This article is going to be different from the previous ones because we will introduce three places in the department of Aude in South of France. We will start with the restaurant "L'Antre-Temps" (which translated would be "in the meanwhile") owned by the chef Lucie Robin Manfield. It is located in Rennes-le-Chateau a very small village on which have been published hundreds of books worldwide because of its famous mysteries. In these few lines we want just to highlight this unique restaurant which propose "every single day" a different menu. Lucie has been working in Michelin starred restaurants and so, in her simplicity, she is absolutely a great chef of his own. Meanwhile her husband is a super nice guy who serves at the tables and occasionally entertain the guests.
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| Chef Lucie Robin Mansfield |
We had a wonderful dinner experience about the menu of that day which included a truffle cocotte, a well pan seared duck breast and Floating Island for dessert, all paired with a nice house and local wine.
Not far from Rennes-le-Chateau there is another place where the truffle is king. We are talking of the "Atelier Barrière Truffes" in Carcassonne, the famous medieval town in the middle of the Aude.
Philippe Barrière is the owner of this Truffle heaven and he will delight you with (actually he will spoil you) which his wonderful seasonal truffle creations. Before that he will introduce you to the free tasting of several local wines (we found this practice amazing) until you will find your favorites. Rather then comment here we definitively prefer give the words to the images we made and to the short introduction of the nice and funny Philippe, who is among the biggest expert of truffles worldwide.
It was a full dinner all with truffle and local wines. We absolutely recommend it if you are in the town of Carcassonne which is always magic as a fairy tail is.
Last but not least there is a final place that we want to highlight for another famous dish of this region. We are talking of the "Cassoulet" made with local Tarbes beans, Duck and Goose confits, Toulose sausage, Ventréche (a sort of local pork belly) and other ingredients. The town of Castelnaudary is the capital of this ancient recipe and we have tested one on the best in town: the restaurant "la Belle Epoque".
To end up this typical local meal we were served a Floating Island which was very nice as well
The Aude is a great destination for the history, the food and of course the wine and it's definitively worths a visit.
L'antre-temps
Address: Grand Rue,
11190 Rennes-le-Château,
France
Reservations: michelin.fr
Phone: +33 9 53 30 96 73
L’atelier de la truffe
51, rue Trivalle
11000 Carcassonne
France
Phone: +33 4 68 25 92 65
La Belle Époque
Address: 55 Rue du Général Dejean,
11400 Castelnaudary,
France
Phone: +33 4 68 23 39 72
Highlight by Paolo Emilio Centoni
Pictures by Luca Centoni
