La Prévôté

[Duncan]

In the thread on Northern Provence, I said I would start new threads for the better restaurants we visited during our holiday, so that if other eGulletters visit the same restaurants they have somewhere to comment. Here is the first of those, La Prévôté in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. I hope I gave some impressions rather than just a description of how the food looked, but I'm not terribly good at flowery descriptions of wine/food; also I'm just getting the hang of noting meal details down during the meal, so I haven't yet worked out whether I should be hiding the notebook or trying to pass myself of as a food critic!

Judy and I went to La Prévôté on the evening of 3rd September. The Michelin guide describes the restaurant as sitting on the banks of a tributary of the Sorgue. This is a bit misleading as it sits not just on the banks, but solidly on top of one of the channels of the Sorgue as it runs through Isle sur Sorgue. From the outside, a courtyard opens off a narrow backstreet in the centre of the town. Inside, the courtyard is on one side of the river, the dining room on the other, and the reception area with seats for those who, like ourselves, arrive too early looking over the river running underneath it. A punt lies moored on one side of the river, although there is barely enough clearance either upstream or down for the punt to get under the walls of the building. Downstream, a couple of tables overlook the river, however these tables also gave the impression of being in a broom cupboard, so we were very happy to be in the main dining room which is spacious with a high beamed ceiling and walls a mix of stonework and plaster.

La Prévôté

MENU DU LAVOIR……54 euros

Servi pour l’Ensemble de la Table

Escalope de Foie Gras de Canard aux Pêches

Et son Pain Brioché aux Fruits Secs Préparé par nos Soins

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Diagonale de Queues de Langoustines Poëlées

Concombre Mariné à l’Huile Vierge

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Demi-Pigeon Rôti aux Agrume et Romarin

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Fromage Affinés de Maître Vergne

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Millefeuille de Chocolat et Praliné

Sorbet de Fromage Blanc et Caramel de Balsamique

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Aren't digital cameras handy when you want to record what was on the menu?

For an aperitif we had a Cocktail Maison: Muscat, Crème de Mur, Champagne. This came with an amuse bouche of some fishy paste on croutons and some very garlicky olives. The bread offered was a choice of, a very nice olive bread (sort of a ‘fougasse’, I think, crispy with a layer of black olives), mini baguettes with pointy ends, and some rolls whose name I forget. About this point there was some confusion over water. A waiter filled our water glasses with some fizzy water which we hadn’t ordered (but some other table had). He realised his mistake before pouring us their wine, but it took a little while for us to make it clear that we didn’t mind because we’d have ordered the same water anyway.

Once the water was sorted out we got a chance to order some wine for ourselves (as opposed to any other table). Since I had to be able to drive safely afterwards, we limited ourselves to a half bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, 1998 Domaine de Vieux Télégraphe at €29. I don’t know how restaurant mathematics work, but the same wine was also listed under the full bottles at €84 per bottle. I know that champagne is supposed to suffer badly from being in non-standard bottle sizes, but surely the same can’t be true of other wines? Perhaps it’s the law of supply and demand, or maybe we simply got a bargain. It’s a fabulous wine though. Both the wine and the water were kept safely out of our reach on another table throughout the meal, but they were topped up regularly.

With the wine order sorted, we moved on to an amuse bouche of pureed melon with aniseed and I think a little bit of chilli oil. At this point I evidently broke an elementary rule of fine dining: we were seated at a circular table, more than large enough for the two of us, and in the nature of good restaurants the places were set with a large steel plate onto which the dishes for each course were placed and removed. The place setting was sufficiently large however, that the side plates were about half way round the table. In order to get at my bread more easily, I had pulled my side plate round the table so it was within reach. The waiter who removed the amuse bouche carefully moved my side plate back round the table to its correct location.

The foie gras was served on three slices of peach with a sweet peach puree and some brioche containing dried fruits and spices (I think allspice). The foie gras was nicely browned and crispy with a good balance from the sweet elements of the dish. It was served on a clear glass plate which gave quite an interesting effect with the stainless steel place setting under it.

The langoustines (four tails and a claw) were served on cucumber with two sauces, one of cucumber and one of langoustine. I thought the cucumber sauce was perhaps too mildly flavoured compared with the langoustine one, but the overall combination was very nice. We decided that the claw must be for decoration only since there seemed no obvious way to break it open.

The main course was half a pigeon served on polenta with some vegetables and segments of citrus fruit around it. Although very pink the breast was also very tender. I also noted that the leg still had a claw attached.

The cheese course arrived with more bread. I do so like the French attitude to such things, whereas in British restaurants they whip away the side plate at the first opportunity here we had regular bread rations issued throughout the meal, and Judy deciding at one point that she didn’t want more bread just then didn’t stop them offering it again next time they came past. Judy would, however, like to point out how unfair it is that the practice of serving the lady first is applied also to the cheese course. It means I can sit back and relax while she has to guess which, and how many, cheeses she might like. Anyway, they had lots of interesting looking, and tasting cheeses.

Dessert comprised a couple of wafer thin circles of chocolate sandwiched with a light praline mousse, balanced on some bitter ganache and garnished with gold leaf. The accompanying fromage blanc sorbet had a nice sharp cheese flavour, more so than I would have expected, which went well with the chocolate.

As usual for an evening meal, we declined coffee, but they still gave us a plate of petit fours, which I thought was a nice touch.

So far as I know there isn't any restriction on smoking at La Prévôté, but on the evening we were there, the only table that was smoking was also the only table outside in the courtyard, so for once we had a smoke free evening which was most pleasant. (Why can't the French realise what tobacco smoke does to good food and drink?)

Total bill for a most enjoyable evening was €163.50

(Edited for spelling)

Edited September 16, 2003 by Duncan (log)

[Bux]

I haven't yet worked out whether I should be hiding the notebook or trying to pass myself of as a food critic!

Why not just share your thoughts about the meal with your peers here? I enjoyed reading about your meal as La Prévôté. Although the chance of being overwhelmed by tobacco smoke at a dining table in France varies, we've been finding that, on the whole, the better the restaurant, the less smoke. There are exceptions and there are three star restaurants that push the sale of cigars after dinner. There are also restaurant such as Michel Bras where there is a table tent with a message inviting diners to reseve the pleasures of tobacco for the salon for the well being of the other guests. When, at the end of the meal, we were asked if we wanted to take our coffee in the salon, we smiled and said we'd continue to enjoy the smoke free dining room for coffee.

[robert brown]

We have lunch there each time we take our friends antiques hunting. The fixed menu is the only way to go at mid-day. It is always tasty and a good deal.