The excellent Jérôme Navarre (winner of Le Fooding’s Best Feast of 2009 for his restaurant in Toulouse) is setting Gascony ablaze at the Villa Cahuzac, a colonial-style villa with a windowed hallway supported by columns that overlooks a garden dotted with fountains. Here you’ll find him serving simple cuisine that’s well prepared with locally sourced ingredients – organic vegetables from La Petite Ferme in Isle-Arné, duck from the Maison Ramajo in Dému, red meat from Maison Brunel in Gimont… The day we went for lunch, we had fresh leeks with linseed oil, hardboiled eggs and hazelnuts; flawless Mediterranean bluefin tuna with rice pilaf, shaved fennel and sweet chilies; before a lovely porcini mushroom and hazelnut semifreddo. What about at night? Think crispy Vietnamese-style pork belly; foie gras with warming spices; marinated duck breast with prawns… Plenty of indulgent options that’ll make you want to nap in one of the hotel’s 12 bedrooms afterward! // G.R.
FEELING THIRSTY? Wash everything down with clean wines: Frileuse, a Cheverny from Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf (€4 a glass), Amphibolite, a Muscadet from Jo Landron (€24 a bottle), Sandstein, an Alsatian Pinot noir from Jean Ginglinger (€36)…
PRICE: Set menus €12.90 to €18.90 (weekday lunch), €14.90 to €21.90 (Wednesday and Thursday evenings), prix-fixe menu €25 and €35 (Friday and Saturday evenings, Sunday lunch).
