Thank Friday it's Lunchtime - L'École Buissonière, Montjustin

This is a slightly different Thank Friday it's Lunchtime post - you'll see why in a moment!

This week, we decided to visit L'École Buissonière (the School of Drinking, forgive me if I have spelt it wrong) in Montjustin.  Montjustin is a tiny village, perched on top of a ridge on the Eastern edge of the Lubèron.  It's most famous for having been the long-term home of Henri Cartier-Bresson, an iconic French photographer, who has been one of the LSH's heroes for a long, long time.  It is a wonderfully picturesque village, and we have walked there many times from Céreste and even ridden there a couple of times, too.  The one thing it's been lacking for many years, though, is a Café - do the 5km (uphill) hike from Céreste without bringing something to drink, and yes, you will bemoan the lack of shops or café too!

Not any more, though, this winter L'École Buissonière opened its doors to the public!  Business is slow, given that it's mid-winter, and lunch is by appointment only, so we booked in a week in advance.  We mentioned it to a couple of English friends who have lived here for many years, and they said they'd love to come along too - so that's the first Thank Friday it's Lunchtime difference - there were four of us out for lunch.

L'École Buissonière is a very typical French small café in that it serves a set menu only.  We could have asked beforehand what it was, but we decided that we'd just be surprised (and oh yes, we PRAYED it wasn't Andouillette!)

We arrived a little after 12.30.  The first thing that strikes you is that it's tiny.  There's a small bar area and a small dining area, which had a single long table, set for seven.  I'm sure that in the summer, in the height of the tourist season, they will also use the spacious terrace outside, but for our visit, it was like eating in someone's dining room.

The other three guests - well I won't go into details, but it turned out they were local dignitaries.  They were occupying the bar area when we arrived, chowing down on bruschetta, but they greeted our friends warmly and shook hands with the LSH and I  - our friends have lived in the area for many years and they know a lot of people around here!  They moved on to the dining area, while we ordered drinks and sampled the bruschetta (nice!)

Not sure of the protocol (should we have sat down at the same time as the others?) we lingered at the bar while they were served their starter.  We may have goofed there...

The waitress/maître D/possibly chef as well called us à table eventually and we sat down to our starter as the other guests were getting stuck into their main course.  We chitchatted about this n' that, admired their main course and looked forward eagerly to our starters... which were AMAZING!  It sounds very simple, but it was soooo tasty!  It was a chicken samosa with a green salad, served with that lovely dressing the French do, oil, vinegar and a hint of mustard.  The samosa was all chicken - no veggie fillers added!  The chicken had been shredded and marinaded in ginger and lemon... oh it was yummy!  And not at all what I was expecting, it was not French country cuisine, it was French country cuisine meets the Orient halfway.

And here's where we come to the second Thank Friday it's Lunchtime difference.

Ummm, sorry, but we were having such fun, I forgot to take any photographs.  You are just going to have to take my word for it, the food looked as good as it tasted.

The main course was no longer a surprise, because we saw the other guests eating it - it was Moules - Mussels!  Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I don't do seafood, but in the spirit of Thank Friday it's Lunchtime, I tucked in gamely.  The mussels were served in a light curry sauce, with pommes frites (chips/French fries) on the side.  Well, they were ok.  But then I'm a really bad judge of seafood.  Everyone else said they were great.  Fair enough, they were great.

Time for dessert and coffee?  Bien sûr!  Oh no, dessert was chocolate mousse cake!  Well, I'll eat seafood if I have to, but sadly (tragically, in fact) I cannot eat chocolate - I will, without a doubt, get a migraine if I do.  So everyone else had the chocolate mousse cake and said it was yummy.

I had coffee.

Yes, I know you all feel bad for me now.  Don't.  I'm tough.  I can take it.

I'm not sure how it came up, but over the course of lunch, we learned that in the Mairie next door, there are two original (signed) Cartier-Bresson photos, which the Great Man Himself donated to the local community.  On seeing our interest, the waitress/maître D/possibly chef as well offered to let us in for a look - she has the key to the Mairie.  We couldn't turn down that offer, so we all trooped in and admired them.  One of them was a well known one of Ile de la Cité in Paris and the other was one which really struck a chord with me - a man holding a young boy in his arms, a wonderfully expressive shot.  Ask to see them if you ever visit Montjustin.

So, digestively and culturally sated, we headed home.

The cost of our lunch?

