Chez Paul & Tout

At the end of a dirt path, deep in the Aveyron countryside, aesthetes Nathalie and Didier Muller, an architect and a designer respectively, transformed a stone farmhouse built in 1856 into a sumptuous B&B and… a pop-up veggie-forward restaurant, run by a series of chefs-in-residence. At Chez Paul & Tout, in the former barn that’s been converted into a stylish refectory (the floor is covered in hay, the furniture is mismatched, there’s a gigantic fresco around the kitchen), it was Mélanie Odobez (who used to work at Mermoz in Paris) who kicked things off in the summer of 2023, followed by Martin Lafont, Mary Jacquard and Marie Vial. The latest in the bunch was working the night we went, serving a formidable panisse paired with fennel, aioli, sheep’s milk tomme cheese, black olive caramel and a little baked ham; a lovely beetroot gazpacho; a very gourmet goat cheese, focaccia (homemade of course) with mustard, crispy garlic, cherry and almond; ravioli stuffed with walnuts, Roquefort and green peppercorns, plus a seriously delicious zucchini and pea cream; a rich Aveyron l’Espial cow’s milk cheese; and a retro strawberry jelly roll, keeping it cool with a scoop of rhubarb, strawberry and poppy syrup sorbet. Suffice it to say, we’re already planning our next trip back! // Larosé 

FEELING THIRSTY? : Naturalist bottles, selected for the most part by Vins Falguières, the excellent wine shop in Rodez: Charmille, a Languedoc white from the Domaine de Malavieille (€4 a glass), Coup Double, a gamay from the Thillardon brothers in the Beaujolais (€39 a bottle), or Chatons de Garde, an Ardèche syrah produced by Andrea Calek (€29)…  
PRICE: : Set menus €35 (lunch) and €40 (dinner). 

Hopopup! 
This restaurant runs a chefs-in-residency program, so it’s possible that there will be a new chef running the kitchen when you next visit.