur Mer.

Guerlain spa at Cheval Blanc in Courchevel

Lounging in a reclined chair alongside the calming pool at Cheval Blanc smoothens all the wrinkles in your mind as the chronotherapy of smoothly changing lights, like a relaxing piano composition, calms and sneds the positive dream-like waves into your head. An azure tranquility, warm yellow energy, move as in a romantic film into soft purple and then deep red hues over the wooden Alpine ceilings and rocky wall, that somehow naturalises the indoor pool, and transfers you into a cosy and warm cave sheltering your body from the winetry cold outside.

If your body is not weary from skiing on the slopes swishing alongside the spa facility, a private aquabiking lesson, will take care of the flying-like experience you get on a fresh powder day. Your limbs will be spared from your own body weight while plunged in the crystal clear water. A jacuzzi overlooking the snow-covered slopes is also useful in relieving aching muscles.

The serious skiers in need for muscle recovery might switch the sport suits to a loose towel mantle to promenade around the sauna and steam room like in the ancestors in the ancient Mediterranean. The modern crystal sauna world offers a cooling plunge pool and crushed ice dispersed sequentially into an attached basin – both effecting in a rush of your blood to the heart after a vein-dilating warm session in the sauna.

Standing under the rain shower transports you immediatelly into a wild forest, and it feels so invigorating that you might hang under it for – a while. The dry finnish sauna is lit in a sexy blue tone, and its into a stone-cut wall interlaid with wooden beams make it feel like a mountain challet. Chic and tender music penetrates your resting mind as you dive in the ocean of hot air inside. Its unisex build-up is perhaps the only disadvantage, but then it depends for whom and also with whom you need to share it. Coming before most families and skiers return from the slopes around five o’clock almost always secured my private sauna.

The hotel was the first of the luxe portfolio in the folder of the same company owning Louis Vuitton, Dior, Guerlain, a couple of top-notch wineries and Champagne houses, and other ultra-expensive products.

Guerlain cosmetics, including the massage cream are used in most of the spa treatments. From anti-aging facials accompanied by a rigorous facial ‘gymnastics’ give your skin more than a meditative session in a soft chair as the muscles release tension and the skin feels stretched like after an intense yoga session, the puff goes away and the products can penetrate deeper into the epidermis.

The orchid line has been developped at Guerlain’s own orchidarium, where an orchid with the best capacity to hold water was discovered after 10 years of research and now is used to moisturise effectively the deep layers of the skin.

The concentrated extract from the royal bee gelly in the Abeille Royale range smoothens wrinkles by awekening your skin’s own renewal.

Body scrubs brighten, while fat-breaking massage slims (the claim that you will literally see centimetres rolling away from your limbs and belly applies to a number of sessions and not just one-hour-lasting magic whip of the therapist’s lash). Apres-ski, instead of hectolitres of mulled wine and a tipsy head, can include a muscle-relaxing massage in one of the freshly designed, ultra-modernly equipped and spacious rooms. Miriam has been tending my sore body for years now, her always smiley attitude and firm touch work such a magic on me, that I request her each time she is in. As all of the staff at the hotel’s spa she speaks English fluently with a charming French accent.

What I like about seasonal hotels and spas like at the ski resorts is when they keep the same staff around as years pass. It intensifies my emotional attachment with the place so I look forward my next visit even more. Overseen by Sophie, whose allways perfect apapearance reassures you of the capabilities of the therapists, the spa although tiny, is always kept sharp and bright clean.

Ostheopath is on hand if something went off balance on the slopes, and a cellebrity hairdresser John Nollet’s salon will tend to your hair whether for a festive New Year’s eve party or a dinner out at on eof the Courchevel’s chic and trendy restaurants.

Sipping on a cup of uplifting orchid tea blended for Guerlain in Paris as I fluffy into one of the veiled dove-white cushioned relaxation beds after each tretment, the sensation of bliss and balance penetrates my every cell.

Website: www.chevalblanc.com

Contact: spa.courchevel@chevalblanc.com

Nice: mirage of paradise on the Mediterranean

While the wings of your plane brush through the coastal winds, a shiver or a complete muscle looseness from the mesmerizing sheer of natural beauty might captivate your entire self. Landing at the Nice Côte d’Azur runway that reaches out into the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean with its ochre-hued rocky coast and the snowcapped Alpine peaks in its backgdrop is indeed the “most scenic airport landing in the world”.
The magnetizing mirage of paradise was not lost, at least not along this part of the Mediterranean, but prevails defeating the human whims.

Imagine a Matisse painting – the “clear, crystaline, precise and limpid” light of these Southern French shores, that the arist created during his pre-mortal years at the stately Belle-Époque Hôtel Regina. Now a residence crowning the Cimiez hills, it is near to the tangerine-painted Musée Matisse dedicated to the impressionist maestro. A stately legion of surviving Roman ruins around the museum documents the historic ties of the region with what is today Italy.
One of the founders of this celebrated country, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was born in Nice and scored an enviable cobblestoned central square to his name. The Place Garibaldi today is a host to plenty of cultural events and gatherings including an antique market. I always wonder that it must be ceaselessly interesting to peak out from one of the shutter windows of the pastel-coloured houses bordering all of its four sides.

Since Nice was once a highly popular holiday destination for the European elite, from dukes to English kings and Russian tzars frequenting its sunny shores, it is rich in mesmerizing villas dotting the hills best positioned for the endless sea vistas of the sea. One of them is Baumettes also housing the Musée des Beaux-Arts in a sprawling villa. A Rodin’s scuplture finds an ideal situation in front of a window letting plenty of light caressing its oblique body with a miraculous emphasis on its perfectness. On display here are mainy local artists such as Jules Cheret, but also impressionist gems by Pierre Bonnard and Duffy. Musée Chagall is another treat for your eyes, with a mosaic and vitrages by this Russian born jewish artist that found his artistic muse in Nice, it is a must see cultural treat.

Contemporary art found its imposing and highly frequented shelter inside the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, known also simply as MAMAC. Designed by the French architects Yves Bayard and Henri Vidal, who planted the seeds of the modern Nice’s urbanism into the exotic utopia of the Belle Epoque of the old town (Vieux Nice) and the Promenade des Anglais that embroiders the beches all the way up to the airport. Inside the museum’s natural light–filled premises, one can ponder over the French New Realism as a replica of the American Pop Art by Yves Klein, Cesar, Arman, Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo, Dufrêne and others that redifined the modern French art scene. The works shown are provocative, but not ridiculous. Hike up to the open roof to be rewarded with the views of the Italianate architecture penetrating the heart of Nice [see top image above].

The pastel facades of the Vieux Nice gleam from its maze of tightly knotted streets, that wind like a bundle of fishing nets haphazardly wrapped around the Western foothill of Colline du Château.
From its peak the best views of the entire Baie des Anges (The Bay of the Angels) can be savored all year around.

The bay is laced with a flexing string of Promenade des Anglais, build in 1820 on demands of English travellers to the South of France. In the 19^th century tourism in Nice started blooming like the impressive pellet growing into a paper napkin at some Asian restaurants. Many of the European and Russian royal families and high class travellers brought along the aristocratic charm still adorns the city’s hills and most of the sea-bordering promenade.

The most comfortable luxurious hotel in Nice is Palais de la Méditeraée. Managed by the international Hyatt group, it is also situated on the Promenade. Its spacious modern rooms offer confort unparalled on the riviera if value for money is considered. The best views are from the higher floors, while the 12 seaside suites offer a real pasture for the eyes – long, Miami-like beach, a treskling blue sea dotted with fishermen boats, cruising yachts, and the landing planes like giant brids descending on the horizon – entertain for hours. For more excitement rooll the dices at the historic Casino Ruhl at the nearby Le Meridien hotel.
The city’s finest restaurant, the two-Michelin stared Chantecler inside the centenarian Belle Epoque Negresco hotel, whose green dome and opulent architecture are impossible to miss on your stroll along the Promenade des Anglais. The rooms are a bit worn out, some rooms shock with sparkling blue bathtubs, and the flamboyant halls are more like a museum than a tastefully decorated hotel. The eclectic art collection and perhaps the kitchiest dining room in France inside the hotel’s more casual La Rotonde, are worth peaking in. The classiest room in the building is the wooden Bar Le Relais, where on weekends a live jazz band makes your cocktails swing.

Nice has also plenty of more economic while charming places to stay like the authentic four-star Hôtel Ellington. A typical Niçoise townhouse tucked inside the town, but a few minutes walk to the bustling beaches, offers an alternative to the much more touristy zones of the town.
For the most striking sunset vista take a taxi, cross the Old Port, and get off at La Réserve de Nice. Here, allow to be seduced for an aperitif of a local white or rosè wine, while observing the two tips of by-sea-washed horn – the Cap d’Antibes in the Cannes direction, and the ultra-luxurious Cap Ferrat towards Monaco – enclosing the stunning wide bay.

As the sun tiptoes to its its bed you face a choice either to return to your hotel, have a light halthy snack and wake up rejuvenated the next morning or, if the owl in you rises for the night’s outing and your rambling belly announces the innate desire to eat and indulge, there is plenty to choose from.

Les Trois Vallées dining guide: luxuriate in Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens

Whether you have just embarked on your ski trip to the Alps or you plan to breeze into the oxygen-thin Les Trois Vallées mountains soon, my tips on where to eat and drink in the best and biggest resort in the French Alps will widen your horizons of pleasure when swooshing down the slopes.

Mountain wines served within Les Trois Vallées

More likely than not, mountains in the winter equal cold. If you don’t want to tun into an icicle you can master the cold in between your runs with hot drinks. Tea settles you quickly but does not stay in your blood stream for long, and if you are not really a chocolate addict then you best get some alcohol – a steaming cup of mulled wine (in France vin chaud).
The mulled wine’s spices, its sweetness and an immediate warming effect stretching to your frozen fingertips can serve as a happy hormones releasing ‘first aid’. Most winter travellers whether in the mountains or in a freezing city appreciate the cosy warm cup of this magic brew.
Its drawback is, that it is not the best friend of food. Imagine a bowl os soup or gooey hot fondue with mulled wine! Not for me, thank you. With a quick lunch in a mountain hut or a dinner at a cosy restaurant it is better to have some wine.

In the Savoy region of the Alps you can go local as it is a wine growing area itself as well as near to Burgundy and Rhône with the world’s best wines reachable within hours. The Three Valleys (Les Trois Vallées) and other ski resorts around Albertville, the location of the 1992 Winter Olympics are surrounded by vineyards mainly in the warmer lower altitudes. These Vins de Savoie are often very pleasant, easy to drink and affordable. The whites are wonderful and to be drunk young. I like the Chignin Bergeron, Les Damoiselles, intriguing with its fruity and round flavours. I haven’t found any red Savoy wine that would cling to my palate, so stick to local whites for lunch when in Les Trois Vallées.
Most mountain restaurants, even the fanciest, have local wines on their list. We sipped on the crisp and fruity local white Chignin Bergeron at a cosy familiar Restaurant Le Montagnard in St Martin de Belleville. Serving hearty specialities from the Savoie, if you are a cheese lover, your taste buds will go crazy, when you dip into the baked Beaufort cheese with home-made pasta, potatoes or vegetables. The Tartiflette is typical for Haute Savoy, and a must try.

Dine like a king in Les Trois Vallées

Many restaurants in The Three Valleys have extraordinary wine lists, you would not expect in the rough of the mountains. The French are famous for their Michelin Guide, and you will find even two and three Michelin starred restaurants high up in the mountains.
In Courchevel 1850, my favourite and the most diverse village in Les Trois Vallées, there are now many Michelin-starred restaurants.
The most established is the two Michelin Chabichou lead by Chefs Michel Rochedy and Stèphane Buron. Their wine list is breathtaking. Located inside a small hotel of its namesake, you need to dress up a bit for this remarkable dining affair. In the spirit of the mountains the dishes are heavier, but not as hearty as a cheese fondue feast. Booking ahead is essential.

For the real luxury lovers there is the three Michelin starred Le 1947 Restaurant at the spectacular Cheval Blanc hotel. As the LVHM owned hotel’s name suggests, this restaurant has an unbeatable collection of wines from the Château Cheval Blanc. The 1947 is often considered as the best vintage so far for Cheval Blanc, so the restaurant sealed the importance of this year in its name. The light bites and fine diners will particularly enjoy the concept of the chef Yannick Alléno at this restaurant. It is a very VIP hideaway for many affluent connoisseurs since there are only five tables sharing the open plan space with the kitchen. If you have never had a bottle of Cheval Blanc you have a rare opportunity to try a glass here, lately the superb 2005 was poured.

There are other Michelin stared restaurants in Courchevel. All are located in the new luxurious hotels as the owners want to emulate on the Cheval Blanc’s success. The gastronomic restaurants at the K2 (two stars Michelin) as well as Le Strato (sister restaurant of the famous Provençal Oustau de Baumaniere) hotels are both worth exploring if you are a real gourmet. The creamy Bresse chicken at Le Strato pictured above and the superb cheese trolley at K2 make for a food lover’s paradise. You can also eat very well at the more casual restaurant at the K2. Some fuss-free preferring guests tend to be more keen on this option, and they have the same cheese trolley!

Mountain atmosphere

More traditional mountain food is offered at O’Bôya (former La Chapelle), a good place for grilled meats. The steaks, delicious lamb chops and veal lure you right from entering as you face a real stone grill sizzling with top quality cuts. Ideally accompanied by a nice bottle of Bordeaux (although Burgundies up to DRC are also available) will relax not only devoted skiers but all salivating carnivores with deep pockets. Perhaps unfortunately, with mostly the stellar priced Grand Cru picks from Paulliac and Pomerol, the owner might detract an average (not a millionaire) customer, but there are also more reasonably priced Argentine Malbecs on the list that will do then job.

The best Italian food and thin crust pizza is at La Cendrée, a lively but not too ostentatious dinner spot we annually return to. Consistently serving top quality Northern Italian fare from juicy Ossobucco with Milanese saffron rice, Vitello Tonnato (thin veal with rich tuna sauce), beef piccatta, a wide variety of homemade pasta to the sublime creamy tiramisu. Truffles can be shaved on anything, and the white truffle pizza is a perfect start me up for the feast to come. The wine list has mostly French selections, but the Italian pages show off the country’s vinous elite. Barolo, Barbaresco, Sangiovese but also Chardonnay and Cabernet blends from Gaja, Antinori, Sassicaia and other Italian food matchers star in the carte des vins.

