Eating highlights of 2010

Two great new experiences – the restaurant O’Bontemps at Magalas, half an hour away, a smart place with a really interesting surprise menu from €28 at lunchtimes (we had the €32 menu and really enjoyed it), and (newcomer of the year, and just ten minutes’ drive) the tapas bar Cave St.Martin at Roquebrun – see also this video of its opening party. Here you’ll find a truly excellent combination of carefully sourced ingredients (Spanish ham, French cheeses, locally grown garden vegetables, the very best of local wines) and friendly, relaxed, but attentive hospitality from Raymond, his family and staff, makes for the best evening out in the area. Open all evenings in summer, it is now open, in the down season, Fri.-Mon. 11.00-23.00.

Vendange 2010

Our small contribution to the annual wine harvest in September: collecting the table grapes from the vine along the front of La Roque. Apart from a few we ate or gave away, most went to make a fantastically sweet, strong red grape juice – now, alas, a month later, all gone. (Our friend Claire from Australia holding the bucket.)

No this isn’t Venice …

… it’s the port of Marseillan on the Bassin de Thau, home of the classy restaurant, the Chateau du Port (on right of photo, you can sit out on the quayside). Photo by Claire.