Including wine (a couple of glasses each except for the poor misfortunate LSH who had to work for the afternoon and therefore drive as well) and tip, the whole lot came €17 per head - pretty ok, really!

Would we go again?  Absolument!  We'll revisit in the summer and try to remember to take photos next time.... sorry about that!

Food - ✮✮✮✮

Service – ✮✮✮✭
Ambiance – ✮✮✮✭ (possibly helped by the company we were with...)
Value – ✮✮✮✭

Thank Friday it's Lunchtime - Brasserie de la Place, Reillanne

We have pledged to visit a different hostelry in the locale every Friday for the next year and bring to you, our passionately interested readers, our rating and assessment of each and every one.

Yes.  It's a restaurant review.

We have two rules :

1. If there is a Plat du Jour (special of the day) one of us must order it

2. Rule one does not apply if the Plat du Jour is Andouillette.

(Andouillette is basically intestines wrapped up in a sausage skin.  I've never eaten it, but the LSH has resolutely tried it a couple of times, trying to figure out what the French see in it.  The last time, I sat in between the LSH and the ED as they both sampled andouillette in the Café du Cours in Reillanne.  The waiter had extolled its virtues, and convinced them that it was "very, very special."  I might as well have been sitting in a cowhouse - that's what it smelt like.  Both of them tried hard to like it, that day, and both agreed it was in a lovely sauce, but it still ..um.. tasted like it smelled.)

So, no, thank you France, you make great food, but we're steering clear of the andouillette from now on.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Due to a steady fall of snow, we decided to stay local this week.  We knew that the road as far as Reillanne was clear, so we opted for one of the Cafés in the square where we had never eaten before.

La Bresserie de la Place is off the main square in Reillanne, with a great view across the valley the winding approach road to the village.  It's a very typical small French café with plenty of space outside for those warm sunny days but not much room indoors for the winter.  It was cosy, though, with a oil-fired burner going in the corner, and our attention was caught by a gorgeous table (too big for us!) with a top made from a single sheet of polished wood - I'd love it as a dining table!

Anyway, to the menu!  Like many small French cafés, it only offered a Menu du Midi, at €12.50 - perhaps their repertoire expands in the summer, but I can't say for sure.

We opted for the starter/main course option (apologies to dessert lovers, we are both kinda savoury people!).  We had two options for each course, the starters were a charcuterie plate (cold meats and cheeses) which the LSH went for :

and I opted for Feuillette Bleu, which turned out to be blue cheese wrapped in pastry.  This tasted great, but the inside was a bit soggy - a side effect of the blue cheese melting during cooking time, I suppose.

The main course options were Steak on a Skewer or Baby Calamari with Tagliatelle.  Well, I won't eat seafood, and the LSH has Crohn's Disease and needs to watch his gluten intake, so he didn't fancy the Tagliatelle, so we both went for the steak skewers.

They came with Choufleur au Gratin (Cauliflower Cheese), a couple of lettuce leaves and a lovely red wine sauce.  In Ireland, we would have been served the steak with a thick coating of barbecue sauce, or else with some sort of sauce-out-of-a-bottle on the side.  Here, things are simpler, and I have to say it suits me better - I can't take MSG at all, it gives me migraines, and so many commercially prepared sauces use MSG to enhance their flavour - Vive la France, I say!

The steak was good - the LSH had a couple of tough bits, but mine was all good.  The cauliflower cheese was yummy, well seasoned with nutmeg.  But where were the spuds? Well, I didn't miss them, but I think someone else did!  He loves his chips!

So, for €12.50, was it good value?

The straight answer to that has to be you will find better - for example, the five courses at the Buffet de la Gare gives you a lot more food for an extra €2, or for an extra €2.50, you will get a higher standard of food plus dessert 3km away at the Auberge Pierry.

That said, there was nothing wrong with what we got, it was simple food, well presented and served with a smile.  If you're enjoying a wander around Reillanne some day, when you've looked at the old church and had a browse in the bookshop, or if you've been stomping through the woods for a couple of hours, you won't go wrong if you pop into the Brasserie de la Place for lunch.

Star Rating (out of 5) :

Service : ✮✮✮✮✮

Food : ✮✮✮

Value : ✮✮✮

Ambiance : ✮✮✮✮  Very pleasant to sit by the window with a view in the winter, and it must be just as pleasant to sit outside in the Place de la Libération when the weather is warm.