Party, wine and dine in Les Trois Vallées

For music lovers and fun seekers La Mangeoire still remains the best dinner bet boosting with energy until late almost every evening during the peak season. Many diners prefer the later seating around 10 pm as the place goes wild. The outstanding female singer, who has adorned the restaurant cum club with her voice for years, pulls off pop songs with a skill of an opera star. The ambiance is as chic as the trendiest restaurants in Paris. The wine list is extensive, but beware of the galactic pricing. Yet there are some other, still overpriced, but great second wines of well known châteaux. This is wiser than ordering a young vintage that needs more years to age gracefully. The food is a mix of classic (escargots – snails in butter, foie gras) and contemporary Asia meets French dishes such as the sushis or the superb avocado and salmon tartare eclaire. The ‘fragrant’ baked Vacherin cheese is simple but delicious.
The above places are mostly open only for dinner or at least more suitable after an exhausting day on the slopes. There are plenty of excellent lunch locations as well. Some are more enjoyable for a quick service aficionados, while others turn later into wild parties with a live DJ and Russian girls dancing on the table with champagne spraying all over.

In the past decade (as far as my memory goes) the Cap Horn in Courchevel has been holding the top lunch destination award in the hearts of many regular visitors. I appreciate their usually quick service, outstanding and fresh food – the generous creamy heart of burrata served for two with lush tomatoes, fresh basil olive oil, and warm olive toasts is melting on your tongue like an iceberg on a Dubai sun, the steak tartare is rich and tender, the lobster linguine pasta are a great main course, while the salads are original (most with cheese or meat) and rather tasty than waist-trimming, and their desert buffet is impossible to resist. Oh and the always warm homemade bread. Oh la laaah! You better ski hard before your lunch here. The wine list calls for a bottle even at lunch (so after ski directly to your hotel and don’t risk an injury). An exceptional choice of not only widely priced French but also some Italian and Spanish wines is worth the feast.

Lunch at Cap Horn is also ideal on sunny days as it has two large terraces, one on the roof and another – more lively – downstairs. It is very popular so reservations are highly suggested. Their mulled wine is like a warm sangria, full of lemons and oranges. They have never disappointed.
There is a new Greek export from Mykonos. Nammos is as party savvy as its original restaurant, yet the food is just average for Les Trois Vallées and far from my favourite Greek restaurant Mylos in New York, Miami, London, Athens and Toronto.
A great alternative to Cap Horn is La Soucoupe high up on the mountains. As you get off by the end of the Planterey lift taken from Courchevel turn left and in two minutes you arrive at this cosy chalet. Many skiers like it for a warming break with mulled wine, but the grilled meats and fish are excellent. Lounging by a wooden fireplace or staring far into the blue skies and snowy peaks can make it a bigger challenge to get up than to ski down the intermediate slopes..

On the other side of the mountain in Méribel, there is a great casual restaurant Blanchot. You need to ski there or fly if you fancy as it is just next to the Altiport. Their terrace has plenty of sun for most of the day, but it hides behind the mountains late in the afternoon. A good spot for some champagne, cafe gourmand and one of their delicious deserts on the sunny terrace. The melting cheese toast and genuine hot chocolate at Le Grand Lac also in Méribel widen your options in the valley. Large open space of the inside and reclining beach chairs on the terrace cater for all weather situations.
Val Thorens has been picking up with the rest since its opening of another outpost of La Folie Douce, located as well in Méribel and other French mountain resorts (the first was opened in 1981 in Val d’Isere), its fame is ever expanding. Their exciting cabaret and designer shows under open skies attract not only teenagers but also fun seeking families.

You never know what entertainment awaits you, but one thing is sure, the food is very good. You can take a tray of food out from the self service canteen La petite Cuisine or eat inside, but when the weather allows all the action happens outdoors. The more refined food serves La Fruitière, both inside and outdoors. Its burger is renown as the very best in Les Trois Vallées. The onion soup is ultra luxe. Ingredients from small local producers not just support them but assure the ultimate freshness and seasonality of the food even in the wintery surroundings of Les Trois Vallées.

La Casserole in Courchevel 1650 (Moriond by ski lift Le Signal) has also a very friendly staff, lovely library style interior, and a wide variety of authentic French mountain food. It’s a perfect lunch spot for families and has the most beautifully decorated mulled wine in the area.
If you stay in Courchevel 1850 and don’t want to ski far, Le Tremplin right next to the main gondola will not disappoint in particular if you are a seafood lover. My recent Lobster salad with three different dips, the thin crust pizza, roasted Bresse Chicken with its jus, were all top notch. I wish I had some space left for the dessert buffet, but it just never happens.

Les Trois Vallées isn’t just the largest skiing area on the world, but also one of the best for food and wine lovers. The list of great restaurants there could stretch to a book since each year I come, there is at least one opening. Once you visit, you will be tempted to return year after year, first with your friends, then with your fiancee, later a spouse and at the end with your own children.
A complete LIST of restaurants in Méribel can be found at Merinet.com; for Courchevel look at Courchevel.com

Maison Auer: family confiserie preserving traditional French sweets in Nice

Whether you crave something sweet, need an authentic souvenir or want treat your loved ones, browse into the Maison Auer’s acclaimed fairy land evoking confectionery boutique in the Vieux (Old) Nice. Established in 1820 right across the voluptuous Nice opera, the confiserie is not a casual affair but rather a fine escapade for chocolate and in the traditional French sweets indulging connoisseurs.

