Dining Out: Le Moulins de Mougins

Thursday night in France was to be our “big night out”. As I mentioned last Friday, it was the precursory celebration of Mr. and Mrs. G’s 16th Anniversary. P.O.D. and I joined the "G's" and Mr. G's cousin, Sophy, at a restaurant of note in a town called Mougins, not far from Cannes.

From the moment you walked in the door, you knew this place was going to provide an extraordinary dining experience. We sat in a kind of “garden room”, enclosed on all sides by glass allowing a virtually unimpeded view of the courtyard garden outside (photo below, in the daylight).

Autographs of notable personalities were scrawled on the glass the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor….all who had dined at 'Le Moulins de Mougins' on a previous occasion.

Tonight was our night to dine there and, although we were not asked to sign the glass, we did enjoy an amazing meal. Our table opted for the “Chef’s Tasting Menu”, which is a practice of being served several (I believe we had 11) small-portioned courses hand selected and prepared by the Chef. We were tended to by a graceful and fun wait staff, led by our head waiter, Diedre.

Not far into our courses, we learned of the notoriety of our chef, Sébastien Chambru. The staff sung his praises and the plates they brought to us were probably the singular best-tasting culinary pairings that I have ever had. French and Japanese fusion. My favorite? Escalope de foie gras de canard poêlee, pain perdu á la banana (Pan friend duck foie gras, French toast banana flavor).

This being "The Sweet Life", I thought I would highlight our sweets (desserts....and there were THREE....can it get much sweeter than that??) Below are some photos and descriptions:

Ananas bounty (Coconut, vanilla, pineapple combination and pineapple sorbet)

Feuille á feuille craquante au praliné, caramel glacé (Contemporary “mille feuille” of chocolate and hazelnuts, salted caramel ice cream….and you may not be able to see it in the photo, but there was a small gold leaf draped over the wafer/ice cream presentation ….beautiful….and, for, the record….the leaf had no real taste!)

Finally….NOT on the menu, but presented to our table as a gift from the staff, was this lovely glass of custard with a chocolate topping decorated with the restaurant logo. A very nice end to the perfect meal.

We left full and happy. It was a beautiful night and the company was wonderful.

Then, just this morning, I received an email from Sophy, who excitedly explained that she happened to catch a feature on television LAST night about the restaurant and its artful Chef, Sébastien Chambru. Here is her report:

He is exactly 32 years old and has worked in Japan where he especially worked on
choosing the products and associating them. He said that 50% of the work is done
in having good products. He brought a [uniqueness to the menu of] 'Le Moulins de
Mougins' with his young Japanese experience and his brand-new French and
Japanese association of food.

He [received] the 'MOF' graduation in 2007: “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” (Best worker of France), issued from a competitive examination. There were only [seven] to be graduated in France in 2007, and only they are allowed to wear the French Flag around their neck when they are in the kitchen clothes. [You can see this red, white and blue French flag collar in the photo,below...from L to R: P.O.D., Mrs. G, Chef Sébastien Chambru, 1SweetMama, Mr. G, Diedre, Sophy]

'Le Moulin de Mougins' has two 'Macarons Michelin'
(or we can say also 'Etoiles Michelin'), Sébastien Chambru is trying to bring
the 3rd Macaron Michelin to the restaurant with his New French/Japanese Cuisine
[fusion-style menu selections].

We were the last to leave the restaurant…I think it was around midnight but everyone remaining at the restaurant was very gracious to us. If I am ever lucky enough to visit France again, I would love an encore at Le Moulins de Mougins, but….until then, you will find me on my treadmill.

If you would like to visit this restaurant, virtually, you can travel there via this website: http://www.moulindemougins.com/fr/index.php#index.php

Next Friday will be my last posting on my French adventure. Please join me as I wrap up this chapter of “The Sweet Life”.

Until next time, I remain….1SweetMama

Nice is Nice!

(a view from our hotel room in Nice. This is the Cote D'Azur. Nice is very NICE!!!)

Bon Jour! Today is Friday and this is my last day in France. Yesterday, we m

ade the move from our hotel in Monte Carlo to our hotel in Nice. We fly out of Nice on Saturday morning….headed toward home.

Wednesday night was a truly lovely evening. We met up with more of Mr. G’s family, including a familiar face from Monday night, Coco*. There were also new faces: Jaques*, Coco’s brother, cousin Sophy*, and Elle* (Jaques’ wife). All of these people, especially the women, are truly exquisite and wildly interesting and they put out a certain je ne sais pas. They were all so welcoming and, although I could only converse about 85 percent of the time due to a bit of a language barrier of MY part, we all spoke the same languages of family, food, and the trials and tribulations of life: marriages, divorces, children, school, politics, work, and the like.

We dined in Antibes at a restaurant called Auberge Provancale d’ Antibes. This establishment specializes in Fruits de Mer (literally, Fruits of the Sea… or seafood). We ate in a romantic fauna-covered garden (jarden d’éte ombragé) outside and in back of the restaurant. If you are interested, feel free to visit the website at www.aubergeprovencale.com .

My dinner began with six (6) huitres Fines de Claires (raw oysters), followed by the main course of Pave d’espadonen croûte de tapenade (swordfish and mixed vegetables in a white wine and butter sauce), with a dessert course of Pore pocheé aux espices, caramel au noisettes et glace au rhumet raisins (pear cooked with spices, caramel sauce and nuts with rum raisin ice cream). Just for fun, the very personable waiter even set our desserts ablaze au flambé Grand Marnier.

After dinner, the group walked around the city walls of “old” Antibes and viewed the enormous yachts and ships docked in the marina. These vessels are owned by people who live lives of privelidge the likes we will never know. By this time, it was close to 1:30 a.m. and we all bid adieux and went our separate ways. We drove Sophy home and she showed us her beautifully remodeled apartment with a luxury kitchen…..very efficient by American standards but very “over-the-top” for someone living in Monte Carlo.

Thursday was a day for driving the 20-30 kilometers from Monte Carlo to Nice and for walking through the shopping districts. Our mission was to find a great pair of shoes, some souvenirs for my boys, and a great hat for me. I am a hat-wearer so finding a hat in France seemed the right thing to do. We also, of course, made some time to stop at Fennochio again for more great glace (ice cream).

While we found lots of shoe options that we did not purchase, I found myself stumbling in to a great hat shop called La Chapellerie. I must have tried on one hundred hats from the insane to the glamorous but ended up purchasing two: one very French and one very warm and French for when I return to Iowa. I also found a neck-scarf that will go well with both.

Thursday night was the premier dining event. Today (Friday) is Mr. and Mrs. G’s 16^th anniversary and we pulled out the stops for dinner on Thursday night to kick it off right. We dressed to the Nine’s, met up with Sophy and travelled to a very nice restaurant called Le Moulin de Mougins (The Mougins Mill) in Mougins, France, not far from Cannes. I will devote next Tuesday’s blog entry entirely to that experience because I have never had a dining experience quite like that one…..11 courses, all small dishes recommended and prepared by the chef (The Chef’s Sampling Menu). It was the best food I have ever tasted and the entire experience with the great staff who catered to us all night was second to none. We even met the chef and had a picture taken with him. I can’t wait to tell you about that night.

Tune in next Tuesday for the full details on Le Moulin de Mougin… á bientôt!

Until next time, I remain….1SweetMama

* Names are changed…..sorry, I can’t give it ALL away!!