Cost for two: 70 to 90 €. Review: June 2005. Web: www.laroseblanche.fr A recommendation from local Peter Hornby of the languedoc page brought us to sleepy Boisseron for lunch. The vaulted air conditioned dining room has character and there is also a small sun trap of a patio garden. Cooking is competent - a generous seared scallop dish and rouget with a sauce incorporating its liver were enjoyable main dishes from the 33€ menu carte. The only spoilers were a rotten raspberry in a chocolate nems dessert and the distant staff - hopefully the personalities behind the place were just temporarily absent.

This restaurant has everything it needs except a full house every night. The food is both delicious and slightly different. I've had astonishing Coquilles St Jacques with beetroot; a dish I'd normally shudder at but it was melt-in-the-mouth tasty. At lunchtimes the place is often full but in the evening it's not unusual to be the only diners. Even the quality of the food can't make up for the lack of ambiance. When it's full it's very good but when it's empty, it's just a little sad. Go on, treat yourself, help fill the old press!

This review is courtesy of Languedoc-Dining.com
Cost for two: 75 € (carte). Web: www.auberge-du-cedre.com
email: welcome@auberge-du-cedre.com
First the logistics. Unless you stay here you can only eat in the restaurant at weekends and bank holidays when the simple set menu is supplemented by an enticing carte. As a setting it's a fairytale - patio, views, gardens, a hidden pool. The food, served in a glorious orangerie or on the terrace, is simple tasty home cooking eclectic with some Catalan roots. Local wine is a passion with matured bottles from the cream of the region available at amazing prices. One of those places to hide well away from the outside world and dream. Check all the details on their informative web site. A new chef for 2006 has added some flare to the dishes.

This review is courtesy of Languedoc-Dining.com
Cost for two: 150 € (à la carte). September 2006. Web: www.oustaldebaumes.com
A tip off from Lutz Engelmann of the nearby Auberge du Cedre (see above) led us to this renovated Mas and one time glass making site (Verrerie) in the middle of garrigue just north of the Pic St Loup. Local chef Eric Tapis offers sound contemporary dishes from a shortish menu using seasonal regional ingredients. He also and keeps the dishes simple, examples being an egg gateau with ceps and roast pigeon with figs. Downside? Salmon of undeclared origin as the only fish on offer and desserts that were OK but no more. Note this is also a hotel and certainly a place to get away from it all.

This review is courtesy of Languedoc-Dining.com
Cost for two: 95 €. September 2001, September 1999 + previous visits

The food here has improved with each visit as Thierry Rousset gains experience. Sound yet imaginative dishes, especially the desserts, from a long established family venture. The very spacious dining room unfortunately lacks atmosphere even when they're busy, something that even the charming Georges Rousset can't compensate for. Update - I've had good feedback that all was well in 2005.

We first dined here before back in October 1993, a mid-week lunch after an ascent of the Pic St. Loup. I recall the meal was a tad heavy and lacked a little refinement, plus the spacious dining room was in need of more dining companions. Since then Georges Rousset has handed over the kitchen to son Thierry and is now imposing his charming and relaxed personality on the diners. We had an enjoyable meal despite the leisurely pace necessitated by a large party and several other tables of eager diners, we had after all booked late that day.

For amuse-bouche taster a lobster mousse was gutsy and interesting. The menu offers two dishes (plus cheese and dessert) for 37 € and the four dishes we indulged in were sandre with hazelnuts, morels and chick peas - a star; semi salted salt cod with a saffron sauce and clam ravioli made with black cuttlefish ink; beef in a deep red wine sauce with rosti and bone marrow; and to complete the quartet a truffeled pigs trotter affair that was certainly fine but disappointingly refined. Vegetables were not neglected with stuffed tomato, creamed turnip spaghetti and a layered aubergine, onion and courgette bake were interesting and not over elaborate. The dessert list is bold and highly imaginative with baked banana with liquorice ice cream being one of the more conservative choices. A mass of tiny tasty myrtilles in a large brandy snap basket with cinnamon ice was simple but super. Individual creme brêlées lacked definition but the petit fours were better.

The cave could stock up with more examples of the Herault and other local wonders, but nevertheless we found a great all round red - Dom. Clovallon Pinot Noir at a bargain 20 €. Overall a splendid meal with plenty of interest, but this is a dining room that needs plenty of companions to give it atmosphere.