You can trust their know-how backed by five generations of experience in confectionery, chocolates, dragés, caramels as well local specialties such as the renown candied fruits (fruits confits), maroons glacés (candied chestnuts glazed in sugar), the almond paste based calissons, fruit preserves, and even olives bathing in syrup, that are ideal accompaniment to the local goat’s cheese. The products from the Maison Auer convey delicious stories of Mediterranean bounty.
The pastry and chocolate boutique is now in the hands of the fifth generation Auer family, that has been for almost 200 years cheering up the sweet palates of its highly demanding customers. Nice had been for decades the holiday retreat of choice for the European high society including a royal following. These picky palates were seeking the most refined pleasures, which Maison Auer duly provided.
The candy and chocolate shop’s historic interior is adorned with crystal chandeliers, colourful art nouveau vitrages and floral-shaped wall lamps. The lavish round arches, gilded curvy decorations, and plentiful wall mirrors – from renaissance, through neo-classicism to art nouveau reflect the region’s Italian heritage. The shop was inspired by the Florentine decorative style. Established around the same period as the Palazzo Borghese in Florence the interior evokes the lavish banquets once staged at that noble Italian palace.

One of the signature Provençal treats, the fruits confits, are best sampled in confiseries that have been making them for generations. Their knowhow shows in refined flavours and textures. Maison Auer’s signature candied clementines (type of tangerines) are made according to a traditional recipe. You don’t need to travel to the remote Apt in Luberon, where these sweets are abundant, since Auer crafts these treats to a shiny perfection. Their surface glistens like polished glass pearls.

The sugar dusted ideas of the house also include chocolates and in cocoa enrobed nuts or fruits. At the back room under a glass vitrine are displayed various flavours of favourite ganaches and pralines like cappuccino, vanilla, roasted hazelnuts from nearby Piedmont and other by time proven recipes. Chocolate bars as well as a sugar-free, with maltiol sweetened chocolate bar for diabetics, are more simple yet well made. If you buy a box of chocolates, then you get them nicely wrapped as if you were a royalty. Enveloped in a Bordeaux robe with golden print to underscore the traditional recipes used in making them.

The building is situated next to the highly frequented Marchè Saleya, the open-air old market, where the best chefs in the region source their ingredients. Unlike the more commercial Confiserie Florian, located in the Nice’s old port, Maison Auer is a pure Niçoise breed, although its founder Henri Auer was a Swiss immigrant, his appreciation for the local produce kept his family business loyal to the area.

Read more about travel tips in Nice in my travel journal.

7 rue Saint-François de Paule

+33 4 93 857 798

Tue – Sat: 9am – 6pm

Le 68 restaurant by Guy Martin: gourmandising Guerlain at Champs Elysées

Guerlain like Bvlgari in Japan scaled up their luxury game with their penetration into the high-end gourmet sphere.

While the Italian jewellery giant launched their own indulgent chocolates, cafés and fashionable restaurants, the French perfume and cosmetics legend approached a well-known chef Guy Martin to transform the underground space of its flagship Champs Elysées boutique into by-perfumes-inspired healthy gastronomic restaurant.

The restaurant is not forcing itself into your face, but like a little treasure, it is hidden deep down under the lipsticks, mascaras, blushes and seductive flacons with precious perfumes at the Guerlain boutique on Champs Elysées.
Opened just last year, the restaurant cannot pride itself in a spotless service, in this respect it is more in the category of the typically laid-back Parisian cafés, but the exquisitely arranged food and by floral fragrances-inspired decoration set it apart from anything else in Paris, perhaps in the world.

The chef Guy Martin through his hard work had in the past delivered the coveted third Michelin star to one of the most established and oldest restaurants in Paris – The Grand Vefour. And his plates at the Guerlain whisper, that he is being now inspired by art and the world of perfumes.
Currently still fashionable Asian influence is also visible in his creations. Like the ultra-light Vegetable maki roll in a Vietnamese style wrapped in a thin rice paper. Flowers and vegetables with sweet dipping sauce make a perfect healthy starter. The steamed asparagus also got an exotic touch up with combawa fruit chips and creamy dressing.
The mains always include some fish and meat like duck or chicken. The Cabillaud (cod fish) dressed in “ Petite Robe Noire “, Hambourg parsley and mussels in green juice sound like a detox menu item, while the French bistro staple of a raw Beef tartare got a japanese coat of a sweet nashi pear and roasted sesame seeds served with a trio of carrots and Mediterranean orange flower water.

For these wanting to indulge the restaurant also offers cakes and macaroons to enjoy. The Guerlain’s own range of aromatic tea blends, that can also be bought to take away at the compact pastry boutique in front of the restaurant, inspires you to skip the alcohol and have a healthy pot of tea with your meal instead. The tea blends were inspired by fashion and the Guerlain’s signature perfumes such as the Shalimar.
The Shalimar is a blend of green and black teas from China and Sri Lanka with vanilla, cardamon, cinnamon, levander and bergamot. An exotic slightly spicy tea, pairing ideally with a meat dish or roasted plates. A relaxing black tea blend I like to sip on after lunch is the Orchid.
Even the desserts bring fashion into your palate’s consciousness (if it has any). The Little Black Dress cake, made of a chocolate biquit, red fruits ganache, creamy nut praline and a thin chocolate top adorned with a cute sweet ribbon, recounts this iconic French staple of every elegant woman’s wardrobe.
The perfumed lunch at Guerlain seduces not only your nose but also the palate with fragrant savoury and sweet delicacies. Breakfast and brunch are also served and are ideal for friendly meet-ups.
Address: 68 Avenue Champs Elysées, Paris, France.
Contact: +33 (0)1 45 62 54 10
Opening hours: Daily for breakfast 8am-11:30am; through lunch from 12noon and dinner is served until 11pm.

