Le Bistrot du Paradou

Owners/chefs: Jean-Louis and Mireille Pons

In the little village of Paradou you will find Le Bistrot du Paradou, a lovely French building with classic, blue shutters next to the most handsome plane tree, under which you can sit and sip a cooling aperitif. Walk inside and the room is large and cool with stone walls and a dark-beamed ceiling. Already I can feel my heart skipping a beat; this looks good. The tables are a mixture of marble and large wooden, almost refectory-style, and are laid with cutlery, large plates with green or red napkins, a bottle of olive oil and wine. The room comfortably seats 55 covers. There is a set menu that includes wine, specially bottled for the bistro from a local vineyard, and coffee. Faithful clients phone for the next week’s menu and then make their reservation according to what is being served. This is an amazing place with a very simple but classic formula: two waiters look after the whole room and the charming owner Jean-Louis greets each customer personally and then sits to enjoy lunch with friends. It is popular with the locals, farmers, businessmen and travellers. The mayor was even dining there when I had lunch! Mireille Pons, Jean-Louis’s wife, heads up the open-plan kitchen and selects the set menu every week. Both Jean-Louis and Mireille are very relaxed, and so they should be; on the wall is a large collage of photographs of Hollywood’s ‘A’ list munching down at this great bistro.