Since setting down her suitcases and knives in the city of Nîmes, Georgiana Viou has been seeing Rouge! This self-taught chef originally from Benin honed her skills under Sylvain Sendra (Fleur de Pavé in Paris) and left her beloved Marseille to heat up the kitchens of Hôtel Chouleur. The night we went, seated on the lovely patio that felt like an oasis (sand-toned tiles, stone and wicker furniture, lush vegetation), we enthusiastically devoured her locavore offerings: a delicate roasted plum topped with a heap of cod brandade; a beefsteak tomato and nectarine tartare set ablaze by an explosively flavorful pepper-tomato jus; mullet carpaccio decorated with cosmos flowers and floating in a coconut milk and wild sorrel broth; then more mullet, this time served as cute roasted fillets over a bed of plancha-grilled vegetables (eggplant, tomato, potatoes…); before an epic dessert alchemizing blonde chocolate ganache, a hibiscus coulis, meringues sprinkled with black olive powder, roasted figs and a sage-chili pepper sorbet! // Théodule Mollard

FEELING THIRSTY? Wines that are keeping it local: a Côtes-Catalanes white from Olivier Pathon (€8 a glass), a Gard rosé from Le Roc d’Anglade (€45 a bottle), a Tavel red from Éric Pfifferling (€52)…
PRICE: Set menu €69.