I%26#39;d love to surprise my Wife for her 40th, and take her to a fabulous, special restaurant - preferably one in or near a delightful hotel so we can make a night of it. We will be staying with family in Cabasson this August, in the Bormes les Mimosas area, but will have a car so I can whisk her away privately somewhere just for the night. Would have to be a maximum of about an hour%26#39;s drive though, since we will be leaving our young children with their elderly Grandparents. Please does anyone have any helpful suggestions? (and yes, I know I have perhaps left it a bit late...!)
|||
Well, thanks for nothing! (no replies, I%26#39;m a little surprised - the Cote d%26#39;Azure is not exactly short of visitors %26amp; contributors)
Anyhow, in the SPIRIT of Trip Advisor - and since I%26#39;m sure there are at least a few people keen to know a bit more about restaurant options in the Bormes / Lavandou area - I%26#39;ll put in a few words about the experiences I%26#39;ve just had (Aug 09)
For the %26quot;Romantic Birthday%26quot; meal, I did my own research on-line and finally plumped for dinner at the Mitchelin-starred MATHIAS DINDANE restaurant in the Hotel Les Roches just outside Le Lavandou, which has an attractive website. Within this, I made a reservation online the week beforehand, and received an email that made clear they had received my request, but were not yet confirming the booking. Their promise to make final confirmation nearer the time never materialised, so I ended up having to phone them to make sure we were not going to be turned away. Unlikely, perhaps, but as it was her 40th I wanted to be extra sure my wife was not going to be disappointed. Not a good start though, really. Anyhow, when we arrived at the Hotel we were quite lucky to find a nearby parking space, but be warned, you might not be. I had decided not to book a room after fairly negative reviews on TripAdvisor, but the actual Dindane restaurant was very nice in terms of its%26#39; ambience and decor. We were shown to an excellent table looking straight out to sea and a lovely view of the rising moon. The place was about a third full I guess, but it%26#39;s a very long thin room and difficult to tell what was going on at the far end. I won%26#39;t go into great depth with the menu and what we ate %26amp; drank, but suffice to say it was very good quality and nicely presented. We paid about £350 for two, eating a la carte with two Aparatifs, one of the cheaper bottles of wine (52 Euro)and Coffee. About what one would expect to pay in similar places in London I suppose, but I%26#39;m afraid the Service - although friendly - was just not as attentive as I would have expected. In fact I was rather annoyed to have to ask twice for water, to pour my own wine, and to wait 10 minutes before someone came near enough for me to ask for the Bill. This %26quot;Service%26quot; was already included and the actual percentage was not very clear. It wasn%26#39;t bad enough for me to moan but just left me with a bit of a bad feeling considering the (expectedly)exorbitant price, but we did have a pleasant evening.
Incidentally, I also took my wife and the rest of our family out for Lunch the following day, up into Bormes Les Mimosas where, after a recommendation from our Villa owner, we had a delightful time at LA TERASSE - one of the five or so places along from the Place Gambetta, on the hairpin bend in the road that consitutes the centre of this lovely hill village. As the name suggests, the place has a front terrace elevated above the pavement, affording a bit more privacy and a superb view (plus a touch of cooling breeze if you are lucky!) The waitresses were lovely, the children were well received, and the food was very good and reasonable value, considering the prime location. In fact, we returned there again the following Saturday lunchtime (many of the other interesting restaurants in BLM were only open evenings) and were pleased we did. I%26#39;ll cover a few other places in the separate Le Lavandou Forum if anyone%26#39;s interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment