Villeneuve-les-Avignon
May 28, 2009
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local yumminess & a great selection of wines
This restaurant was an absolute gem that we've had a chance to explore on a total off-chance. After a full day of trekking and driving in the region, we've returned to our beautiful hotel a tad late and literally everything was closed except one bar. We've almost given up on having any food that night - and we were starved - when a local French-Arab kid spotted us in this bar and in broken English explained that there's a restaurant he really likes just nearby.
I thanked him and he carefully started walking in the direction of the said restaurant. Carefully, as it was dark, no one around, and plenty of corners and alleys. But in less than three minutes we saw a gathering of people at the end of the alley. The place was packed with locals and the smells coming through the doors whenever they were open were divine.
La Cave - The Cellar - is an apt name as it feels like a cellar with appropriate stone finish and a slightly darker, subdued ambience. Moreover, they actually have a huge wine cellar in-house and offer an unbelievable selection of wines ranging from 18E - 300E a bottle. Even the house wine is regularly rotated and judging by what we saw, it's more sufficient for most tourist palates.
The food was divine! A number of dishes were already sold out by midnight and yet, what was left was still aplenty. We decided on a range of seafood and beef plates, with octopus leading the way. Stuffed peppers were also a very good selection - each one with a slightly different stuffing, all spiced differently but not too hot, and all ready to just melt away in our mouths. And they did...
What can I say - to pay decent prices for the sort of French food people often hear about but rarely taste was an absolute treat. We've already recommended this place to a number of people and will continue doing so.
Oh, they also serve tapas earlier in the day; the main menu apparently changes on a regular basis too, reservervations are almost a must, and when it's warmer, the entire front window of the restaurant lifts, expanding the restaurant by its patio space and allowing for eating under the stars. Perfection!
I thanked him and he carefully started walking in the direction of the said restaurant. Carefully, as it was dark, no one around, and plenty of corners and alleys. But in less than three minutes we saw a gathering of people at the end of the alley. The place was packed with locals and the smells coming through the doors whenever they were open were divine.
La Cave - The Cellar - is an apt name as it feels like a cellar with appropriate stone finish and a slightly darker, subdued ambience. Moreover, they actually have a huge wine cellar in-house and offer an unbelievable selection of wines ranging from 18E - 300E a bottle. Even the house wine is regularly rotated and judging by what we saw, it's more sufficient for most tourist palates.
The food was divine! A number of dishes were already sold out by midnight and yet, what was left was still aplenty. We decided on a range of seafood and beef plates, with octopus leading the way. Stuffed peppers were also a very good selection - each one with a slightly different stuffing, all spiced differently but not too hot, and all ready to just melt away in our mouths. And they did...
What can I say - to pay decent prices for the sort of French food people often hear about but rarely taste was an absolute treat. We've already recommended this place to a number of people and will continue doing so.
Oh, they also serve tapas earlier in the day; the main menu apparently changes on a regular basis too, reservervations are almost a must, and when it's warmer, the entire front window of the restaurant lifts, expanding the restaurant by its patio space and allowing for eating under the stars. Perfection!
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beautifuly, cozy, hidden-away treasure just meters from downtown
Les Jardins de la Livree is a wonderful place to stay in the vicinity of Avignon if one has access to a car as the bus connection to Villeneuve-les-Avignon terminates early. They've got plenty of secure parking spaces despite being located in a maze of narrow country roads.
But perhaps therein lies some of the magic of this place. A tall gate opens to reveal a rather spacious building that's segmented into rentable apartments, a restaurant with a patio, a live-in portion occupied by the owners, and a huge kitchen. Driving through the second gate that divides this building in two reveals the said patio, a sizable garden, along with a respectable pool, some parking space, a chicken range, and a huge XV century wall.
Everything about this place is outright pleasant. The place is incredibly well-maintained and quiet. Breakfast is good and service is stellar, with the owners always ready to jump in and lend a helping hand. Our room was not too big and it suffered from some shortcomings - shower that was prone to flooding the bathroom, lack of air conditioning (must be a serious issue mid-summer) - but was overall once again, cozy and tidy.
We were never rushed towards anything at this place - free to park anywhere, free to stay at the pool, given the keys for the main gate to come back whenever we pleased, and even given enough coffee to satiate our seemingly insatiable and separate body cavities into which coffee goes.
Location was pristine. From the gate to the main square it was less than a minute on foot. Driving from the main highways into this town was also not a problem, though navigating the narrow streets and the series of roundabouts was a lot easier thanks to a GPS with French maps.
We would recommend this place happily and easily to just about anyone. For 70/E a night for a double room it's definitely not economy, but the ambience is well worth paying that compared to the nearby selection of similarly priced places.
But perhaps therein lies some of the magic of this place. A tall gate opens to reveal a rather spacious building that's segmented into rentable apartments, a restaurant with a patio, a live-in portion occupied by the owners, and a huge kitchen. Driving through the second gate that divides this building in two reveals the said patio, a sizable garden, along with a respectable pool, some parking space, a chicken range, and a huge XV century wall.
Everything about this place is outright pleasant. The place is incredibly well-maintained and quiet. Breakfast is good and service is stellar, with the owners always ready to jump in and lend a helping hand. Our room was not too big and it suffered from some shortcomings - shower that was prone to flooding the bathroom, lack of air conditioning (must be a serious issue mid-summer) - but was overall once again, cozy and tidy.
We were never rushed towards anything at this place - free to park anywhere, free to stay at the pool, given the keys for the main gate to come back whenever we pleased, and even given enough coffee to satiate our seemingly insatiable and separate body cavities into which coffee goes.
Location was pristine. From the gate to the main square it was less than a minute on foot. Driving from the main highways into this town was also not a problem, though navigating the narrow streets and the series of roundabouts was a lot easier thanks to a GPS with French maps.
We would recommend this place happily and easily to just about anyone. For 70/E a night for a double room it's definitely not economy, but the ambience is well worth paying that compared to the nearby selection of similarly priced places.
