Cafe Gaby Lourmarin – Shutters & Sunflowers

Restaurants we love in Uzès, Aix-en-Provence & St-Rémy-de-Provence

Caroline Longstaffe — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 14:17:34 +0000

Eating out, or more to the point eating outside, is very much a part of restaurant life in France. There are lots of places to choose from, and we love finding new ones. Here are a few restaurants we've just discovered as well as some old favorites.

Uzès

Restaurant Ten

Restaurant Ten, in the middle of beautiful Uzès, is somewhere we've been returning to since it first opened several years ago. One of the most delightful things about this restaurant, apart from the food of course, is the owner, Kate Tucker. A bubbly, warm, English girl from Devon with a million dollar smile who make you feel like she's welcoming you to her home every time you arrive.

And I'm pretty sure that Kate is the reason that celebrity chef and writer Rick Stein recommends and speaks so highly of Restaurant Ten in his fabulous cookery book Secret France.

Cocktails at Ten

Kate just get's it right; the ambience the vibe, the service and the menu. Doubtless drawing on her experience at The River Café in London (where Jamie Oliver also learned a few tricks) together with her French husband and their fabulous chef Damien Rolain, they've created an unpretentious little jewel of a restaurant. Interesting, well priced, beautifully presented, delicious food which never fails to impress, quite fabulous!

Crispy trout and quinoa salad at Ten

Restaurant Ten

10 Pl. Dampmartin, 30700 Uzès +33 (0)466 22 1093

Open Wednesday - Sunday 12.00 -14.00 and evenings from 19.30

Reservations are advisable ~ tell Kate I sent you!

Click here for menu and website

Petits Fracis Provençeaux at Restaurant Ten

Other favourites in Uzès

Bec-au-vin

Le Zanelli

Pizza Duchy

Villa Curti we haven't here yet but it's recommended by Kate from Ten & it's where she goes out to eat!

Saint-Remy-de-Provence

Bistrot Les Pieds dans L'Eau

We normally go to St-Rémy-de-Provence on a Wednesday, market day, and if we have visitors, after lunch we often go on to Les Baux de Provence to the incredible art show, Carrières des Lumières. We've eaten in several places in St Rémy but no one restaurant has really stood out. Then a few weeks ago we stumbled upon Bistrot Les Pieds dans L'Eau, an old manor house and former school right in the middle of town where lunch is served on an expansive terrace.

The ambience was delightful and the staff cheerful and attentive. The overall concept at the restaurant of shared, family style plates was perfect, especially for lunch.

The building itself is an interesting property. The dining terrace restaurant is at the rear and there is a lovely courtyard at the front.

When you walk through the courtyard, before you reach the Terrace restaurant, you pass through a charming shop selling household goods, gifts and clothes.

On a busy day, should you have to wait for a table, you can watch the world go by out on the street from the comfort one of the restaurant's arm chairs and order a cocktail until your table's ready!.

Click for more information on Bistrot Les Pieds dans L'Eau

22 boulevard Victor Hugo , Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
+33 04 90 90 74 49

For restaurant ideas & information about St Rémy visit my friend Keith Van Sickle's website here. I'd highly recommend his guide book, 'An Insiders Guide to Provence' which you can purchase from this link.

Aix-en-Provence

Café Hôtel de Caumont

'Café' in France can mean many things, a place just for a coffee and lights snacks, somewhere serving casual meals, or an elegant restaurant such as the café at Hotel de Caumont, a beautiful art museum in the center of Aix-en-Provence. The dining room is exquisite, and when the weather allows the Terrace is a wonderful setting for breakfast, lunch or afternoon drinks.

My salade crevette was delicious and the desert trolley is outstanding!

Café Hotel de Caumont is open daily from 10.00 -19.00. Unfortunately it is not possible to make a reservation. Check their website for unusual hours

Click here for Café Hôtel de Caumont website

Hôtel de Caumont a historic property and center for the arts

And of course Hôtel de Caumont is not all about the food, it's primarily a wonderful art museum boasting a vibrant history.

Hôtel de Caumont was built in 1715 by the President of the Court of Auditors in Aix-en-Provence, François Rolland de Réauville, the Marquis de Cabannes, in the desirable Mazarin quarter of the city.

In 1758 it was purchased by François Bruny de la Tour-d'Aigues, the richest ship-owner, merchant and banker in Marseilles who named it Hôtel de Bruny. The property was inherited by Bruny's son who died shortly afterwards and so in 1796 it passed to his sister, Pauline. This resulted in a further name change to Hôtel de Caumont, after Pauline's husband the Marquis de Caumont.

Entrance to Hôtel de Caumont, Aix-en-Provence

During the late nineteenth century the property fell into decline. By 1939, it had been divided into apartments run by Resistance member Hélène Ardevol (1892-1976), who during WWII bravely sheltered other Resistance members in the apartments. Its' last private owner was General Isenbart who completed extensive restorations before he sold it to the city of Aix-en-Provence in 1964 when it became the Darius Milhaud National Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Hôtel de Caumont today

In 2010 Hôtel de Caumont was sold to Culturespaces (who run Carrières des Lumières and other fabulous exhibitions throughout France) and they restored it to its former glory. It was reopened on 15 April 2015, and now hosts two temporary exhibitions annually. A film on Cézanne is shown every day, and a variety of concerts, musical performances and lectures are scheduled. Currently, until September 18 2022 the work of Raoul Dufy is on display.

The gardens are beautiful and well worth a visit.

Tickets to the museum can be bought online, click here

Hôtel de Caumont 3 Rue Joseph Cabassol, 13100 Aix-en-Provence +33 04 42 20 70 01

Click here for website of Hôtel de Caumont

Le Four Sous le Platane

How often do I hear from perplexed overseas guests 'We're going to a Pizza Restaurant in Provence, we're not in Italy?'

We may not be in Italy (although it's not far away) but the French certainly love, and know how to make great pizzas normally in wood fired ovens, feu de bois. The terrace at Le Four Sous le Platane is one of our favorites.

And if we can, we try to grab a spot by the fountain from where the restaurant get's it's name. Scrumptious pizzas served as huge wedges with a green salad and glass of wine, yum!

Click for more on: Le Four Sous le Platane

Lourmarin

There's no where new to recommend in Lourmarin and sadly a few places we thought were great have changed owners, not for the best ~ Le Moulin in Lourmarin and Petit Resto in Vaugine.

But we still love:

Louche au Beurre ~ the best steak frites!

Pizza Nonni ~our favorite for Pizza

Gina's Café ~ delicious homemade food, great for lunch

Café Gaby ~ the place for people watching in the very heart of the village, be it for coffee, an apéro or a casual meal!

La Maison Café ~ Great cocktails and small sharing boards, we love coming here after the Friday market or for an evening drink.

If you'd like more information, download for free:

A PDF Travel Guide for Lourmarin

A PDF Travel Guide for Uzès

I'd love to know any restaurants you recommend in Provence!

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Returning somewhere special, Lourmarin, our village in Provence

Caroline Longstaffe — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:26:10 +0000

After many months, and much persistence, dealing with the disappointment of cancelled flights and the uncertainty of COVID, we'd managed to return to England. After spending five special weeks with family and friends we were finally at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel beside the sign welcoming us to 'le shuttle'. Even then, we were unsure that French immigration, which you pass through in England, would permit us entry to France; us, in our French registered car, with British passports and American Vaccination cards. Despite having completed all the forms for our vaccinations to be recognized by the French 'Pass Sanitaire' (required to enter all restaurants and many buildings in France) we hadn't yet received the necessary paperwork back. So it was with considerable trepidation I handed over our documents to the Border Control officer. Like most of his breed he didn't speak. With a thumping heart I watched nervously as he scowled at our passports, brandishing his stamp to thump it down on an open page before glancing at our vaccine cards and passing it all back to me and then wave us on. We breathed a sigh of relief, had they really let us in, might we really be able to return to our fairy-tale village of Lourmarin?

As we followed the line of obedient looking traffic driving onto 'Le Shuttle', we half expected that someone might stop us, it didn't seem possible that we really were finally headed to France.

Barely forty minutes later we were disembarking and following the signs for the A26 autoroute, we were heading south.

Within a few hours we were walking the ramparts of the fortified little town of Langres, a convenient halfway point, just north of Dijon, where we'd booked to spend the night.

Chosen purely for its location, I cannot take any credit for knowing Langres would be so charming. As much of a francophile as I am, not all french towns are this appealing. It felt like the powers of internet searching had deliberately directed me here to welcome us back France, selecting this delightful little town with its pale, shuttered buildings, steeped in history and a beautiful, 12th century cathedral; Cathédrale Saint-Mammès de Langres.

Most fascinating of all, we discovered Langres was the birth place of the 18th century French philosopher, Denis Diderot, the co-founder of the encyclopedia!

Diderot smiled down on us as we sat and sipped an apéro before dinner. Surrounded by the lilting sounds of French voices we allowed ourselves to become immersed once more in the ambience of France, still scarcely believing we were really there.

And then the following day, 350 miles further south, when I next looked though my camera lens, my vision a little blurry, it was to capture the storybook village we'd waited so long to return to. Lourmarin, basking in the late afternoon Provençal patiently waiting for us, unchanged and enchanting as ever.

