Looking for recommendations/opinions

[Dave Hatfield]

Six of us are off to the Northern Pyrenees in mid- September. We're staying at the Hotel/ Restaurant Chilo in Barcus. Their rooms look nice if a bit quirky, but we understand the food is outstanding.

Question? Has anyone eaten/ stayed at the Chilo? Opinions sought.

We've done half pension for two of the three days we plan to stay, keeping one night free for another restaurant.

So, we're looking for recommendations within driving distance of Barcus.

I see that Chez Ruffet just outside of Pau got a second star this year. Does anybody have any recent experience with them? I can't seem to find any reviews in either French or English. Their website is a bit hard to decipher. Any help appreciated.

Since this is a 'walking' trip we're expecting to be hungry & might even stretch to a full lunch & dinner.

All assistence gratfully accepted. Thanks!

[John Talbott]

Six of us are off to the Northern Pyrenees in mid- September.

So, we're looking for recommendations within driving distance of Barcus.

All assistence gratfully accepted. Thanks!

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Never been to Arnaud Daguin's new place Hegia but I love his food and it's been written up in the dailies & weeklies a lot - it's about 60 klicks from Barcus.

[Judith Gebhart]

Six of us are off to the Northern Pyrenees in mid- September.

So, we're looking for recommendations within driving distance of Barcus.

All assistence gratfully accepted. Thanks!

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Never been to Arnaud Daguin's new place Hegia but I love his food and it's been written up in the dailies & weeklies a lot - it's about 60 klicks from Barcus.

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Dear David: We have visited Chez Ruffet in 2005 and again this May 2006. It was and is the best choice for a meal in that environs; my husband thinks this is the most innovative chef in the Southwest of France. I think Chez Ruffet is definitely worth visiting during your September trip. Both of us were well received. We were delighted with our last meal. Chez Ruffet deserves their 2nd Michelin star. The dining room is rustic, tasteful and inviting. The menu is memorable for both the gourmand and the gourmet. We followed the wisdom of our maitre d' (one of the owners) who convinced us to order the lighter menu (less expensive). It was delicious and his counsel was on target. It's our reccomendation. We will return again.

Curiously, John mentioned the ferme in Hegia, owned by Arnaud and Veronique Daguin. This ferme in Hegia is a much longer drive than Chez Ruffet in Jurancon.

The Ferme Hegia is only available to the guests of this unique ancienne farmhouse circa 1746. We have reservations for this late September, 2006. We are excited about the promise of this new venture of the Daguins.

We last sampled Arnaud's talents in Auch in the mid-80's. We have no idea where he has been since the family restaurant in Auch! John tell us what you know of Arnaud's ventures since 1987?

We will hope there will be some interest in our visit: we will post our reviews to eGullet upon our return. We will also revisit Eduardo Loubet in his newest two star restaurant in La Bastide de Capelongue. This is another very fine young French chef whose expertise in foraging the wild and employing the finest ingredients challenges the talents of Marc Veyrat and Michel Bras. We hope our visit this Fall proves this chefs many talents. He too recently achieved two Michelin stars. Judith Gebhart

[Dave Hatfield]

I think Chez Ruffet is definitely worth visiting during your September trip.

Your recommendation seals it. We'll give them a try.

Never been to Arnaud Daguin's new place Hegia

John, think Judith's right. Overnight guests only for food it seems. Maybe next time as the place looks stunning.

Thank you both

Dave

[Janice]

My boyfriend and I stayed at Hotel Chilo for a couple of nights in September two years ago.

We ate at the hotel both nights and enjoyed the food, which was very competently prepared and made good use of local ingredients - I still have fond memories of an outstanding raspberry tart.

The room we had was not luxurious, but was very comfortable and notable for the shutters which blacked it out completely. This combined with the very quiet surroundings lead us to refer to it as 'the incredible sleeping room'.

A couple of warnings: don't be surprised if there aren't very many other customers if you're there mid-week. We arrived on a Sunday and there was only one elderly French couple and us for dinner. The restaurant wasn't open to non-guests and there was a limited choice menu which was fine.

The other warning is to beware the amount of food that is offered on the five course menu - although if you're hiking maybe you'll be better prepared for it than we were!

I don't have any other recommendations in the immediate area, but if you're heading in that direction I could suggest a couple of places in St Jean Pied de Port or St Etienne de Baigorry.

Have a great trip

Janice

[Dave Hatfield]

My boyfriend and I stayed at Hotel Chilo for a couple of nights in September two years ago.

We ate at the hotel both nights and enjoyed the food, which was very competently prepared and made good use of local ingredients - I still have fond memories of an outstanding raspberry tart.

The room we had was not luxurious, but was very comfortable and notable for the shutters which blacked it out completely. This combined with the very quiet surroundings lead us to refer to it as 'the incredible sleeping room'.

A couple of warnings: don't be surprised if there aren't very many other customers if you're there mid-week. We arrived on a Sunday and there was only one elderly French couple and us for dinner. The restaurant wasn't open to non-guests and there was a limited choice menu which was fine.

The other warning is to beware the amount of food that is offered on the five course menu - although if you're hiking maybe you'll be better prepared for it than we were!

I don't have any other recommendations in the immediate area, but if you're heading in that direction I could suggest a couple of places in St Jean Pied de Port or St Etienne de Baigorry.

Have a great trip

Janice

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Janice

Thanks for the info. Sounds like we'll have a good time. I guess with 6 of us we'll be our own company if necessary.

I'm going to pass your message along to our friends in the hope that it will encourage them to walk further so as to better enjoy the food.

I'll post a trip/restaurant report when we get back.

Thanks again

Yank

[Dave Hatfield]

We have visited Chez Ruffet in 2005 and again this May 2006.

Judith Thanks again for the recommendation.

We're booked in for next Wednesday evening. Full report will follow. (sans pictures as I don't do that. trop gauche!)

[Dave Hatfield]

We just got back from our Pyreneeain adventure. Had a good time despite various setbacks. Definitly ate some good food.

Ok, first of two posts as the Hotel Chilo & Chez Ruffet are sort of two different things.

Here's our take on Chilo.

A nice hotel & very good value for money. The hotel is a bit 'old fashioned', but none the worse for that. Our room was huge. Big king sized bed (not too many of those in French hotels) sofa, arm chairs & a separate room with two single beds all nicely decorated in blue & white. Our friends rooms were also very nicely done if not so large. Ask for room #8.

We had opted for demi-pension, 32 Euros. Good French breakfasts with home cooked mini-croissants & chocolatines plus all the usual stuff. Grandma's plum cake was a special treat.

Dinner was both good & interesting. Bearing in mind the demi-pension we didn't get a choice.

The entree was melon with ham. Boring we thought, a good old standby. Wrong! M. Chilo has rethought the dish. We got a thin millefieulle pastry shell with paper thin slices of ripe melon arranged to look like a rose over a bed of very finely minced local ham with shallots & a bit of creme fresch. Beautiful to look at & delicious.

Civet de Lotte was the plat. Another interesting combination as I'd never had civet with fish before. It worked. This was accompanied by nicely sauteed baby new potatoes. The portions were generous.

Dessert was a kind of strawberry log full of thick creme fresch with almond & a reduced puree of more strawberry.

A nice meal at an amazing price. We had a local Juracon sec which was outstanding followed by a modest Bordeaux.

Looking around at the other tables we could see other interesting dishes being served from the carte or the a la carte menus. Looked as if there was lots of things worth trying.

All in all a very nice place. We'll return. The village is pretty & its a good jumping off point for exploring the Pyrenees.

Next post will be the two star Chez Ruffet.