Le Table de Cuisine - St. Andre

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blackduff
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Le Table de Cuisine - St. Andre

Post by blackduff »

The Table de Cuisine had listed by the Michelin book for good food. This isn't a star, exactly, but it's listed as a good place to eat with a menu of ca 28€. My report is from two other people so I cannot be precise on the Michelin changes.

There was a radio report too about this restaurant. This was Cherie FM on Monday. I'm sure that Martine has put some information on her web site.

There was an article on the Indep yesterday but this didn't list places lower than 1 star places (Palmier in Laroque, as an example).

Le Table de Cuisine is still my star. I love their food.

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Post by John & Elaine »

Yeah - it's stunning and great value. Have recommended it to literally hundreds. If you haven't tried it - you should.
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Post by edann42 »

We've eaten there a few times and it's always excellent! Madame can seem a little unfriendly at times, but the owner/chef is very friendly.
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Post by John & Elaine »

Maxine takes a bit of getting used to but it's worth the wait. Incidentally, they are mentioned on the front page of Languedoc Pages today.

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Post by Sue »

Is it good at lunch time?
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Post by John & Elaine »

It's good all the time! We've done a fair amount of both and would say there is no difference at all

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Post by blackduff »

John & Elaine wrote:Maxine takes a bit of getting used to but it's worth the wait. Incidentally, they are mentioned on the front page of Languedoc Pages today.

John
John
Maxine will get more warmth from using her proper name. It should be Martine.

Blackduff (I was just playing with the error and please don't think I'm being nasty. Everything else you have written about this restaurant is true and I agree with you.)
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Post by interiors66 »

[quote="blackduff"][quote="John & Elaine"]Maxine takes a bit of getting used to but it's worth the wait.
I agree that the food is very good, a different menu to the norm.I have never had a bad meal there but have experienced a warmer welcome and service in an ice hotel on a cold day.
Unfortunately it seems I have not had the pleasure to meet the chef, who obviously has a great passion.
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Post by Santiago »

It's a great little restaurant. They make a big effort to source food and wines locally from organic producers. The dishes are often quite innovative but always full of flavour. It's one of the region's little gems IMO.
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Post by Donna »

I've been a keen visitor to the forum for several years but never posted - not even sure if this is where I should be putting this post. I enjoy and have found the restaurant reviews very helpful - we've visited a number of restaurants on the basis of the reviews posted, including La Table de Cuisine. On the two occasions we've eaten there we quite enjoyed the food but, like some other forum members, found the service a bit unfriendly. I am surprised that no- one seems to have reviewed Au Remp'Arts restaurantt, situated in the beautiful old part of Elne. Remp'Arts is favourite of ours - the food is consistently of a high quailty, always beautifully presented and the location is very pretty. Being in a similar price bracket to La Table, we think it also represents good value for money. Another favourite, and well worth a try, is L'Ancienne Ecole in Palau del Vidre, though I have seen it mentioned on the forum in the past. Thanks for all the useful information the forum provides.
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La Table de Cuisine

Post by mammadee »

We had another excellent meal there again yeserday evening. Martine greeted us very warmly. I think she is rather shy, but very pleasant- and she is making a serious effort to learn English!
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Post by Kate »

Hi Donna
We've eaten at the Ancienne Ecole in Palau del Vidre and I agree - it was very good. Trouble is, we tend to forget about good places we've been to until someone reminds us, so thanks for that. Will definitely try the one in Elne. Have cycled past it and it smelt great.
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Post by blackduff »

Ancienne Ecole has been but the price is quite high, in comparison the Table de Cuisine. I've never tried the Elne restaurant~I hope to try this soon.

There is going to have another Viet restaurant in Elne soon. The owner is Cristine, who used to be part owner at the Escale de Asia. Hopefully it will be good and I'm sure she will have super service at the new restaurant.

The Ancienne Ecole used be owned/run by a young couple. The cook was Swedish (and he was very good) and the female was English. I think her name was Monica. They were only open in the summer time, since they worked in the Alps during the winter times.

Within St. Andre there's another super restaurant too. It's called something like the Jardin Simple. You have to make reservations the day before. They will buy the specific "Stuff" they're going to cook. I have eaten very well there but it's expensive too.

I'm getting hungry now.

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Post by John & Elaine »

We have been to the Jardin du Simple as well and I'm sorry but I would struggle to find a good word to say about it!

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Post by Donna »

As far as I'm aware, L'Ancienne Ecole is open all year, think it might be closed on Wednesday out of season. Price wise we found it similar to La Table and they do some good set menus. We've also been to Le JArdin and although we really enjoyed the food and the couple were very friendly, it was a bit expensive. Isn't it funny how people's opinions can be so different - makes life interesting!
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Post by jeannot »

First post,hello.

Having read good things about this restaurant, but from another source ,went there in autumn 2011 with madame.
Both of us rather dissappointed.Would agree with the comments about the unaimable service however we also found the food very mediocre. To be honest apart from a tasteless seafood risotto I can't remember what we ate but both agreed we would not return. On the upside they try to use as many local products as possible and we had an excellent bottle of red that we didn't previously know.Unfortunately didn't take note of the name.
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Post by Kate »

Hi Jeannot and welcome.
I think the quality of restos round here depend on so many things: time of year, mood of cook...... it can be quite hard to find consistency - but as Donna says it makes life interesting! Most of all, I suppose it's personal taste - I thought the Table was OK but nothing special, my husband goes there regularly for lunch when he's working that way and thinks it's excellent.
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Post by blackduff »

Kate wrote:Hi Jeannot and welcome.
I think the quality of restos round here depend on so many things: time of year, mood of cook...... it can be quite hard to find consistency - but as Donna says it makes life interesting! Most of all, I suppose it's personal taste - I thought the Table was OK but nothing special, my husband goes there regularly for lunch when he's working that way and thinks it's excellent.
When I started to eat there often, I liked one menu and I would take this each visit. But, there's a difference each time. I liked the salad with orange slices and anchovies. It has pearls of vinegar too. So, I tried to have this each time but it's changed-slightly. I found where they're buying the vinegar and chased this down. Miammm. Same for the anchovies. This menu had potatoes and it's a bit different too. There's olive oil is used instead of butter. You might find a few chuncks of carrot in this too, sometimes. Sage can be found sometimes too.

Certainly they buy local products but they also to find the best of the products available. The variations in the menus are changed, since the "best" has changed. I like that the menu does change and I can find the differences.

If we go back to the posts on this thread, many people has said Michelin is wrong.

Some posts said that the restaurant doesn't have a large enough choice of wines. How many do we need. They do have quality wines and some especially good local wines come from the Treloar winery.

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Post by Santiago »

They do have quality wines and some especially good local wines come from the Treloar winery.

... but don't let that put you off :lol:
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Post by Sue »

Just booked a lunch time table at La Pierranne for hubbies 50th birthday on Friday. Hope its good. Will report back.
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Post by Kate »

Happy Birthday to hubby for Friday. Hope you have a lovely evening.
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Post by interiors66 »

Sue wrote:Just booked a lunch time table at La Pierranne for hubbies 50th birthday on Friday. Hope its good. Will report back.
I have to say,its my favorite at the moment,lovely hosts,great food good prices and the chance to sample some unusual Belgium beers.
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Post by Donna »

Been to La Pierranne twice and enjoyed food and welcome on both occasions. Much better than La Table - in my opinion. Sure you'll have a lovely night.
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Post by Santiago »

You could say I'm biased about La Table de Cuisine (LTdC) because they list my wines but the fact that they list mine, and other small, interesting producers tells you something. Most restaurants just choose a wine list from one of the regional agents that suits their price bracket. That's why you see the same old boring wines in nearly every average restaurant and the same prestige wines in all the restaurants who aim at Michelin stars.

Martine at LTdC actually contacted me by Facebook. It's almost unheard of for a restaurant to contact a winemaker. What I've found is that restaurants who put some thought into their wine list do the same with their food. So it's a good indication of a good restaurant. Examples are La Table in Perpignan, La Garriane (one of the other two new BIB winners), El Taller and Thierry Astruc.

Talking about restaurant reviews, trust in the reviewer is all-important. I have faith in John and Elaine's reports because I've tried a few of them. On the other hand I was always dubious about a former PO Life restaurant reviewer, notably for his recommendation for Courtpaille.