After we'd dispersed all of our luggage in our little house, Maison des Cerises, we strolled down our sun-kissed street, Rue du Grand Pré.

Lourmarin was bustling, village life seemed to have resumed its normal dance as if nothing had ever happened.

We sat down outside Café Gaby, one of our favorite spots in the village Marc, its owner greeted us like long lost friends; "ça va?" he beamed at us, "Oui" we nodded "et tu?"

And as we sat and watched the world go by everything was just as we remembered, just as it should be.

We returned back up our street and as various shop owners nodded and smiled in recognition, it felt like we belonged.

A little later, we watched the evening shadows settle on the buildings opposite our terrace, listening as the church bells told us the time.

And later still, having nibbled pizza in the village, we wandered the streets amidst the twinkling lights and sound of laughing voices.

We were back, back in Lourmarin, the beguiling little corner of the Luberon in Provence we call home, for part of the year at least, and we couldn't be happier.

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The Lourmarin market, re-opening this Friday!!

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 20:29:55 +0000

I was so happy to learn from my friends in Lourmarin that the Friday market is allowed to return tomorrow; with social distancing measures of course. After so many weeks of not being permitted, I'm thrilled for all the local vendors, and the shoppers too, who appreciate and love the Lourmarin market as much as me.

Because of the virus I can't be there, but I can imagine the white vans filling the car park outside my house and the stalls springing up in Lourmarin's Place Henri Barthélémy, spilling out along the streets. To all of you that can be there, grab your baskets and enjoy ambling through the stalls. And as you make your purchases, from all that wonderful Provencal abundance, think of me, thinking of you, wishing I was could be there to join you.

Delicious local seasonal produce, all types of sensory pleasures on which to indulge.

Locally picked strawberries

Cheeses

Saucissons

Olives

Crystalized fruit

Cordials

Nougat

Fresh flowers

and other indulgences, of which you can never have too many!

Savon de Marseille

Provencal linens

and brightly colored pottery

Maybe in a new basket, there's always so many to choose from

to fill with things that encapsulate the essence of Provence,

and perhaps even a little wooden tool that you never knew you needed..

Maybe not all of these will be there, but they'll be others just as enticing.....

And when your shopping's over, a café or a glass of rosé?

Perhaps the musicians will have returned to serenade you below my favorite terrace at La Maison Café

And then you can enjoy lunch at Café Gaby, not looking quite like it did here, but still just as special.

Hopefully the other markets are opening too, including Lourmarin's organic market on Tuesday evenings.

Nearby Markets of Provence

Monday: Cadenet, Cavaillon, Lauris

Tuesday: Cucuron, Pertuis, Gordes, Lacoste, Coustellet, La Tour d'Aigues, St Saturnin les Apt, Lourmarin 5.00- 8.00 organic produce

Wednesday: Mérindol, Cheval-Blanc, Salt, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, St Remy-de-Provence, Le Thor, Nimes, Cassis

Thursday: Goult, Ménerbes, Rousillon, Pertuis, Lauris, L'Isle sur la Sorgue, Aix-en-Provence, La Motte d'Aigues,

Friday: Lourmarin, Lagnes,, Les Taillades, Bonnieux, Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, Cucuron evenings (July & August)

Next time I share a market story from Provence, I'll be there, celebrating that the world is a safer place. Until then take care.

And if you can get there, remember my house, in the village is available to rent.

You can see a video with information here, do contact me and I'd be happy to tell you more.

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Friday is market day in Lourmarin!

Caroline Longstaffe — Fri, 24 May 2019 03:12:36 +0000

Early on Friday morning, around when the clock chimes eight, the sound of clanking metal posts gently peppers the air. White vans fill the car park outside my door and market stalls spring up in Lourmarin's Place Henri Barthélémy spilling out along the streets. Friday is market day in Lourmarin and as I grab my basket, no matter how many times I've ambled through its' stalls, I wonder, 'what might I find today?'

Delicious local produce,

mouthwatering seasonal offerings,

freshly picked and often just dug from the earth.

Sensory pleasures

to taste

and smell.

Gifts from Provence to take back home,

maybe in a new basket?

So many to choose from

and fill with things encapsulating the essence of Provence.

And when your shopping's over, a café or a glass of rosé?

I love the terrace of La Maison Café where you're serenaded from the street below.

And then maybe lunch at Café Gaby, merging into the ambience of this special corner of Provence.

And if you can't wait until next week, there's many other markets quite close by just begging to be explored, not forgetting Lourmarin's organic market on Tuesday evenings.