French Restaurant Review: Le Phébus, Joucas

Just a few minutes’ drive from Provence hotspot Gordes, the restaurant of Xavier Mathieu, Le Phébus, serves elevated traditional Provençal fare.

The Luberon, the lovely green valley that runs from eastwards from Avignon to Apt, has become one of the best-loved destinations in France during the last 25 years, which can make it a challenge to savour without becoming exasperated by its traffic and tour-bus crowds during the high season. The best way to enjoy an authentic experience of this region is to avoid the tourist-heavy months of July and August, and also to organise your itinerary in a way that privileges quiet moments.

The magnificent perched village of Gordes, for example, is one of the most visited places in France, which makes it sometimes seem like an anthill on a summer day. But if you come early in the morning before the crowds arrive, you’ll find the space and silence necessary for the delectation of such a special place.

Where you stay plays a big role in your ability to do this, too. For example, if you lodge at the 30-room Le Phébus in Joucas, which is just five minutes from Gordes, you can have the whole village to yourself after a quick coffee and a croissant, and even watch the early morning mists clear to reveal the beauty of the surrounding countryside below. Best of all, Le Phébus is that rare but wonderful place that’s elegant but warm and welcoming, like the family-run guesthouse it began as when the Mathieu family first opened their doors in 1982.

“We moved to Joucas from Marseille in the 1970s and my parents had a business producing light fixtures,” explains the Michelin-starred chef Xavier Mathieu. “Slowly but surely, we started building a hotel, and when I discovered my passion for cooking, they were completely supportive of my desire to become a chef. “My goal has always been to express the terroir of the Luberon,” he says of a cuisine that achieves a brilliant balance between the rusticity so many travellers seek in the Luberon and a sublimation of the local produce to the highest standards of classical French cooking, layered with an impressive dose of carefully considered creativity.

Dining at La Table de Xavier Mathieu in early June, I enjoyed a superb dinner with South African friends who were staying at the hotel for a week, the fifth time they’ve done so. Our meal began with a superb soupe au pistou, the Provençale vegetable and bean soup garnished with a purée of basil that’s one of the most satisfying recipes I ever learned to make from the most famous tome of southern French cooking, La Cuisinière Provençale by J.B. Reboul. There were also tasting portions of an outstanding ratatouille garnished with an intriguing syrup of burnt onions and a crunchy tomato wafer. Next, a brilliant riff on two fishes – sériole (amberjack) with morue (cod) in a riff on raïto, a red wine sauce with onions, herbs, tomatoes and olives, another Provençal classic.

This was the kind of dish that would have delighted such bon vivant apostles of French cuisine as Elizabeth David, Julia Child and Richard Olney. I think Olney would have especially loved the roast leg of lamb that followed, because part of his life’s work was mastering the cooking of Provence when it was still little known to most people.

I can’t imagine a better dessert than fresh apricots, cherries, peaches and almonds sprinkled with vieux vinaigre, but my dining companions praised their mead soufflé to the rafters. We drank some superb Rhône Valley and Provençal wines chosen from the excellent wine list by a very talented young sommelier. Le Phébus is a charming place, and Xavier Mathieu is a delightful host and a very talented chef.

Route de Murs, Joucas, Tel. (33) 04 90 05 78 83

www.lephebus.com

From France Today Magazine