RESTAURANT REVIEW - LE JARDIN DES SAMBUCS - CEVENNES, FRANCE

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”

Lewis Carroll
 

Sorry it all went a bit quiet last week, but I was out of town, in the most magical place and I am so excited I can finally tell you about it! Where to start? Gosh, well my husband, son and I spent 7 wonderful days and nights on our yearly yoga holiday hosted by the lovely Gingi and Ella from the Shala in London (more about that soon ;)). The week long retreat took place in a quiet country village in the Cevennes, a breath-taking, luscious mountain range in South-Central France, about an hour inland from the coastal city of Montpellier. Oh, it was so enchanting…

During our time in France, we had an unforgettable lunch at ‘Le Jardin Des Sambucs’, a vegetarian restaurant set in a fairy tale garden, which has been 20 years in the making. The owners – Agnes and Nicholas – have showered their place with love and their attention to quirky details is close to none; truth be told, the visit to their restaurant and garden gave me goose bumps! In fact I felt just like Alice in Wonderland, so eager to discover yet another new and intricate details as I turned into a little nook or unexpected corner of their magnificent garden. Needless to say, my son was in heaven too and had sooooo much fun running around ‘finding’ little treasures, obscure flowers and awe inspiring plants. We could have stayed there all day. Actually, there are lots of areas, tucked away in man-made caves or under colourful fabrics which have pillows and blankets and all sorts to help guests feel like they can indeed lounge there for as long as they wish. Isn’t that adorable?!

As many of you know, having read the ‘about’ page on my blog, I dream of owning my own café one day and so I was of course very interested to see how this couple could make a vegetarian restaurant work, in a country that’s pretty fond of eating meat. In contrast to the more traditional French food, the meal was simple, yet very tasty, with a real homely feeling. What I found interesting was the fact that there was just one dish on the menu which consisted of a selection of vegetarian and vegan ‘tapas’; the composition of the dish however changes daily. Clever ;). 

On our visit, our pallets feasted on - amongst other scrumptious yumyums - a carrot and coconut mash, sweet onion and turmeric relish, curried potatoes, rustic omelette, green salad and seeds and a sweet peach crumble for dessert, topped off with edible flowers from the garden of course. Was it the best meal I ever had? Perhaps not, but I utterly enjoyed it and would not hesitate to return, this time allowing a whole afternoon to explore, lounge and just be.

Thanks for reading!

To find out more about the week-long Urban Yoga Retreat I am hosting on the 9th of August, 2014, please click here.
And for information about Le Jardin Des Sambucs please just click here. ;)