Last month we were on the way to Montpellier and hungry kids were demanding McDos or KFC but we saw a Courtpaille (Narbonne Sud) and decided to give it a go.

Within 10 minutes I was wishing I'd caved in to the kids. The world's most boring "salade d'arrivéé" (just chunks of iceberg lettuce with cesar sauce) was followed by a heated up pre-smoked chicken breast with a baked spud. I'd expected the "legumes a volonté" to be similar to Flunch but no, I had to request vegetables from a waitress doing her best to avoid eye contact and the only choice was haricots verts, which arrived 5 minutes later overcooked and watery. We skipped coffee and dessert. A thorough waste of a mealtime!

Given that 2 of the 3 new BIB awards have gone to restaurants that I think provide excellent and innovative cuisine in their price bracket, I'd say the BIB guide is worth having for those who appreciate great food.

I've not tried Ramp'Arts or La Pierreanne but they are on my list.

I'm always looking for good local restaurants to recommend to our customers. We have several thousand hungry visitors over the summer and it's great to have a list of good restaurants in the area.
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Post by Kate »

I was always dubious about a former PO Life restaurant reviewer, notably for his recommendation for Courtpaille.
Don't really think that's fair. At the time he was being criticised for only reviewing restaurants that were too expensive for a families with children, so he reviewed something that was family orientated and cheap.
Restaurant reviewing is always bound to be very subjective, but most of all, what is good (or bad) when the reviewer visits may be completely different the next day. Different staff, different produce, different menu....
We used to go to the Courte Paille when son was young and usually enjoyed it. It certainly wasn't gourmet food by a long chalk, but you knew what you were getting, could have as much of the accompanying stuff as you wanted..... Haven't been there for ages, but still think these places (Hippopotame now my fave) are great value if you pick the right thing.
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Post by Marguerite & Steve »

We went to a Hippopotame restaurant on Monday night, (not local to PO) hubby has been in one before in the PO and enjoyed what he had, although it was lunchtime, so I don't know if that makes a difference, anyway, I thought the food was "OK" but very overpriced for what you got. I wouldn't go again, but the Restaurant was quite full and had families there, now that could not have been a cheap night out for a family, especially when there are some lovely reasonably priced restaurants about.

Also been to a Courtepaille, we got what we paid for and I actually enjoyed it more than Hippopotame.
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Post by John & Elaine »

Just for the record - we love the Hippo. Especially we liked that after a year without a visit the waiter greeted us with 'Ah! My English friends. And how is your new Grandson who was here last Summer?' Courtepaille for me is as its name suggests the short straw - we can take it or leave it

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Post by John & Elaine »

Forgot to say thanks for the kind words Santiago.

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Post by blackduff »

I ate at one of the first Courtepaille near CDG airport. I don't remember the food but the sound was terrible. The building was like a Teepee and it was covered with wood lathes. This is the most noisy restaurant I've ever been. This was in 1979. I never returned again.

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Post by Santiago »

Well I did question John (Fairclough) on the Courtpaille review at the time and he instested that he thought it was pretty good food and good value for money.

I'm not saying this to have a go at John (if he still reads the forum) but just to say that our Courtpaille meal was utter rubbish and it's not cheap either. 12€ for a very basic main and a drink (OK the salad is provided too much it's only worth about 50c).

You can get a much nicer formule in any number of decent cafés and little restaurants.

OK, I'm not a fan of chain restaurants. They appeal to people who like to know exactly what they are going to get i.e children or people with faddy children. However there are much better chains than Courtpaille if my experience was the norm. La Boucherie would be my choice but I've not tried Hippo. People have been telling me about some Pirate place over by Carrefour Rivesaltes which seems to be great for kids.

However, I've found that a lot of very good restaurants are quite happy to prepare nice simple kids meals at pretty much the same price as Courtpaille. For example, we ate at La Lisita, a restaurant in Nimes, opposite Les Arenes run by two ex-Gavroche guys. The food, presentation and service was excellent. My evening menu was around 28€ and the kids menu was around 10€ but they were getting really good food and fresh juices. There were several families in there. It would have been a cheap night out if I hadn't been tempted by a bottle of Chave Hermitage 2005 at 99€ 8)

Anyone going to Nimes who likes good food should give it a go.
http://www.lelisita.com/fr/index.php#ca ... s-vins.php
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