Uzes - Les Trois Salons & Laguiole knives

[Simon Majumdar]

I have just got back from a few days in Sauve ( just South of Nimes ) where I was lucky enough to stay on the estate of a friend ( amazing place, 12 acres, olive groves, vineyards - which supply some grapes to la roque - high on the Cevengole hills - fabulous )

Anyway, on the Saturday, I went to the market in Uzes and strolled aound buying food for supper ( Meat - not great apart from the wonderful Poulet Fermier de Borgoine, Fish & Seafood - all exemplary, fruit - OK, Cheese - sublime ) and came across a factory outlet stall for Laguiole knives. I couldn't believe that they were genuine for the price ( 6 small knives costing EU10!!) but they were backed up by all the documents from the factory etc and this apparently is where they sell ends of lines. I bought tons of the things to bring back, but thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone else is travelling in that part of the world. Check it out. Main market sq, next to the fountain..

S

P.S The weekend was also the scene of one of the more bizarre experiences of my life as my friend dragged me to take part in her "Bums & Tums" Aerobics class in a converted medieval barn in a nearby village. The class was taken by Aline Crumb ( Wife of R Crumb ) who lives in the village and the soundtrack to our workout was R on the bongo's

Wierd, but strangely fun

[MMerrill]

"Peter Millson's Les Trois Salons, Uzes. Hailed as one of the most interesting young chefs in France, the Swede comes from three years working under Michael Portos. In this little town south of Avignon Millson prepares dishes which look at Provence through Scandinavian eyes."

This comes from the August "Gambero Rosso" magazine. Has anyone been there? We'll be in Uzes in late October and thought we'd give it a try.

[rshorens]

I am not familiar with the restaurant you mention, since the only time I spent in Uzes was in 1995. It is a delightful town with a wonderful market, stone arcade. and interesting castle tour. We stayed at the Hotel d'Entraigues, which consisted of several beautifully renovated old stone townhouses across from the cathedral. We most loved the pool on the roof of one of the hotel buildings and the restaurant called "Les Jardins de Castille"on the roof of another of the buildings. The food was good, moderately priced, and the view of the town was lovely.

Have a great trip

Roz

[kerriar]

Uzès is a lovely town with many enchanting Romanesque buildings and you are going there at a nice time of the year.

Be sure not to miss the Saturday market which is one of the best in Southern France. The range and quality of the food is incredible. Even if you are not cooking for yourself, the visual images, the sounds and the fresh smells will stay with you when you go home.

You'll find several stalls selling oysters which will have been harvested earlier that morning in the Etang de Thau. In the late morning, sit down at a bar, order a bottle of Picpoul de Pinet with a couple of glasses and ask one of the oyster sellers to bring you a plateau of two dozen fines de claires. Then just sit and watch the world go by. Both the bar and the oyster seller are at ease with this arrangement and it will cost you about a fifth of the price in Paris (or I dare say Washington DC).

I haven't yet been to the restaurant you mention – so it would be great if you could post a report in due course. Did you read the report in Italian? Is there a URL – I can just about read Italian but would try to get an English translation if available. The Gambero Rosso website has a wealth of material but every time I follow a link saying something like "questa rivista e' in inglese", I find that it's still under construction.

[MMerrill]

Thanks for the great replies. Can't wait for our visit to Uzes and do plan to try Les Trois Salons, and will post a report - sometime at the end of October. Re Gambero Rosso site, they never do seem to have anything in English so you must register on the Italian site, then go into "Girone dei Golosi" from where you can explore around. There is a lot of good information if you can manage in Italian. Looking up hotels and restaurants is fairly easy. I subscribe to their English-language magazine (GAMBERO ROSSO WINE TRAVEL FOOD, To order the quarterly American magazine, copies or subscription USA and other countries, SPEEDIMPEX USA, tel. 1-800-969-1258, fax. 718-361-0815, e-mail: mmorreale@speedimpex.com.), which is interesting and useful if you're a fan of Italian wine, food and travel.

[MMerrill]

Again re Gambero Rosso - The Italy forum has a digest of articles from recent issues - in English.

[MMerrill]

We have just returned from France and our dinner at Les Trois Salons was a highlight of the trip. Unfortunately we were not in Uzes on Saturday to enjoy the market. At dinner, Les Trois Salons offers a 39 Euro set menu with no choices. The following is my recollection of the food - might have missed an engredient here or there. We started with a first course of 3 seared scallops on a bed of tiny bits of cauliflower, pomegranate seeds, parsley and browned butter. This was followed by a "cake" of risotto cooked with butternut squash and parmesan, topped with thin slices of roasted squash, roasted chestnuts and tarragon. The main course was a small filet of veal, braised with endive & dill, with a sauce of veal stock and a strip of almond paste. Next came a shallow bowl with aligot cheese melted into a smooth liquid mixed with some potato puree and topped with bits of sauteed shallot and watercress. The dessert was a trio of delicious sweets - slices of banana roasted in a caramel/coffee syrup, an egg shell filled with chocolate flan topped with a bit of cream and sitting on a bed of crushed, sugared walnuts, and a small glass of melted apple sorbet with a crispy sweet wafer. Everything we ate was delicious and inventive without being outlandish at all. The service was professional and friendly. The wine list includes several wines in the 20 Euro range and goes up from there. They have a lunch menu for less; I think maybe 17 Euro, but could be wrong on that. If you're in the area, I highly recommend a meal here!

[grahamtigg]

Not sure how I missed this thread back in September. Following a recommendation from the Pugh's of Le Mimosa (St Guiraud, north west of Montpellier) we had lunch there in early June. I understand the front of the house is run by a New Zealander. Agree with your comments about the dishes being inventive but not outlandish and they also show respect for the ingredients. These are my notes on the 17€ two course plus coffee set menu with a la carte desserts.

The starter was a citron marinated salmon and cod with a light mixed salad - delicate and balanced and much better than it sounds. The main dish was a whole char grilled sea bream on a spring cabbage and pinenut base with a stripe of red pepper purée. This was superb in ingredient quality and execution. We also opted for a couple of desserts from the carte - a chocolate flan with a separate pineapple creation and a lemon soufflé with a milk ice cream. These pairs are served separately and our only observation being they were more two separate desserts than an integrated dish.

We sat in the sunlit fountain adourned but tree shaded courtyard at the back - seriously relaxing. One interesting aspect was the wine list that, I recall, offered most of the wines in various sub-bottle portions e.g. 1/2 bottle, 50 cl. That said the wine prices were a tad steep - the 19€ well chosen house wine was over 500% marked up.

Graham

[albiston]

We have just returned from France and our dinner at Les Trois Salons was a highlight of the trip. 

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MMerrill,

thanks for the interesting report.

I'm sorry I missed the original thread in September since I was away at the time, otherwise I'd have added a bit more info to what I wrote for the Gambero Rosso Digest.