JAN: South-African heritage manifested through love of French cuisine in Côte d'Azur

JAN is one of the most exciting restaurants on the Riviera right now. Partly it might be so because it is not entirely French but has an alluring South African influence. The chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen is from SA and his roots are the source of inspiration in the form of re-worked family recipes as they intermingle with his love affair with France. He confesses in his cookery book “The French Affair – tables of love” that its culture of good food, fresh produce from local markets and the meals were and are the inspiration for his recipes. Hendrik’s unusual background as a gourmet chef invites to his new restaurant to taste the life’s memories – from a farm in SA through Paris, Champagne to Côte d’Azur.

After a cooking stint in Captown, he moved to Paris to work at Elle’s headquarters contributing to its food magazine, later transferring to Champagne as an Executive chef for the Champagne house PIAFF, and as South was calling back, he cooked on a private yacht cruising the fishing villages of Southern France. Next was the boldest step yet – opening of JAN, his own restaurant in Nice.

The chef realises that everything counts. Not just the dishes you order, but also the little extras that a typical gastronomic restaurant treats you with such as a mouse-bouche or a selection of bread. Oh, the bread! If Jan was opened for breakfast, I would go there just for the wonderful loaf, a recipe of Jan’s mother. Served warm, as is customary in France, with butter and a postcard-like brief explaining the story behind each of the two breads and why he chose the French Echiré butter – my personal favourite too. The honey and seed loaf country bread is his mother recipe and the SA traditional “Mosbolletjies” from the Cape introduced there by the French Huguenots. Enough from me, go to Jan and try for yourself.

The food expresses his South African heritage and his love for his family. There is also a menu called “At my grandmother’s table” inspired by the chef’s ‘grand mère‘. Yet, being such a hot ticket in Nice now, we had to try his six-course tasting menu. I appreciated their flexibility, not common for a gastronomic restaurant, since I was not in the mood for a Pork terrine that was starting off the menu, I was allowed to have the Grilled Mediterranean Sardine with horseradish, potato, aÏoli and lemon instead. Intriguing was the combination with horseradish that added a bit of spicy creamy lift to the sardine’s typically fishy aroma.

Followed by Crab salad, beetroot, burrata, tomatoes and pepper pearls, heirloom tomatoes and lavender mayonnaise, in which the last ingredient was surely influenced by the nearby Provençal meadows, I grasped his style – fresh, artistic, light and balanced.
Most dishes on the tasting menu are also on the regular carte such as the Cod, corn, cauliflower, parsnip, prickly pear with mushroom sauce. Autumn feel of this plate was achieved with typical seasonal French produce.
If there is meat in South of France, then it is usually veal so the chef created the Veal cheeks, potato dauphine, potato purée, broccoli, trumpet mushrooms, pumpkin fritters and yours truly foie-gras. The richest dishes of all, but still in the balance realm with mushrooms and broccoli taming the juicy chunk of veal.

Before the deserts arrived, a cheese course of Comtè & Epoisses, apple and pastis gelly, a typical intermezzo between the savoury and sweet courses on Jan’s menu, came to our table. It was so light, zesty and fresh, unlike most corpulent cheese dishes, so we had enough room left for a desert.
Our plate of Chocolate, roasted banana sorbet and peanut butter powder was the only thing that was not featured on the à la carte menu, so we felt like we benefited from going for the whole thing. My penchant for dark chocolate makes me vulnerable to sweets like this, and I won’t hide it, it was superb but also fun as I’ve never tasted a roasted banana sorbet, a thicker and richer frozen sorbet. And who would resist anything with peanut butter? (Perhaps only people allergic to nuts, and I’m sorry for them.)

The interior design feels like an old home. The antique-feel of JAN’s interior with vintage furniture, tall candle holders and naturalist paintings makes it feel very warm. An ideal dinner escapade. The chef’s degree in Applied design and his work with the magazine ELLE, where he learned about the importance of food styling, both left their imprints of the sleek and well-thought aesthetics at JAN.

Aside from a good French wine list, JAN has an interesting South African wine selection. Particularly here in France, loud about its produce, wines from other countries are hard to find. Italian perhaps, Spanish maybe, but South African? It is a shame since this country has not only wonderful own varietals such as Pinotage, but its mild climate favours also the international grape varietals. As an aperitif I enjoyed my Ladybird organic white wine from Western Cape area.
We also got a bottle of a recommended red wine from Stellenbosch. The internationally high scoring Bordeaux-Blend (Cab.Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Cab. Franc, Petit Verdot – in order of concentration) De Toren Fusion V from 2011 vintage was aged for 12 months in new and second year oak barrels. Rich plum, blueberry mingle with deep spices, liquorice, dark chocolate and black tea in the background. In particular the veal cheeks with potatoes benefited from this wine’s fragrant yet supple tannins, corpulent structure and 15% alcohol.

