Octave

Castle life really suits chef Romain Meder! After a stint at the five-star Hôtel Plaza Athénée under the reign of Alain Ducasse, he’s now the sole master (chef) at the Domaine de Primard, the former home of Catherine Deneuve that was taken over by serial renovators Frédéric Biousse and Guillaume Foucher (Domaine de Fontenille, Les Hautes Mers, Les Hortensias du Lac…). At the bistronomic restaurant of this glam hotel surrounded by rose bushes and deckchairs, in a dining room dotted with dried flowers and equipped with a gigantic rotisserie, the chef sent out all of the following the day we went for lunch: a flamboyant sausage duly cooked over the embers and paired with some luscious toum, which is a Lebanese version of aioli; an XL zucchini stuffed with its spiced pulp and roasted to perfection, arm in arm with a zucchini carpaccio (made with yellow zucchini this time around) and charred fig leaves; before a stylishly rustic dessert by Iris Fumey (Ducas-trained as well), which consisted of a bowl of plump cherries, fennel confit and a farm-fresh fromage blanc ice cream. Ave Octave, we salute you! // Thomas Jossin

FEELING THIRSTY? High-end labels and natural grand cru wines: a Chinon red produced by the Bretons (€12 a glass), a Chenin by Chidaine (€80 a bottle), unless you decide to splurge on a 2021 Cheval Blanc for the modest sum of… €1,680.
PRICE: Set menus €28-38 (weekday lunch), à la carte €56-74.