Fine French food with lashing of l’eau
THOSE intensely flavoured smears and splodges you see on plates prepared by TV chefs are largely down to the influence of one man – Michel Guerard.
Inspired by his bride-to-be to lose a few pounds, he published Cuisine Minceur. A little egg yolk, wine and lots of air meant foamy sauces.
Strips of vegetable and concentrated stocks did away with fattening foods but kept to the high standards of classical French cooking.
This was nouvelle cuisine, and Guerard was one of the co-founders of a movement that swept through Europe.
La Bastide, one of Guerard’s hotels, in the small town of Barbotan-les-Thermes, Gascony, is 50 miles south-east of Bordeaux. Thousands are drawn there every year by the food – and the thermal waters.
Guerard’s daughter Elionore runs La Bastide – a former Cistercian monastery – but Michel has the last word on menus.
Restaurant La Nature is an extension of Minceur, so lunch might be a trout mousse, broccoli tartlet and raspberry panna cotta, while Le Gourmet is more traditional.
In the height of the season, vast numbers turn up to Barbotan for treatments – the health-giving properties of the thermal waters have been appreciated since Roman times.
My visit to the hotel’s spa began with a massage, my tensions soothed away by sweetsmelling oils.
In the ‘bain hydromassant’, I was soothingly bubbled, before being doused by the a tropical rainstorm with jets of turbulent water pulverising my body. Then I plunged into a Jacuzzi. Did I feel well? Sure. And boy was I clean. An old poster proclaims the curative powers of hot water and nourishing mud. No more sciatica or rheumatism, apparently. Michel Guerard has 120 acres of Armagnac vineyards around La Bastide. The mellow brandy has also been subject to optimistic health claims, both ‘curing gout’ and ‘conserving youth’. But whatever your approach to health, La Bastide is a tonic. Coolly elegant and professional, who wouldn’t feel well after a stay here?
Rooms at La Bastide (bastidegasco nne.com/en) start at €495 (£467) for two, including a threecourse dinner, massage and spa. EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies to Bordeaux from £19.24 one way.