France 2010 - Last night in Rancou

For the last night we decided to stay local and visit Rancou. This is a small village that nestles at the West end on Argeles beach. We drove down and were directed to park in a field by the local Gendarmes - a bit strange but we do as we are told and headed into the village...

When we left the car we realised that we had decided to go to Rancou on the same night as they were holding their festival. This meant that the main street was blocked off and filled with tables and chairs ready to feed the guests. We were lucky that we had turned up early as most of the people had not arrived yet. We were therefore able to get a table at the back of the Menje Ecaille restaurant.

We ordered some of the unusual dishes off the menu and a glass of local wine. To start I had mussels with tomato and ginger which were amazing.  These were followed by a stewed dish of pig cheeks in red wine with vegetables.  This was gorgeous but very rich.  As it was our last night we went all out and followed up with a desert of panacotta.  This again was superb.  The flavor was delicate and delicious. While we were eating we were treated to some music from a band outside.

I did over indulge on the meal and began to feel rather stuffed and a little sick and the music and busy atmosphere of the festival in full flow wasn’t helping so after leaving the restaurant I walked down and sat on the beach for a while. Along the street at different intervals there were different genres of music from a banging DJ playing (very popular with a mixed crowd of 5~50 year olds) to a west Indian reggae band who were again drawing one of the biggest crowds which made it hard to wind our way through when going back to the car.  Out side each of the restaurants, where all these trestle tables and benches had been set up on the roadway, there was an ever increasing number of people tucking into bowls and bowls of Moules and Frites.

We were now realizing that this is France’s national dish in the same way that fish and chips is to the British.  We eventually returned to the villa way after midnight ready to face the trip North the following day.