this post is filed under Cuisine - French, Location - France

So on our first real day of the trip, we decided to make our way to nearby Saint Remy de Provence, just a few minutes away from our house in Maillane. St. Remy is an artsy little town - a good deal bigger than Maillane, but still not big at all. It does have a supermarket and a pretty big Wednesday farmer's market, which we visit later in the trip. St. Remy is most known for its artistic community, and this was evident with the abundance of galleries featuring local painters selling a huge variety of original works. Van Gogh spent some time at the very end of his life at an asylum in St. Remy, where he painted the famous "Starry Night."

For the first day, we didn't make reservations for anywhere really and with some loose guidance we sort of winged it. For lunch, we went to Le Bistrot des Alpilles, which we had read recommendations about. The streetside place was rather bustling, with lots of sidewalk seating and natural light. We sat right inside near the window, which gave us a pretty good view of everything around us. The menu has a ton of stuff on it, as well as a choice of differently-priced prix fixes that allow for different options. We decided to go with the 15.90 euro prix fixe lunch special.

melon with serrano ham

We saw this melon with ham at the tables around us, and with the rising temperature I couldn't resist. There could have been a little bit more ham, but I must say the 4 big slices of melon were plenty generous and extremely delicious. Apparently we hit perfectly during melon season - this stuff was incredibly juicy and sweet, and reminded me of the expensive musk melons from Japan. Very refreshing stuff as I was still trying to adjust to the Provence heat.

Provençal fricassée of lamb, semolina with almonds

While everyone else got a chicken with linguine which turned out pretty bland, I went with this lamb stew. At first it was too salty, but that was before I found the couscous-like semolina buried underneath. Mixed together, this became a really delicious and hearty dish, with tender lamb and some nice veggies.

Also included was a choice of dessert - I got some chocolate ice cream which I forgot to photograph (I was really hot). It was a nice lunch, but I still think that maybe I should have gotten a beef tartare. Looking back, I wanted to try a few versions, but I only got to eat it once during the whole trip (in Paris). Ah well - next time!

Hi Arthur - It's been a while since I visited your site... you've been to everywhere, are you in Australia now?? I'm going to South France next week (on motorbike!), our friends have a house in St Remy and let us stay there. I think I'm going to check this restaurant, it looks/sounds lovely. I'm glad you had a wonderful time in France, I'm jealous you had so many nice meals!

posted by keiko on September 27, 2005 04:42 PM

Oops - didn't even see this comment get posted keiko, so sorry for this late reply. Indeed, I'm spending a few months in Sydney for study abroad. I'll be back in the States in December. Sounds like your trip to France was great too!

posted by Arthur on October 16, 2005 10:46 AM

We went to this bistro for lunch last month with great expectations. Shockingly, they completely ignored my order, and only brought the food for my wife and daughter. When I pointed out that hey had charged me for my order but not even bothered to serve it, there was no apology. In fact, the waiter got abusive, and the owner pretended not to understand me. Finally, the chef showed up, and apologized, claiming they had been very busy. And the place was not even that crowded. Certainly not my idea of French hospitality!

posted by Amit on July 7, 2006 12:25 PM