Above: Red mullet stuffed with diced celery root atop zuccchini puree at IKAL.
The first stop of our spring trip was Montpellier in the southwest of France, and we had no trouble scoring the seafood we craved. Here’s an alphabetical list of spots we sampled for you.
Spaces under the arcades of the 18th-century Saint-Clement aqueduct are known for their vibrant food market, but we were not wandering around picturesque streets in search of produce to cook. The neighborhood’s Bistrot des Arceaux welcomed us with dishes prepared in what the owners refer to as “a modern home kitchen.” Artistic plating is not the kitchen’s specialty, but it knows how to turn out a plateful of flavor.
The scent of oranges and cardamom wafted above our bowls of creamy butternut squash soup. Accompanied by a mound of fresh potatoes and a simple salad, a fillet of sea bass with pesto was hidden under fresh ratatouille of more than the standard vegetables. The star of a vegetarian plate was a pair of samosas with goat cheese and eggplant confit in a fresh coulis of tomatoes and sweet red peppers. A small salad and nicely seasoned lentils rounded out the plate.
I was hoping to share the featured trio of desserts, which indeed did turn out to be more than this one person could finish. But, uncharacteristically, Lamar opted for an enormous peach sundae with chocolate sauce and no shortage of whipped cream that he deemed not designed for two.
Above: Bistrot des Arceaux
Bistronomy is the contraction of the terms ‘bistro’ and ‘gastronomy,’ a new culinary concept, mixing the bistro spirit and the quality of beautiful gastronomy, the simple and the extreme.”
Website of Bistrot La Canourgue
Bistrot La Canourgue nestles in the courtyard of a Relais et Chateaux Hotel and exudes the expected charm. Our tastes seem to be slipping to more casual spots, but the service and plating were excellent.
A rich morel mushroom sauce served as the bed for fresh asparagus topped with ribbons of zucchini and parmesan. A pave of fish rested upon tomato gratin alongside a skewer of crispy squid. Carrot puree and a dried fruit chutney accompanied roasted breast of duck.
Above: Bistrot La Canourgue
Korean lunch plates at Bistrot Umami were full meals. Fresh shrimp and sauteed vegetables entwined with udon noodles in a teriyaki sauce. Tonkatsu, tender fried pork, with shredded red cabbage was delicious. Currently, chef Amelie Young Min is in the process of moving down the street to open Umami La Dame de Seoul.
Above: Bistrot Umami
Empanadas seem to be the rage in Montpellier, and everything online seems to direct you to a place with long lines. Buck that trend and head to Chez Matias Empanadas Argentinas. The friendly manager guided us to an assortment of savory ones that proved perfect when consumed back at our rental.
Above: Chez Matias Empanadas Argentinas
Serving food in mason jars absolutely should not work, but somehow the women running D’Ici at D’Ailleurs have nailed the unlikely concept. No menus, so you windowshop the refrigerator cases to make your selections. Just the kind of thing I normally would hate, but these women are so welcoming and open for questions.
Ceviche came with corn nuts on the side, and a refreshing Thai salad included shrimp. Among the mains we sampled was a sophisticated shrimp ravioli in a saffron shrimp sauce. And a baked-to-order peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips was heavenly. The dishes they prepped every morning were so fresh-tasting, we stopped on our way to the train station before we journeyed northward.
Above: D’Ici et D’Ailleurs
No problem having a rainy day or two when IKAL is your neighborhood restaurant. The daily menu is market-driven, and we wound up trying fresh types of fish we’d never heard of before. The kitchen worked their magic on even the ugliest. They relied heavily on fresh vegetable purees, letting the vegetable flavors shine through instead of heavy doses of butter and cream.
A palette of color dotted a bowl of a delicate garlic and almond soup. Both red and rose beets were in season and formed the base of several salads during our stay, all with regionally-produced goat or sheep blue cheese. A variety of mackerel, chinchard, was prepared aguachile-style.
Small fillets of pageot, in the bream family of fish, topped a luscious spring-green puree of arugula, asparagus and zucchini. Charred octopus found a home amidst potatoes, rutabaga and kohlrabi atop a red cabbage puree. And an admittedly ugly large, split pageot was flavorful and moist in a pool of pureed eggplant, zucchini and red cabbage. If one makes it that far on the menu, IKAL’s strawberry tartes are exquisite.
Above: IKAL
The outside tables of La Morue beckoned us during our wanderings. Well, that and the promise of grilled fresh sardines, and they were both bountiful and wonderful. Simply presented, oysters were nice and plump; fried chiperons, baby squid, were tender.
The one meal-spoiler was billed as “tuna tataki.” Three slabs of raw tuna were placed on a wooden tray. The unappetizing cuts proved tough and lacking in flavor. We asked the waiter about it, and he proudly said the owner cut the tuna himself. He did say that other people had commented that it did not seem like traditional barely seared, sushi-grade tuna tataki. Uneaten, it remained on our bill.
We can recommend everything else we tried but avoid that tuna. Humble grilled sardines are a much better catch.
Above: La Morue
We reached Montpellier jetlagged and ready for lunch at 3 in the afternoon. Like most cities in France, finding a sit-down meal at that hour can be a challenge. Most restaurants only open their doors between 12 and 2 p.m., and they are rigid about these hours. And the 2 p.m. closing time does not mean you can stroll in places at 1:45 and expect to be served.
One of the few spots with flexible hours, Ma Premiere Cantine welcomed us with open arms. The eggplant tartine seemed rather meager, but the vegetarian planche was appealingly presented and plentiful enough to be shared.
We followed that by either a walk to stay awake or were sleepwalking our way around our neighborhood. We ended up with a beautiful pear tarte to-go from Oh La’Mie Boulangerie. We returned later in the week for some of the bakery’s artisanal bread.
Above: Ma Premiere Cantine and Oh La’Mie Boulangerie
I’m sure there are Italian restaurants enjoying higher ratings than Rocco et Sa Mere, but, on beautiful spring days, the patio on an intimate, irregularly shaped plaza merits multiple stars. An arugula salad was simple and fresh. Both fried artichokes and arancini parmigiana were delicious entrees for sharing. Pork Milanese was on the plain side, but the marinara sauce on wild shrimp and rigatoni was well balanced and spiced. We were so content with the crust and toppings on our diavola pizza, we returned later in the week for another.
Above: Rocco et Sa Mere
Bon appetit!