Moulin de Mougins or Feu Follet?

[cigalechanta]

And, are they open for lunch?

[Jonathan Day]

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't been to the Feu Follet for a couple of years.

But I do know the area reasonably well; we have a house outside the old village and spend roughly 6 weeks per year there.

The Feu Follet ("= Will o' the wisp") was once a well recommended restaurant; I believe it held a Michelin star at one point, and it was a favourite of Simone Beck, Julia Child's co-author who lived near Plascassier, not far away. When we first started going to the area, some 10 years ago, it figured in "insider" guidebooks as a hidden gem. It presents itself as more of a casual restaurant than a contender for gastronomic fame. It's located in just about the perfect spot in the old village.

Unfortunately, we had a series of dreadful lunches there: overcooked fish, insipid sauces, all complemented by slapdash and sullen service. I kept returning, thinking that we were missing something or that the restaurant was just overcrowded. Eventually we stopped. It may be time to try again.

Le Moulin de Mougins was, for many years, considered one of the country's better restaurants; it held three stars, and Roger Vergé established a reputation for cuisine du soleil, using lots of vegetables, fresh fish, and "mediterranean" sauce ingredients: lots of basil, for example, and generous use of citrus. Vergé built a bit of an empire on the back of the Moulin's fame: another restaurant in the village (L'Amandier, no longer part of the Moulin), a gift shop, a wine shop, a cookery school, etc., plus ventures in Tokyo and Disneyland. Then the elders of Mougins built a motorway separating the Moulin from the old village, and the restaurant went into a bit of a decline. We dined there at what must have been the bottom of its cycle: the signature stuffed and truffled squash blossom was delicious, but the rest of the dinner was mediocre, the place filled with customers from tour buses, the service bad and the prices sky-high. The Moulin slipped from 3 stars to 1, but it was hard to believe that the single star was not being maintained out of courtesy to a famous chef.

In Vergé's later years, matters started to improve. A new chef was hired, service was generally freshened up, and some new dishes added. Michelin restored a second star. We had a pleasant lunch there; it wasn't a revelation but it wasn't bad.

Then at the beginning of 2004, Alain Llorca bought the Moulin and reworked it. It fell back to a single star, in recognition of a new owner. We had a delightful lunch in the summer of 2004, and another earlier this year which didn't match the first: the srevice, especially, was lacking.

Llorca is more of an experimentalist, somewhat in the Spanish avant garde tradition: he offers a "round of tapas" for the entire table that includes "duck foie gras with candyfloss". There is a complex system of 3 menus: classical (e.g daube de boeuf, spinach ravioli, panisses), contemporary (e.g. beef with caviare) and "light" (e.g. grilled sea bass with asparagus, artichokes and mesclun salad); you can mix and match dishes from the menus, or have a set menu in "3 declensions" where you can choose the starter, main and dessert from the 3 systems. And the Moulin has now gained a second Michelin star under Llorca's direction.

So: two very different restaurants. One more casual, one serious, aiming for its third star. The Feu Follet seemed very poor the last time we dined there, the Moulin better (though pricier) but a bit uneven in execution.

Other places in the area well worth exploring is Le Bistrot de Mougins, for very traditional cooking (daubes, civets, etc.); Cote Mougins, on the road to Cannes; and Mantel, in Cannes itself. Mougins has some 50 restaurants in and around the village, so you are unlikely to go hungry.

Cigale: both Feu Follet and the Moulin are open for lunch; the Moulin has a set lunch at, I think, EUR58 that includes champagne, wine, mineral water and coffee.

[cigalechanta]

Thanks you so much for responding.

Maybe better to go back to La Table De mon Moulin.

[Jonathan Day]

We found la Table de Mon Moulin, outside of le Rouret, very pleasant, especially because the wine list is long and deep and the wine prices very reasonable. No choices on the menu, though: you eat what he's cooking that day. Le Clos St Pierre, also in le Rouret, isn't bad either.

Also worth looking out in the area is L'Auberge Fleurie, in Valbonne, just outside the village.

[cigalechanta]

Thanks again. We loved the Moulin last year and that beautiful pottery she serves is made especially for her in Valbonne. Wish I could remember the name

[Underhill]

We've had lunch or dinner at Le Feu Follet every year for quite a number and found the food to be consistently very good. The French friends whom we took to the restaurant raved about the food, and they are not easily impressed. I wouldn't miss going there, Mimi; be sure to order the moules au curry and the escargot soup.

[Jonathan Day]

We'll be in Mougins in a few weeks time; we'll revisit the Feu Follet and report.

[Jonathan Day]

As promised, we went to the Feu Follet for dinner last night. This was a first visit in something over 3 years.

At first, our hopes were raised -- this place has a near-perfect location in the centre of the village; the restaurant looked well cared for; our table was on the terrace, with a little sea of lovely flowers just outside the window; and the welcome was friendly. Olives were tasty, and the menu and wine list looked fresh and interesting. Interesting local wines of quality were well represented, e.g. Palette (ch. Simone), Bellet (Clos St Vincent), Bandol (Domaine Tempier, etc.).

I tasted:

- Escargots in cream sauce with garlic

- Foie gras ravioli with mushroom sauce

- Foie gras terrine

- Rognons (kidneys) in mustard sauce

- Roast duck

plus a few desserts.

The Feu Follet has improved a lot since our last visit. Where the service a few years ago was cold and slapdash, this was skillful and friendly. None of the dishes was terrible.

And yet something was consistently missing, out of balance, like an orchestra that had failed to tune up. Flavours in the snail dish were surprisingly thin, except for bits of garlic that hadn't been cooked enough and were acrid tasting. The foie gras terrine had an odd second taste. Roast duck was overly sweet. Kidneys had good texture, though they weren't served "rose" (pink) as requested, but the sauce was watery and the mustard really didn't come through. The ravioli dish was the best of any we were served.

Desserts, e.g. a chocolate "pyramid", had strong elements, but even here there were inconsistencies. Even the madeleines served after dinner were not quite right.

My sense is that the restaurant is trying harder, but that more attention is needed to flavour and balance -- a final taste, perhaps, before dishes leave the kitchen. The place has great history and potential, and it shouldn't take a heroic effort to improve it.

In the guide that we give to visitors to Mougins, we had advised against visiting the Feu Follet -- this after dreadful food and bad service a few years ago. We'll withdraw this advice, and we'll hope to see further improvement.

And yet it's hard to be wildly excited about the Feu Follet with so many stronger restaurants in the area. Tonight, for example, we dined at L'Auberge Fleurie, in Valbonne, a 10 minute drive from Mougins. Every dish was interesting, and the cooking was confident and skilled. And the bill, for three, was 10 Euros less than at the Feu Follet, and with a better bottle of wine (ch Le Caillou, 1993).

[cigalechanta]

Jonathan, Thanks for reporting back as you promised.