Blooming

S's birthday today. I took him out for a surprise lunch. He gamely volunteered to drive to our unknown destination, blissfully unaware that it involved a journey right across the middle of the Corbières and into the Pyrenees Orientales -- a delightfully scenic route which at an unhurried pace took nearly two hours.

The restaurant is in Belesta, a village about 30 km from Perpignan. I'd read about it a few times in the paper, and the chef seems to be a rising star, so I thought it was worth a punt. It was -- well worth the journey.

The massive cave cooperative has been converted into a hotel and restaurant, with rooms converted from the huge square concrete wine vats which are such a feature of this area. The restaurant is a tall, light-filled space which must have been a hangar of some sort. It was also completely empty when we arrived. Luckily after about half an hour a couple arrived, with three young children. Uh-oh. But these children, who I think were Irish, had French children's level of table manners, quiet and clearly enjoying their gourmet meal. No mobile phones or Playstations needed to keep them entertained.

We chose the five-course tasting menu, S's with wine and mine without. Every course was a marvel -- starting with the home-made bread with fabulous onion-flavoured butter. Not quite the crack-cocaine level of Oliva's butter, but not far off. Even the tiny amuse-bouches (see extras) were layered with flavour and texture, and the subsequent courses smelled amazing even before tiny quantities of intensely flavoured sauce were poured over them. The first course involved poached oysters and beetroot meringue. I don't even like oysters, but I liked this. My favourite course was the perfectly cooked fillet of sea bream with a shallot-based sauce with the lightest hint of curry in it. I could never mix so many flavours and make such a success of it. Lovely wines too -- I had a tiny sip of each of S's three glasses. My reference for special occasion food is Putelat in Carcassonne, and we both liked this better than our last meal there. It has one Michelin star and is surely due another. They must have spent millions on the conversion, so I hope they do better than the five covers they served today.

We had a little post-prandial walk around the village (see extras) and then I drove home (along the motorway this time). Lovely day out!