You might heart about South Africa recently a lot from the media overtly concerned with the infamous Oscar Pistorius trial, but it is a shame that the other, more positive news not focused on the local violence, are not being reported by the negativity consuming press. Further, when eating out we are overstimulated by the French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, some Vietnamese, but also increasingly by less-known cuisines such as Peruvian, Burmese and thanks to Jan Hendrik now also South African. Let’s celebrate the diversity of our world – positive and negative – through various cuisines and innovative spirits of young chefs like Hendrik. I wish his niçoise endeavour luck and longevity.
Address: 12 Rue Lascaris, Nice, France
Contact: +33 (0) 4 97 19 32 23
Opening hours: Dinner: Tue-Sat: 6:30pm – midnight; lunch on Friday: 12noon – 3pm.
You must confirm your reservation on the day of booking, otherwise it will be canceled.

Ma Yucca: casual Franco-Japanese canteen in Nice

Ma Yucca is simple, but quality-driven, both in its decoration as well as on its menu. Although the tiny restaurant is owned by two Japanese sisters – Mayu and Yuka, the local French influence came from Yuka’s culinary experience with two-Michelin star chefs in France prior to opening her own place in Nice. Mayu advises diners on the menu as she is in charge of waiting the tables.

Meat features at Ma Yucca more than a usual western sushi fan would expect at a place run by Japanese. But, as in every country, Japan has diverse regional cuisines and meat forms the culinary base in some of them. Just think about the premium grade Kobe beef or pork gyoza.
A very casual lunch offers another level of experience than a more relaxed dinner setting. The lunchtime is highly popular between the local Japanese community, so Ma Yucca’s tiny premisses make you feel as if you were somewhere in Tokyo. The lunch menu changes weekly and is updated on the restaurant’s website.

Some starters, such as Ma Yucca Salad consisting of mesclun, sprouted soybeans, string beans and seaweed in sesame sauce, also feature on the regular dinner menu. It is a healthy and refreshing starter that keeps enough space for a meaty main course.
One week you can find a Pan-fried porc gyoza with chinese cabbage, the other a Salmon tataki or anything that the chef prepares from locally available ingredients.
Mains are usually three different plates. I went for a superb “Sushi demi-cuit” – partially seared sushi of salmon, topped with raw red eggs of lump and spring onion. Served with pickled ginger and soy sauce in which you dip the perfectly made sticky rice buns with fish. A small bowl of miso soup came with it on one wooden tray. The ‘Japanoholic’ in me was content.

The meat-craving usually have a wider choice. The other two mains when I dined there were a Fried flank steak in a bbq sauce in Japanese style served with a bowl of white rice or Salad with minced pork meat.
The menu of a starter, main dish and a dessert comes at €23 and a main course with a starter or dessert is 18 €. Being in a sweet mode and wanting to try all three desserts (Assortment of desserts), so I paid €25 for a perfect re-energising lunch.
Cheesecake with yuzu and oreo cookies, Crème Brûlée with matcha powder, and Cantaloup melon soup with vanilla ice cream were a delightful modern Japanese take on Western desserts by adding typically Japanese ingredients such as green tea or citrusy yuzu making the lighter.

The dinner four-course menu selected from the à la carte is also well-priced. At €30 per person it gets you an amouse-bouche, your choice of starter, main course with a bowl of rice and a dessert.
The wines are all under €50 (25 on average) for a bottle and all French. They are well-chosen for value and span all the main wine producing regions of France. Sake and schochu (a strong distillate from potatoes flavoured with various fruits that are marinated in it), Japanese beer Asahi and Kirin, are also available. The only disappointment is the limited choice of Japanese teas – only sencha and genmaicha. From a country that invented a tea ceremony, I would expect more.
Address: 26 Rue de la Buffa, 06000 Nice, France
Contact: +33 (0) 493 88 39 84
Opening hours: Closed on Tues & Sun. The other days open for lunch from 12noon-2pm & dinner from 7pm-10pm

Bastide de Moustiers: Alain Ducasse's coveted culinary baby rooted in Provençal nature

The nostalgia seeking well-off diners at Alain Ducasse’s Michelin stared Bastide de Moustiers are lured away from the Mediterranean shores by an authentic farm-to-table aura of the restaurant cum country inn in the heart of Gorges du Verdon. Moustiers will get under your skin as it did for the celebrated French chef. Let it work its Provençal magic to penetrate deep in you soul.

Not just casual bistros, but also top Michelin-rated chefs in Europe are increasingly working with local and organic produce from their own garden. Alain Ducasse, the celebrated French chef has been one of the most vocal supporters of the freshest local ingredients for decades, and his other inn in Provence at the Hostellerie de l’Abbaye de la Celle is also set with its own “potager“, vineyard and an orchard in the old abbey property. Ducasse has imprinted his naturalness aura into the mindsets of hundreds of chefs. Not far from Moustiers, in Luberon Le Gourmet at La Coquillade is blessed with an organic garden.

