I did this for the wonderful South Africain Foodblog - SHOWCOOK
and just had to share it with you too
It was our 15th wedding anniversary last June! With Olivier we decided to be 'green' travellers and not to up our Carbon footprints by going off to some exotic destination. So instead we did a delicious road trip into the deep heart of the beautiful region of Auvergne that has been our home for the past 10 years.
The Cantal, one of the four regions that the Auvergne is compiled of, is a rugged region (even in summer) but oh so incredible! It is home to many of the cheeses that made Auvergne famous, as well as the loveliest brown Saler cows with their pointy horns!It is a region where one eats well even in the tiniest of towns. And so we stumbled upon an amazing Auberge (actually thanks to the fantastic Fooding guide – for any of you planning a trip to France well worth consulting them online or buy it first thing on arrival – it even has writeups in English! www.fooding.com). Saint-Etienne-de-Chomeil is not a village you arrive upon via normal tracks. But certainly worth the detour as Jean-François Pécoul not only cooks the most delicious organic meals at his café, aka restaurant, aka epicérie 'Les Glycines' , he is also an organic farmer farming with Salers and his Salers steak the best I've ever eaten! Not to mention the 'to die for doll' Aligot!
But the best of the Cantal to me is the recently opened Hotel Restaurant of Serge Vieira just outside another spa village most foreigners have not heard about, Chaudes-Aigues. (Reputed to have a hot spring with water so hot as to boil an egg!)
Serge, in his 30's, obtained the Bocuse d'or in 2005 and his CV is rather impressive – he worked with numerous chefs – amongst other he was 2nd to Regis Marcon, 3 star Michelin Chef also IN THE AUVERGNE!! He travelled and worked in other countries, in particular Australia, and the influence can be seen and tasted in his food. His lovely wife, Marie-Aude who also worked at various Michelin Star restaurants, is the perfect hostess. (We first met her 'Chez Michel Bras' in 2007). But the incredible feat was that, not even 7 months after opening Couffour, he got his first Michelin Star! And after having dined there, we know why!
Upon our arrival, we walked through a swaying meadow between two medieval buildings (future bedrooms), and then we arrived in a modern futuristic world with his logo used as metal decoration everywhere. All is harmony, from the colours, choice of furniture through to the very pleasant and quiet service. Marie-Aude made us feel immediately at ease.
For the moment they only have 3 bedrooms, and our bedroom was the 'Silène' bedroom named after a common European wildflower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silene_vulgaris) and used as inspiration for the decoration. Each room has a view of the beautiful Chaudes-Aiges Valley.
A long corridor leads from the rooms to the open space that has been very cleverly divided with a breakfast:lounge area just before the restaurant itself. All with 180° views on the surrounding landscape . The exterieur becomes part of the interior.
The 'apéritif was served in the lounge – Olivier had a local Cantal Beer and I had the 'house' mixture.
I could not wait to go through to the spacious dinning room for this show to start! We chose the 4 course menu. The amuses bouches was not just beautiful to look at, but delicious and tasty.
1) The first starter, a Crab ball floating on an asparagus gelée , topped with a frothy verbena/seashell mousse ,just encouraged you to have MORE! Tasty and futuristic
2) The second starter was inspired by the great barrier reef - various shellfish under a thin transparent lemon/water veil! Another artwork!
3) The cod was 'confit' and served with cabbage, cauliflower, organic almonds and almond oil.
The rosé pigeon was roasted to perfection with spices and served on blond peas from the Planeze, a region in the Auvergne where they grow different pulses, amongst other blond lentils.
The cheese trolley had such a variety of local ripened cheese that the choice was rather difficult.
And to top it all, the delicate attention to our anniversary on the dessert plate which were accompanied by a delicious 'Pink Champagne'.
We opted for a glass of wine with every course and the wine steward advised very interesting, mostly organic, wines from lesser known regions
I did on purpose not go into detailed decriptions of all the plates as it was just too special with the tiniest detail everywhere to put words to it – one has to experience it first hand!
Couffour with Marie-Aude's delicate attention and Serge's incredible food - a place to return to at the earliest occasion!!
* - Kuier -South Africanism for visit
Here's to sharing lots more!
Bisous
Lynn
Bisous
Lynn
