Restaurant "L'Olivier" at
Hotel La Bastide de Saint Tropez****, Var, France.

A delightfull smal, intimatel restaurant with marvelous food served either
in the Victorian "green house" dining room or in the shade of the ancient
olive trees on the terrace outside.

When we first experienced the food of a previous chef at restaurant "L'Olivier" at La Bastide de St. Tropez in 1999, we were captivated. But today, Spring of 2008, we are more than captivated, we are enchanted. Of course, you would have to share out love of really well prepared foods that respect the flavors of the best of ingredients and then a chef who does not mess them all up trying to be too clever. Chef Broc chooses the best of ingredients, filled with their own flavor, and then allows them to dominate and steers them into marriages with other complementary flavors so that the whole becomes more than the parts.

He allows vegetables to be whole on a plate, each taste leading to the next. Each taste of his fish is the essence of that particular type of fish. Same with the meats. The desserts are refreshing and can be light or rich as appeals to the diners desires.

Dining alfresco in the shade of the mid-day sun or evening twilight under the ancient olive trees. Click photo below to see larger version. Sea Bass with garden vegetables in a ginger sauce.		Chef Broc's contagious smile is reflected in his cuisine. Click photo below to see larger version. Indoor/Outdoor dining. The Victorian style "green house" dining room opens out to the shaded terrace (see left top).
Click photos there the mouse turns to a hand to see larger version. Peter D'Aprix © 2008

In short, he is our choice in quintessential chef, a man who allows food to still be food no matter how beautifully presented or artistically orchestrated so that it blossoms in the mouth. Of course it does not hurt that the environment in which it is consumed is one of the loveliest around set under ancient olive trees left over from when the property was a vineyard on the edge of St. Tropez.

We arrived to a lunch by the pool shaded by a large market umbrella. The Asian influenced salad carried a faint spice that was sweet on the tongue and the baby greens melted in the mouth. The Sea Bass cooked on the skin side only was set along side an artfully arrange grouping of whole vegetables (carrot, leeks, white and green asparagus, peas in pod and green beans). This was joined by a lovely, crisp rosé that went down a tad too fast. The "light" meal was rounded out with a "Tiramisu" of various red berries, a thread of fresh strawberry confit and a wafer of chocolate. Aahh! This was followed with a nap in the dappled shade by the pool. Not much choice really.

Such a meal is hardly surprising coming from a chef with the background in fine kitchens from France to Switzerland. Being born in Honfleur locked in his sense of seafood. His journey south expanded is love of fresh and bountiful vegetables, the lightness of olive oil and the fragrances of the herbs of Provence. But chef Broc brings his own take on a cuisine that is both grounded and inspiring. The day we were there he was just preparing to leave for Paris for a cooking demonstration on a TV morning show, but he still made time to prepare some of his signature dishes for us, although once he had left, his deuxieme carried on at the same high level.

Warm and professional service at all time. Here adding finishing touches for alfresco lunch. Click photo below to see larger version. Vegetable tureen of egg plant with peppers, served with "brebis", garlic and small salad of tarragon - a nice counter point to the richer terrene.		Click photo below to see larger version. Lunch salad with a light Asian hint of spiciness in the dressing. Click photo below to see larger version. Fruit salad with apple sorbet and stick of vanilla.
Peter D'Aprix © 2008

Since this was spring, dinner hour was a bit cooler, almost chilly, so we enjoyed the dinner menu tucked in the cosy dining room whose glass walls and ceiling allowed us still to enjoy the changing colors of the twilit sky as the sun set. We started with an amuse bouche of small cubes of Sea Bass laced with tumeric. I had the marvelous vegetable tureen of eggplant and sweet peppers served with a small salad of tarragon and brebis cheese; quite a filling dish while Linda had two lightly sauteed tuna steaks with a slight ginger flavored infusion in the cooking topped with a duxelle of veggies and pine nuts. A mini-flute of gazpacho stood at the side.

The kitchen offers a "spring vegetable plate" that Linda ordered alongside her main course of "Dos du Bar" with a millefeuille of vegetables while I sampled the "Pot au Few" of baby spring vegetables. Linda took some time out while I enjoyed the meat course of stuffed lamb with olives and a spinach ratatouille with oranges and a hint of lavender alongside. We both enjoyed a very refreshing "Fruit Pistou" flavored with vanilla with a basil sorbet. Unusual combination that worked marvelously.