Yet, Bastide de Moustiers is a working farm within a five star boutique hotel, therefore the scope of the acquired zero miles travelling produce is wide. Often, the guests landing on the helipad or driving in through the serpentines of Haute Provence, have travelled further than the food served here. Local purveyors, whom Ducasse and the chefs personally know, deliver the rest.

Ducasse with a French nutritionist co-wrote a health-minded cookbook titled “Nature“. His quite simple, by the Mediterranean and Southern slopes inspired recipes, celebrate the bounty of the local produce. If you rather let others cook for you, come here. Bastide de Moustiers brings alive this nature-driven philosophy of Alain Ducasse’s Michelin-stared cooking. From an olive oil, through cheese to fish, everything is sourced from the best food artisans in the nearby regions. A skilled beekeeper makes honey, fromagerie curdles cheese, Moustiers baker Robert Peix supplies bread, truffles pop up not far from this verdant region and the bacon and sausages are popular family provisions in the mountainous surroundings. In Ducasse’s words: “You can’t cook well without good ingredients. If you don’t treat the ingredient and its flavours with respect, you’ll spoil it.” And, Provence has much to offer to a curious chef, who pays attention to highlighting pure natural flavours.

Gardening and cooking meet at Bastide de Moustiers

The Bastide de Moustiers’ own vegetable garden is organised around diverse themes. All of them characterise the plants’ use in the kitchen. There is an aromatic herb garden, salad garden, root garden, simple (medicinal) garden, and a wild garden. In the later you can spot anything from zucchini through dozens species of tomatoes depending on the season. Each month, the colours change from a vibrant spring rainbow to more sedate hues of winter, luring diners inside regularly to savour these natural wonders, invigorating one’s hedonistic senses.
All that a Michelin cuisine needs to cook great food, yet rustic French countryside style kitchen at Bastide de Mustiers epitomises the Ducasse’s “return to roots by preparing old-fashioned cookery“. The chef’s childhood growing up on a farm in Landes inspired the gustatory travelling in time, back to authenticity and sincerity of a family meal in France. The duck, cod brandade, gently cooked seasonal vegetables in bouillon, and fromage of course! S’il vous plâit! The dishes change regularly according to the availability of the ingredients, and the chefs’ creative muse plays with the plates only to the point when the violin (main ingredient) is in synchrony with the orchestra of natural flavours.

Fertile nature around Moustiers is abundant with truffles (Riez), melons (particularly from Cavaillon), zucchini flowers, and other plants. The animal realm thrives here, like the French queen of lamb from Sisteron grazing the mountainous pastures along with ducks and goats (source of milk for fresh cheese). Olive trees accommodate the higher altitude still influenced by the bordering Mediterranean climate, and you will find the oil poured generously over anything delectable at the restaurant.Lush nature around Moustiers La Bastide de Moustiers embodies Ducasse’s love affair with cooking. As he wrote in his book ‘Nature‘: “It’s all about falling in love with your ingredients.” And it is here at his country inn, where he and his dedicated culinary team come the closest to his cherished object – the herbs, vegetables and fruits growing in his sprawling garden right behind the Provençal restaurant.
The two distinct wine lists remain in the locavore sphere. The “Carte de la Bastide de Moustiers” focuses on Southern France (Côte Rôtie by Stéphane Montez is a good bet), while the selections inside the “La Cave d’Alain Ducasse” wine menu offer the crème-de-la-crème of the French vineyards such as La Chapelle single vineyard Hermitage by Paul Jaboulet Aîné and further spanning from the cool North to the South.

It’s worth the trip (some take a shortcut by a helicopter landing directly on the property’s own helipad) to this remote and gorgeous corner of Northern Provence. If only to savour the purity of the local produce and the culinary skills of the by Ducasse’s carefully selected team of chefs from his luxurious flagship restaurant in Monte-Carlo. The friendly atmosphere is much more casual than at the chef’s glamorous hotel restaurants in their urban surroundings.
Nature seems to inspire simplicity in those willing to go with its smooth flow, rather than against it. Emotions penetrate every detail in the restaurant’s interior but also each of the adjoining 13 rooms of the Châteaux and Hôtels Collection inn, all together creating a worry-free dining experience. Uninterrupted by the human presence, only the crickets will play their songs ceaselessly.

For anyone longing for more privacy, the ‘library’ room or the ‘salon des Amoureux’ (freely translated as the room for lovers) make for the ideal seating. While weddings, anniversaries and other occasions can be accommodated al-fresco in the back garden or front terrace. By his natural and honest cooking at the Bastide, Ducasse sets an example for by novelty obsessed generation of modern chefs. Calling for local and organic ingredients being used at restaurants, and for our health’s sake, hopefully many will follow the combat against highly processed food filled with potentially harmful chemicals.
Chemin de Quinson, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie 04360, France
+33 4 92 70 47 47

« First ‹ Prev 3 4 567 8 9 Next ›Last »