Le Bousquet was a choice find, in a cave, no less. This was indeed a welcome cool shelter from the sweltering heat outside. In fact, it was so gloriously temperate inside that there was a sort of greenhouse, pictured below, next to our table. This was one of the remarkable features of this restaurant. Another were the giant menus on planks of wood which had to be placed on chairs for everyone to be able to read their contents. This was an inconvenience but in the end likely a safer measure given we are in the midst of a pandemic. The food however, more than made up for this minor quibble.
Below you will find pictured my meal of choice. I picked a lamb and pork brochette. This meal for me runs the risk of becoming cold too quickly and the meat hardening. One should hold the metal prong and get the delicious morsels off at pace, proceeding to put them together on the plate to retain heat. This dish was absolutely delicious and filling, but not too much. The pork was the most astonishing of all, beautiful texture and an intense smokey flavour.
My sister opted for salmon en papillotte (a cooking technique where the salmon is wrapped in foil). Normally I cannot stand fish but this dish was really quite excellent. the fish was flavoursome and fondant.
Mother ordered andouillette to torture us. The contents of this dish do not bear thinking of, much less writing at length about so I shall spare you the agony.
Finally, father ordered the steak which was excellent. I had only a small morsel because the meat industry, beef in particular, is a huge contributor to global warming and should be regulated as a matter of urgency. While waiting for the legislative arm of government to wake up to a very imminent crisis, I choose to abstain from contributing to the beef industry. A morsel from someone else’s plate that I have not paid for is just fine, however. And I must say it was quite fine, tender and lovely. The garlic butter was the real standout here.
We had two desserts (between us not each). The first is pictured below. Home made profiteroles, filled with home made ice cream, as it should be. Everything was correct. The thickness of the pastry was exact, the flavourful ice cream and the rich fabulous chocolate sauce. Consistency, flavour and not straying from the traditional dish – this was a huge win.
Finally, the Tarte Tatin maison was also above par. The pastry tasted excellent and was by far the greatest achievement of this dish. It is difficult to fail in this dish when the base ingredient, namely apples, is freshly and locally sourced. Using seasonal vegetables as opposed to ones one can get all year round from the supermarket really took this dish up a level and made it quite extraordinary.
Overall, this restaurant was beautifully situated and beautifully decorated. In the middle of our meal, a band started playing songs. This in itself was a delight. Of course it was the typical woefully sentimental, soppy and predictable trite garbage tunes one expects in these circumstances but it was pleasant enough. A cave restaurant was an excellent idea on such a hot day and the food was of a devastatingly high quality. We all left satisfied and impressed.