restaurant

El Almacèn

El Almacèn (Cirès)

  • Date
  • share

After years of working in Paris, Argentine chef Juan Ignacio de Benedetto (ex-Charbon Rouge) and his partner Anne Moussay heeded the call of the wild and moved to a small mountain village in the Pyrenees, tucked away in the Oueil Valley. They got their hands on a stone and wood chalet with a bric-a-brac dining room and an open kitchen, where the Latino chef makes the embers sing with local ingredients – lamb from Mayrègne, trout from Oô, vegetables from Galié… For us, the day we went for lunch, the four-course menu (€37) included: a delightful kohrabi dish, shaved razor-thin on the mandolin and sliced into quarters, alongside mushrooms, parsnip cream and nettle powder; a lovely trout steak with leeks, multicolored carrots, plus quinoa with parsley, garlic and hemp seeds; a generous portion of lamb saddle cooked medium-rare and served with a volcanic chimichurri sauce, Beluga lentils, and thinly sliced turnips with turmeric and lemon zest; before the memorable dessert, a dark chocolate ganache duo – one infused with tobacco, the other intensified by whiskey, paired with a crispy buckwheat biscuit and toasted buckwheat seeds! // P.L.

FEELING THIRSTY? Southern wines: an organic red Faugères from the Domaine Ollier Taillefer (€5 a glass), a Béarn white from the Domaine du Moncaut (€19 a bottle), a Gaillac red from the Château Palvié (€33)…

PRICE: Menu €35 to €50, kids’ menu €10.

Save this spot in the Fooding app, available on iOS! Download it now in the app store.

The new Le Fooding France Guide is available!

In the latest sizzling edition of the Fooding guide, discover 350 new hotspots that will define France in 2025, along with our highly anticipated awards list, a special section featuring articles like “oui oui baguette” that dissect modern French society, plus a family-friendly magazine supplement for cool kids.

Le Fooding’s brand-new France guide frontcover
I want it!
About

Le Fooding is a print and digital guide to all the restaurants, chefs, bars, stylish hotels and B&Bs that make up the “taste of the times,” plus an annual awards list for new establishments across France and Belgium, a series of gastronomic events, a tool that allows you to make reservations at some fantastic bistros, and an agency specialized in event planning, content production and consulting…

Fooding® is a registered trademark.